Coloradoans will vote on a State Constitutional changing amendment this year. In short this amendment defines in the State's Constitution when life or a person's right begins (at conception).
Here is the official language from the state website:
Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution defining the term “person” to include any human being from the moment of fertilization as “person” is used in those provisions of the Colorado constitution relating to inalienable rights, equality of justice, and due process of law?
I am officially torn about how to vote on this. Here are the arguments from coloradoballot.net:
Arguments Against
This will limit the ability of individuals to make private, personal choices about their lives and health. The measure will limit access to abortions and to prohibit medical care, including emergency contraception, commonly used forms of birth control, and treatments for cancer, tubal pregnancies, and infertility. The amendment may restrict some stem cell research that could lead to life-saving therapies for a variety of disabilities and illnesses.
This allows government interference in the doctor-patient relationship and could limit the exercise of independent medical judgment. The measure will restrict a doctor from using certain medical procedures and treatments. Furthermore, the measure will subject medical professionals to legal action for providing medical care to a woman of child-bearing age if it is determined to affect another "person."
Arguments For
The measure may establish the legal foundation to end the practice of abortion in Colorado. The U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the U.S. found that the unborn were not included in the word "person" as used in the U.S. Constitution. If each human life, from the moment of fertilization, is recognized as a person under Colorado's bill of rights, Amendment 48 will provide support for legal challenges to prohibit abortions in Colorado.
Here are my arguments:
My Arguments For:
This essentially protects a family's child to be in an accident. If an expecting mother is injured in an accident and the fetus is mortally injured, the perpetrator in the accident would be held responsible even if mother is at fault. I am pro-choice and prefer to choose life (hehe liberals did I just make your head spin?) and this definitely will stand in opposition to abortion (which I'm hesitantly supportive of). I do believe that life begins at conception and implantation.
My Arguments Against:
I support the use of birth control, however in this case it 'might' be an opposition to birth control that prevents the fertilized egg from implantation. This could be carried to ban several popular forms of birth control. If a pregnant mother-to-be has a miscarriage could she be brought up on murder or homicide charges?
At this point I feel inclined to vote no on this bill for protection of my wife in the G-D forbidden case of a miscarriage.
What are your thoughts?