Thanks to Ann Friedman at Feministing.com for highlighting a ghastly, almost South Dakota-like antichoice ballot measure in Colorado, known as Amendment 48.
It’s offenses are manifold. As Friedman grimly chronicles, this bill is not just anti-abortion, but anti-contraception; it will disproportionately affect young women, women of color, incarcerated women, and low-income women; it advances fetal rights over women’s rights and it misleadingly co-opts feminist language. (The group backing the amendment is called Colorado for Equal Rights.)
Amendment 48 not only bans all abortions in every instance–even in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman is at risk–it also threatens stem cell research and in vitro fertilization, compromises the doctor-patient relationship, and deprives access to common hormonal birth control methods (i.e. the pill and IUD), and to emergency contraception for rape and incest victims.
In this video Dr. Eliza Buyers, a Denver-based OB/GYN, explains why it’s so important to defeat Amendment 48.
Moreover, the measure, according to the Washington Post, could also expand the reach of the law into other arenas in alarming ways. “For instance, if a woman miscarries, she could be held responsible if it were found she caused it, even unintentionally. If she smoked or drank while pregnant, her behavior might be considered negligence. Damaged eggs might be eligible for monetary damages. The use of fertilized eggs at fertility clinics or in medical research labs would come into question because the disposal of unused eggs could be considered homicide.”
For more on how you can help defeat Amendment 48 go to the Protect Families, Protect Choices website. And for those of you who in Colorado, be sure to vote no on Amendment 48 on November 4!
