DENVER—Opponents of a proposed ballot measure which would define a fertilized egg as a person said Wednesday they filed a challenge to the measure with the Colorado Supreme Court claiming that the title is unfair and misleading to voters.
“Voters deserve honest politics. This ballot initiative is deceptive,” said Lizzy Annison, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains who joined six other opponents in the lawsuit.
Annison said initiative supporter Mark Meuser told the Title Board that the purpose of the measure was to establish personhood and stop abortion. She said the language before voters claims the measure is changing the legal definition of a person in the Colorado constitution.
Meuser said he has not read the lawsuit and would have a reaction later.
Annison said defining a fertilized egg as a person in the state constitution would have sweeping consequences.
“As providers of reproductive health care Planned Parenthood is gravely concerned about what this measure could mean for women using birth control to prevent unintended pregnancies, as well as couples using in vitro fertilization to start their families,” she said. “We are still trying to understand the implications for giving an egg access to the courts by granting equality of justice and protecting its due process of law. Defining an egg as a person in the Colorado constitution is extreme.”
