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Proposed abortion ban clears state ballot hurdle

But initiative faces stiff fight before going to voters in 2008

Stuart Steers, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 19, 2007 at midnight

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A proposed initiative that could ban all abortions in Colorado moved a step closer to the 2008 ballot after a state board gave tentative approval Wednesday to the measure's language.

The constitutional amendment, which would define a fertilized egg as a person, is sponsored by the group Colorado Equal Rights.

"The same rights we give to the born we're granting to the unborn," said Mark Meuser, an attorney for the group. "We're defining when personhood begins. In this state, there would be no abortions."

If voters approve the initiative, it would take effect should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion. Similar ballot initiatives have been proposed in three other states.

Meuser's group can expect a stiff fight. Abortion rights groups likely will challenge the initiative every step of the way, hoping to keep it off the ballot.

They say the initiative has wide-ranging implications that could affect women's health.

"What if a pregnant woman needed chemotherapy?" said Jacinta Montoya, director of Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights. "We don't know all the consequences."

Colorado voters have defeated other anti-abortion ballot measures before, and Montoya predicted a similar fate for this effort.

"Voters don't believe the government should be involved with a woman's private decisions," she said.

In medical situations where a mother's life is in danger, the proposed constitutional amendment would mandate that doctors try to save the lives of both the fetus and mother, Meuser said.

Wednesday's ruling that the proposed initiative met Colorado's "single-subject" rule likely will be appealed to the courts, and it may be months before Meuser's group can begin collecting signatures.

They would need valid signatures of 76,000 registered voters to win a spot on the ballot.

Meuser described his group as a "broad coalition" of anti-abortion groups.

Should Roe vs. Wade be overturned, he said, the initiative would make abortion immediately illegal in Colorado.

He said there also is a possibility the Supreme Court could allow the initiative to take effect without overturning Roe vs. Wade.