In Colorado, Amendment 48 would outlaw in-vitro fertilization
treatment and would add commonly used forms of birth control
alongside
abortion to the list of banned procedures.
http://www.truthout.org/102408WA
Earlier this month, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter announced his
opposition to Amendment 48, which seeks to grant a fertilized egg the
status of a human being, complete with equal rights. The groups
pushing the amendment advertise it as a direct challenge to Roe v.
Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide,
but it targets far more than that. In fact, even those opposed to
legal abortion, like Ritter, have good reason to reject the proposal.
The creators of Amendment 48 have been coy since the start. They
haven't fully explained the implications of their plan and with good
reason-it's extreme. Amendment 48, if passed, would undermine our
right to have a baby by establishing the legal groundwork to outlaw
IVF treatment. It threatens our right to plan a family by adding the
most commonly used forms of birth control alongside abortion to the
list of banned procedures. The state, under this proposal, could
intervene in a woman's life, even a woman with cancer and deny her
life saving medical treatment if it could endanger a fertilized egg.
This constitutional amendment is not about protecting life.
Amendment 48 does nothing less than rob us of the ability to make
many
of life's most important decisions.
The architects of the proposed amendment know this. The
initiative's sponsor Kristi Burton asserts, "As far as birth control,
IVF and abortion and all that, our amendment doesn't ban anything."
But then she slyly admits, "That would be up to the legislature and
courts. If our amendment passes and that's (a fertilized egg)
considered a person you'd have to view those issues in that way." Ms.
Burton knows full well that the only purpose to granting a fertilized
egg full human rights is to target the right to birth control, IVF
and
stem cell research. If it were simply about targeting the right to an
abortion, then Amendment 48 would have attempted to define life as
starting at the moment a pregnancy begins and not before, as
Amendment
48 does.
The groups supporting Amendment 48, as listed on the Personhood
Colorado website, represent the most extreme wing of the right to
life
movement. These groups and individuals lead campaigns against
contraceptive access. They don't believe that individuals should
decide hat's best for themselves according to their values. For
example, the American Life League hopes to ban contraception entirely
and this year launched a campaign called "The Pill Kills." Its
purpose
was to confuse the public into thinking the most common and effective
forms of birth control, like the birth control pill, cause abortion.
They held protests outside of family planning clinics nationwide
trying to convince Americans to stop using contraception.
Another backer, Human Life International, targets the poorest and
most desperate places on earth. In these distressed countries, it
seeks to block access to birth control and to de-fund relief agencies
that distribute contraception. The Pro-Life Action League, another
Amendment 48 supporter, held a conference several years ago entitled
"Contraception is Not the Answer." Many of the individuals signed on
in support of Amendment 48 are most famous for their anti-
contraception work and activities. Dr. David Hager is credited with
helping to block over-the-counter access to emergency contraception.
He led the FDA to ignore the advice of its own scientists and for the
first time in its history make a decision based exclusively on
ideology. Neil Noesen, another supporter, is a Wisconsin-based
pharmacist who made national news by denying a woman her prescription
for birth control and refusing to transfer it to a nearby pharmacy
that would fill it. Supporter Dr. William Colliton published an
article entitled "Birth Control Pill: Abortifacient and
Contraceptive"
in which he said, "There is an unarguable logic connecting the
contraceptive act and the abortive act. They are both anti-life."
Access to birth control options including emergency birth control
is the only proven way to reduce unintended pregnancy and abortion
rates. That's why even 80% of self-described "pro-life" Americans
support access to contraception.
Voters must know that Amendment 48 threatens much more than the
right to a safe and legal abortion. For women to achieve equality,
they must have access to birth control. We need to respect people's
ability to make their own life decisions and not impose our values
and
views upon others. The extreme team assembled in support of Amendment
48 knows its hidden purpose and potential-and they are committed to
making sure that before Election Day you don't.
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