Colorado

Reuters has reported that doctors have, for the first time, begun treating a patient using stem cells derived from the killing of innocent human beings.
Embryonic stem cell therapy and research systematically destroys living human persons who are frozen in their early stages of human development.

The Carnegie Stages of Human Development, a universal system for staging and comparing embryologic development, states that “human development begins at fertilization…” which “marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.”

“These unique human beings deserve better than experimentation, death, and destruction,” stated Jennifer Mason, a spokesperson for Personhood USA. “Reuters did not mention whether or not the parents of the children used for this therapy were notified of the deaths of their babies, but I cannot imagine parents are willing to sacrifice their children’s lives for research and therapies that may not even work.”

Adult stem cells have already proven successful, and therapies using adult stem cells have been reported to treat cancers, auto-immune diseases, cardiovascular problems, immunodeficiencies, neural degenerative diseases and injuries, anemias, wounds, and dozens of other illnesses and injuries.

“Social justice begins in the womb. A single cell embryo is a part of the human family. It’s what all human beings look like at their biological beginning,” explained Walter Hoye, spokesman for Personhood USA. “The grave reality facing us today is this: If anyone can be denied their humanity … then everyone can be denied their humanity. Colorado’s Amendment 62 understands this, gets the life question right and offers real hope to America.”

According to Reuters, most babies used in the new embryonic stem cell therapy are the children of couples who have undergone in-vitro fertilization. These babies used for embryonic stem cell research are the “leftovers”, unwanted and unloved. Those same babies could have joined their siblings and families, or they could have been placed for adoption. Even at the earliest stages of human development, there is no question that the new life is human. Regardless of the location of their creation, in a woman’s body or in the lab, all human beings are people.

Personhood amendments, such as Colorado’s Amendment 62, would protect all children from the beginning of their biological development, ensuring that even babies created through in vitro fertilization were not sentenced to death for research.

Today Judge Hyatt decided to dismiss the lawsuit filed against the Colorado Blue Book by the sponsors of Amendment 62, claiming that the court has no jurisdiction over the Colorado Legislative Council.

Article V, Section 1 of the Colorado Constitution states: “A fair and impartial analysis of each measure, twhich shall include a summary and the major arguments both for and against the measure, and which may include any other information that would assist understanding the purpose and effect of the measure. Any person may file written comments for consideration by the research staff during the preparation of such analysis. “

Amendment 62 sponsors and lawsuit plaintiffs Gualberto GarciaJones and Leslie Hanks say that there is no question that the analysis of Amendment was not fair or impartial, that it did not include the major arguments for the measure, and that their comments were completely disregarded by the research staff of the legislative council.

“The Blue Book’s false claims are so egregious that we were forced to take action,” continued GarciaJones. “Outright lies were printed about Amendment 62, and it is ridiculous that we weren’t even allowed input into the ‘Arguments For’ the Amendment that we wrote and sponsored. That is why we plan to appeal this dismissal and right the grievous wrong that has been committed against our campaign. The Colorado Blue Book is incorrect and unfair, and must be corrected immediately.”

Although the Colorado Blue Book has already been printed and distributed, Gualberto GarciaJones and Leslie Hanks are requesting that the Colorado Legislative Council correct the erroneous statements immediately by mailing a correction to every Colorado voter that received the Blue Book.

The Colorado Blue Book also claimed that treatment for miscarriages, tubal pregnancies, and infertility could be limited by the Amendment, all of which is false. The Blue Book also claimed that the measure could subject doctors and nurses to legal action for providing medical care to a woman of child-bearing age, which is also false, and alleged that “the beginning of biological development” has no established legal meaning and is not an accepted medical or scientific term, despite pages of expert evidence to the contrary. These are just some of the blatant falsehoods and biased statements published in the Colorado Blue Book, which sponsors may attempt to correct through the appeal process.

Amendment 62 sponsors filed a lawsuit today against the Colorado Legislative Counsel, attempting to stop the publication and statewide distribution of the “Colorado Blue Book”.

