Abortion opponents try harder line on ban

[The Straight Story]

Abortion opponents try harder line on ban

By KRISTEN WYATT (AP) – 1 day ago

PUEBLO, Colo. — There's nothing subtle about the sales pitch by abortion opponents who are gathering signatures at the Colorado State Fair for a ballot measure that would give legal rights to fertilized embryos.

"Would you like to sign a petition to stop abortion?" asks Keith Mason, head of suburban Denver's Personhood USA. Mason and a corps of volunteers gathered thousands of signatures during the two-week fair to have Colorado's constitution define people from "the beginning of biological development of a human being."

"I think that people are people from the time they are conceived, and they should be treated as such," said Pat Kraus of La Junta, 61, who signed the petition at a booth under a "LIFE COUNTS" banner.

Personhood USA is similar to anti-abortion campaigns before it, but it's taking a bolder approach. It wants to end all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest, by adding fertilized embryos to constitutional and legal definitions of humans.

Colorado last year became the first state where a "personhood" amendment made the ballot — but it was soundly defeated by 73 percent of voters. This year, proposed laws were rejected in the state legislatures of Montana and North Dakota.

Still, the movement is spreading. Amendment language has been cleared, with petition drives under way, in Colorado, Mississippi, Montana and Nevada.

Amendment language will be filed later this month in California and Florida.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gqgTwUOptbYZNW4nrfh-akk8enIAD9AMIA8O3

[msongs]

1. how bout a campaign to give personhood to sperm n eggs lol nt

[LeftyMom]

2. I wonder if the Pythons would license this song for the campaign commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0kJHQpvgB8

[PDJane]

3. I don't find it in the least amusing, actually.......

I didn't think that I would, at this stage in my life, have to man the barricades again for a battle for women to own their bodies, their lives, and their rights to independence. I find this whole thing damn discouraging, frankly.