'Personhood' Groups Push for Measures in Calif., Colo., Other States for 2012

November 22, 2011 — Personhood USA is mobilizing a renewed effort to enact so-called "personhood" measures in Colorado, Oregon and Montana, the Denver Post reports (Finley, Denver Post, 11/21). Meanwhile, a separate group in California has been cleared by the secretary of state's office to gather signatures for a petition to hold a similar ballot initiative in that state, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports (Williams, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 11/18).

The groups are pushing measures that would define fertilized eggs as people with constitutional rights. Earlier this month, more than 55% of Mississippi voters rejected a personhood measure (Finley, Denver Post, 11/21). Colorado voters have rejected similar measures twice before. A ballot initiative -- Amendment 62 -- that would have established state constitutional rights for fertilized eggs was defeated in November 2010 by a three-to-one margin, the same spread as in a 2008 vote on a nearly identical measure (Women's Health Policy Report, 11/3/2010).

Organizers of the latest campaign said they have a new strategy that focuses on grassroots efforts, such as circulating petitions at grocery stores. Denver-based Personhood USA will need about 79,000 petition signatures to place a measure on Colorado's 2012 ballot (Denver Post, 11/21).

The California Civil Rights Foundation will need to collect more than 807,000 signatures by April to qualify for the November 2012 ballot. The group's president, Walter Hoye, launched a similar campaign in 2010 but did not gather enough signatures.

The California Legislative Analyst's Office and Department of Finance said that if a personhood measure became law, it could potentially cost the state tens of millions of dollars annually to establish due process and equal protection for "zygotes, embryos and fetuses" (AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 11/18).

Meanwhile, Virginia Del. Bob Marshall (R) on Monday submitted a personhood measure (HB 1) during the General Assembly's pre-filing session. The bill states that life begins at fertilization and that Virginia law should grant rights, privileges and immunities to "unborn children" (AP/Virginia Pilot, 11/22).