By Matt Masich
STATE BILL COLORADO
DENVER — Another “personhood amendment” could be on the Colorado ballot in 2010, just two years after 73 percent of voters rejected Amendment 48, a similar initiative.
On the steps of the Colorado Capitol building this morning, the anti-abortion proponents of the new initiative announced the launch of their campaign to change the definition of “person” in the state constitution to include “every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being.”
The new initiative’s language differs from Amendment 48; that measure proposed that a “person” be defined as “any human being from the moment of fertilization.” Opponents of Amendment 48 said this would have given full rights to “fertilized eggs.” This characterization rankled the amendment’s supporters and might have prompted the new phrasing of the new initiative.
The main spokesman for the new campaign, Gualberto Garcia Jones of Personhood Colorado, held his 10-day-old son, Leonardo, as he introduced the initiative.
“Two weeks ago, my son had less rights than a dog or a cat,” Jones said.
The maximum penalty for killing a dog or cat in Colorado is 18 months, he said, while the Colorado Court of Appeals recently held that criminal charges may not be brought for fetal homicide.
Jones praised the efforts of the 1,300 volunteers who gathered signatures to get Amendment 48 on the ballot, but said that this time, “We’re going to run a smarter campaign.”
The new campaign, which will be sponsored by Personhood Colorado and the Arvada-based Personhood USA, will raise support through social networks and the internet, Jones said.
The campaign will also focus on getting support from the Hispanic community, which Jones said has “a strong sense of family values.” Jones, a bilingual native of Seville, Spain, said his group would circulate Spanish-language petitions.
Leslie Hanks, co-proponent of the initiative with Jones and vice president of Colorado Right to Life, announced her group’s support of the initiative at the Capitol rally, as well as Keith Mason of Personhood USA. Mason said the new campaign would build on the progress made with Amendment 48.
About a dozen supporters stood behind the speakers at the podium in front of the Capitol’s West entrance. Members of abortion-rights groups quietly distributed literature among the small audience composed mostly of members of the media.
Jones said the main proponent of Amendment 48, the young law student Kristi Burton, supports the initiative but has yet to take an active role in this campaign.
Jones is a 2004 graduate of the George Washington University Law School, though he is not licensed to practice law. After getting his law degree, he spent two years as director of legislative analysis for the American Life League in Washington, D.C., and some time in South Dakota supporting an abortion ban there before moving to Colorado two years ago.