Quote :

"A couple who thought they were expecting a baby rush to the hospital, the wife doubled over in agony. An ultrasound shows that the fetus isn’t in her uterus, but is implanted in one of her fallopian tubes. The pregnancy is doomed, and the woman’s life is in very real danger. Rather than terminating the pregnancy immediately, however, doctors admit the wife and let her wait out the agony, watching for the fetus’s heart to stop beating — or for the wife’s fallopian tube to rupture. Then they will have no choice but to operate if they hope to save the wife’s life. A college student moves to Boulder to attend the University of Colorado. She heads to the pharmacy to pick up her month’s supply of birth-control pills, only to have her prescription seized by the pharmacist, who apologetically informs her that all kinds of hormonal contraception are now illegal in this state. Welcome to the new world of Amendment 48. If voters pass Amendment 48 in November, the Colorado Constitution will be changed so that even a pronuclear embryo — a single-celled, newly fertilized human egg — will have the same rights and protections as a fully developed, living, breathing human being. The so-called “Personhood Amendment,” an initiative placed on the ballot by anti-abortion extremists, would impact not only abortion, experts say, but also a broad range of issues pertaining to women’s health from access to contraception to infertility treatment to the flexibility doctors have in treating pregnant women."

http://www.boulderweekly.com/20080731/coverstory.html

This is frightening, even though it's not in NC.

8/11/2008 5:55:12 PM

that's incredibly scary.

8/11/2008 6:01:08 PM

"Fertilized egg" is far too broad a metric to use for fighting abortion. I hope this amendment fails.

8/11/2008 6:01:46 PM

that is DUMB.

8/11/2008 6:20:18 PM

this whole argument is stupid

8/11/2008 6:27:54 PM

at least the story is unbiased

8/11/2008 6:49:11 PM

^^^^

8/11/2008 7:16:40 PM

Quote :

"ho apologetically informs her that all kinds of hormonal contraception are now illegal in this state."

SOOOOO........

Colorado would prefer to ban 'the pill' thus putting positive pressure on the number of people becoming un-expectantly pregnant. Many of whom who will likely leave the state in order to get the abortion they want rather then face the social shame, financial burden, and personnel commitment of having an un-wanted child. oh thats right with the ban of hormonal contraception young horny adults will contrary to millions of years of biological instinct decide to stop having sex before marriage.

Sounds like a super idea

Same goes for the catholic church. You think they would embrace birth control as a lesser of two evils, thus 'tolerating' sex before marriage if it means decreasing the number of abortions by their followers.l

[Edited on August 11, 2008 at 8:52 PM. Reason : k]

8/11/2008 8:50:17 PM

i can't help but think that this is horribly sensationalized beyond what the proposal actually allows.

8/11/2008 11:39:29 PM

Quote :

"Proponents of the amendment, backed by a host of fundamentalist anti-abortion and anti-contraception groups, admit they hope to use the initiative to achieve their ultimate goal of overturning Roe v. Wade and ending access to hormonal contraception."

I mean, that's pretty serious business to me as a woman.

8/12/2008 12:23:36 AM

Quote :

"ending access to hormonal contraception"

Hah!

Pro-life cause: lost.

8/12/2008 12:53:54 AM

Quote :

"i can't help but think that this is horribly sensationalized beyond what the proposal actually allows."

It's not. Use google--you can find quotes from proponents.

Colorado has ballot initiatives similar to California: collect a certain number of signatures and anyone can put anything on the ballot. I very seriously doubt this will pass in November. In fact, I'd be surprised if the intiative had significantly more votes in November than it needed to get on the ballot in the first place.

[Edited on August 12, 2008 at 7:41 AM. Reason : ]

8/12/2008 7:40:41 AM

I really hate people who try to pass legislation like this.

8/12/2008 7:56:44 AM

Quote :

"a pronuclear embryo — a single-celled, newly fertilized human egg — will have the same rights and protections as a fully developed, living, breathing human being."

So what about this would ban hormonal birth control?

if said rights begin at conception, how does prevention of conception fall under the umbrella of this law?

8/12/2008 8:03:31 AM

Some hormonal birth control works by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting on the uterus wall.

8/12/2008 8:21:40 AM

right, that would be the emergency contraception pill or whatever.

The article specifically referenced that typical monthly birth control pills would be illegal, which don't work that way. They prevent ovulation, not implantation.

8/12/2008 9:23:14 AM

^ I'm assuming it's in relation to the birth control pill "controlling" whether the egg can exist. It's infringing on the rights of the egg's decision to get fertilized. Which is silly.

Basically, it's a dumb and scary amendment.

8/12/2008 9:32:23 AM

even according to the ridiculous proposed amendment, the egg is not given any rights.

only a fertilized embryo is given rights.

either way we can conclude that the amendment is retarded, and will not pass, and also the article is nothing more than sensationalist fear mongering.

8/12/2008 9:35:30 AM

James Dobson of Focus on the Family has decided to support Amendment 48, which will probably make it more difficult to defeat.

Quote :

""A founding principle of Focus on the Family — and a driving belief of Dr. Dobson's — is that all human life is sacred and that life begins at the single-cell stage of human development," said Carrie Gordon Earll, senior bioethics analyst at Focus on the Family Action. "Amendment 48 articulates this belief and challenges us to declare the inestimable worth of all members of the human family."

http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000007934.cfm

8/12/2008 11:18:51 AM

stupid, scary stuff!

8/12/2008 11:37:07 AM

^^It won't make it any more difficult to defeat. It is one of those things that Colorado Springs residents like to get up in arms about, but the rest of state just ignores them. This will go down in striking fashion.

Also, it does not matter if it is passed into the State constitution, a State constitution cannot be at odds with the US Constitution, thereby it will be struck down with haste by the Federal Courts, if it manages to pass.

8/12/2008 11:41:48 AM

agreed

[Edited on August 12, 2008 at 11:44 AM. Reason : ^]

8/12/2008 11:44:02 AM

How about when the unborn baby has a brain and some fingers...

Can it have some rights then?

8/12/2008 12:36:00 PM

I can has wrights?

8/12/2008 12:38:39 PM

Quote :

"The article specifically referenced that typical monthly birth control pills would be illegal, which don't work that way. They prevent ovulation, not implantation."

Quote :

"Other secondary mechanisms have been hypothesized. One example is endometrial effects that prevent implantation of an embryo in the uterus. Pro-life groups consider such a mechanism to be abortifacient, and the existence of postfertilization mechanisms is a controversial topic."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_oral_contraceptive_pill

Not trying to argue about how the pill works, but this is where 'they' are coming from.

8/12/2008 5:50:52 PM