Legislative Council Clears the Way for the 2010 Personhood Amendment

For Immediate Release

July 16, 2009 Denver, Colorado – The 2010 Colorado Personhood Amendment took another step forward today when the Colorado Office of Legislative Council cleared the way for the filing of the amendment language with the Office of the Secretary of State.

Personhood Colorado submitted the language for a new ballot initiative on July 2.  Today, the amendment's proponents fielded questions from two members of the Colorado Office of Legislative Council. 

The proposed Constitutional Amendment reads, "Person defined.  As used in sections 3, 6, and 25 of Article II of the state constitution, the term "person" shall apply to every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being."

According to statute, "the directors of the legislative council and the office of legislative legal services, or their designees, shall render their comments to the proponents of the petition concerning the format or contents of the petition at a meeting open to the public."

"The  Legislative Council representatives had no trouble understanding the plain language of the provision." stated Guabe Garcia Jones J.D.,  co-sponsor of the ballot initiative.  "The amendment guarantees that all human beings will enjoy the most fundamental protections of our Constitution.  The representatives of the Office of Legislative Council did not ask any follow up questions, which indicates that they understood the plain language of the amendment."

The new personhood amendment language is the same as the language of the 2008 amendment except for a small change that is designed to protect persons created through asexual reproduction methods such as cloning.

"In 2007, abortion advocates challenged the language of the personhood amendment and lost on unanimous decisions three times: twice before the Colorado Title Board, and  finally before the Colorado Supreme Court," commented Leslie Hanks, one of the amendment's proponents.  "Today, the Office of Legislative Council made it clear that the language of the 2010 Personhood Amendment is easily understandable.  We hope abortion advocates will not waste the state's resources with more frivolous court challenges."

Immediately after today's review and comment hearing with the Office of Legislative Council, the proponents of the amendment filed the proposed language with the Secretary of State and will be present at the Title Board Hearing on August 5, 2009.

For interviews, please contact Donna at Colorado Right to Life: 303 753-9394.