The Colorado Legislative Council’s website states that the purpose of the Colorado Blue Book is “to provide voters with the text, title, and a fair and impartial analysis.”

Amendment 62 sponsors and organizers maintain that the ballot information booklet (The Colorado Blue Book), is not fair or impartial, but in fact glaringly biased against Amendment 62. Sponsors attempted several times to change the prejudiced text, in writing and at the public hearing, yet none of their objections were recognized.

“As soon as we saw the text online, we knew we had to do something to stop these lies from going out to Colorado voters,” explained Gualberto Garcia-Jones, co-sponsor of Amendment 62 and lawsuit Plaintiff. “First, we were disallowed from including the text of the Amendment in the ‘Arguments For’ section. The ‘Arguments For’ section is weak and does not include most of the arguments for Amendment 62. The Blue Book authors didn’t stop there, however, and published several falsehoods about Amendment 62. Women could never be denied healthcare for miscarriages with the passage of Amendment 62, yet that is one of the lies our opposition is using as a scare tactic – and one of the lies propagated by the Colorado Blue Book.”

Amendment 62 sponsors even provided letters to Senators from embryology experts and cell biologists, one of whom said that the statement proposed for the Blue book was “political, not scientific”, and went on to explain the scientific fallacies of the proposed Blue Book statements, yet the expert statements were disregarded.

“We made several attempts in writing and in person to correct the fabrications in the Blue Book, yet we were largely ignored by the Colorado Legislative Council,” declared Leslie Hanks, co-sponsor of Amendment 62 and lawsuit Plaintiff. “Now, our only choice is legal action to keep the State from using our own tax dollars to send lies about Amendment 62 to voters. From recent news articles, we gather that we are not the only group to see the clear bias – mostly against conservative issues – in this year’s Blue Book. We are only asking for fair and impartial treatment from the governing officials, regardless of their personal feelings.”

Pro-life voters will have only one pro-life measure to vote on this November, and that is only if they are registered to vote in Colorado. Colorado’s Personhood Amendment, Amendment 62, is the only pro-life ballot issue to make it to the November polls this year in the United States.

“Ballot initiatives are very difficult,” commented Keith Mason, Manager of the Amendment 62 campaign. “Our initiative efforts were successful because, with God’s help, we seek to protect every human person in the state of Colorado. We have truth, medicine, and scientific fact on our side. The people behind Amendment 62 have given their all to see Personhood on the ballot, because they are passionate about defending human life.”

Volunteer researchers for Personhood Colorado discovered that although quite a few pro-life ballot initiatives were attempted on a wide range of pro-life issues, yet only Colorado’s Personhood Amendment was successful for the November 2010 ballot.

“Personhood Nevada, Personhood Alaska, and Personhood Missouri were denied their rights to even begin collecting signatures, which is why you won’t see Personhood on the ballot anywhere other than Colorado,” clarified Cal Zastrow, co-founder of Personhood USA. “The ACLU and Planned Parenthood joined forces in the name of baby murder to keep us from moving forward in Nevada and Missouri, in particular. We are looking forward to Personhood in Mississippi in 2011 and Florida in 2012, and of course, to victory in Colorado this November.”

“Personhood is about recognizing the dignity of every human life – the young, old, disabled, or infirm – every human has a right to live,” explained Gualberto Garcia-Jones, sponsor of Amendment 62. “Amendment 62 will protect every person, regardless of their circumstances, by love and by law. To be a person is to be protected by a series of God-given and constitutionally protected rights. ALL human beings are people, and must be recognized as such. A “Yes on 62” vote is a vote for life. ”

Personhood Colorado is a grassroots organization comprised of Colorado citizens who value all human life, from biological beginning to natural death. Personhood Colorado has sponsored the Personhood Amendment to the Colorado constitution, which reads: “Section 32. Person defined. As used in sections 3*, 6**, and 25*** of Article II of the state constitution, the term “person” shall apply to every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being.”
www.personhoodcolorado.com