Press Release

Denver, Colo. — The Colorado Secretary of State’s Title Board approved Personhood Colorado’s new amendment language Wednesday night prompting Planned Parenthood to announce an appeal of the decision to the state Supreme Court. The board ruled 2-1, allowing the measure to advance to the statewide petition. Opponents have five days to file the challenge.

“We feared that having to come back again for a third attempt might have caused some fatigue in our volunteers, but Planned Parenthood’s attempt to block our efforts will help us by uniting and reminding pro-life advocates of why we are fighting and who we are fighting against,” said Personhood Colorado Director Gualberto Garcia Jones, J.D.

Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountain released a statement claiming that the amendment will violate the single-subject rule which limits citizen initiatives to one issue, a charge that has twice been rejected by the board and by the Court in 2008.

Similar to the previous challenges, attorneys for the abortion proponents will argue that the new proposal is “vague” despite the inclusion of a host of new clarifying details.

The 2012 Colorado Personhood Amendment reads: “In order to affirm basic human dignity, be it resolved that the right to life in this constitution applies equally to all innocent persons.”

Revisions in the new language will list the effects of enacting the measure protecting the right to life of every human being. This includes that only birth control devices that kill a person shall be affected, and only assisted reproduction methods that kill a person shall be affected. The amendment will not affect spontaneous miscarriages, and will not affect “medical treatment for life threatening physical conditions intended to preserve life.” The latter is defined as including but “not limited to treatment for cancer, ectopic and molar pregnancy, twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, and placenta previa.”

“Planned Parenthood’s challenge does not come as a surprise. They are losing the battle in the court of public opinion, and the improved language only ensures that this trend will continue,” continued Garcia Jones. “The abortion industry is really only left with one option. It is the same tactic they used to impose abortion on the entire nation— take the decision out of the hands of the people.”

The latest annual report from Planned Parenthood shows an increase of over $120 million in government funding. The group received $487 million dollars from the taxpayers in 2010.

“It’s not enough that they take our money to continue leading the nation in the number of abortions committed,” said Garcia Jones. “They also want to take away our right to petition.”

Des Moines, IA -- Four Republican candidates participated in a pro-life forum Tuesday night, answering tough questions about pro-life issues. The National Presidential Pro-life Forum was the first of its kind, focusing solely on the sanctity of life. The event was sponsored by several prominent pro-life organizations including Personhood USA, a grassroots, Christian organization providing assistance for state groups working to recognize the rights of every human being at every age. Champion the Vote, an organization committed to actively advancing traditional values, co-sponsored the event which had over 26,000 participants in the simulcast tele-town hall.

The forum was hosted by Steve Deace, a nationally syndicated radio host, and broadcast on his Salem Network program and 88 of Bott Radio Network’s radio stations across the country.

When asked about his signature on the Personhood USA Presidential Pledge in which candidates are required to recognize the right to life of all persons “without exception and without compromise," Texas Governor Rick Perry cited a recent conversation with international pro-life speaker and Personhood USA spokeswoman Rebecca Kiessling. “We had a fairly lengthy and heartfelt conversation about how she was conceived in rape. Looking in her eyes, I couldn’t come up with an answer to defend the exceptions for rape and incest,” said Perry. “Over the course of the last few weeks, the Christmas holiday, and reflecting on that--I would suggest that my pro-life position has been rather strong as the Governor of Texas--but she made a statement to me that was really profound and pierced my heart. As I signed that document, I will suggest to you that all I can tell you is God was working on my heart.”

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann used the opportunity to reiterate her intention to actively pursue the repeal of Obamacare and a federal personhood bill protecting every human being from the moment of conception until natural death. “What we need to do to upend Roe vs. Wade and end the horrible holocaust of life in the United States is pass the personhood amendment… We don’t have to wait just for the Supreme Court, we can be involved in this ourselves,” said Bachmann. "The one thing we can’t get wrong in this election is the life issue… Of all of the candidates in this race, I am the only one who will repeal Obamacare."

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was asked what a personhood bill pursuant to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution would entail. "The act would be a very simple one that would recognize life from conception to natural death as what it is, a human life. We do not differentiate stages of development, or mental capacity, or capacity at the end of life, as being any less of a person,” replied Santorum. “Personhood is defined as an entity that is genetically human and alive--it is a person as contemplated under our Constitution. The legislation would be one that is simple, and brief, and to the point." Following the line of questioning, Santorum was asked what his response would be if the Supreme Court were to strike down the law. “You do what you always do in every case when the Court strikes it down, you fight,” he continued.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was asked similarly about personhood legislation. “It’s based on the fact that in the Constitution, in the 14th Amendment, it says very specifically: Congress shall define ‘What is a ‘person?’” he said. “I think one way to solve this would be to write the bill so that it is not appealable.” When asked what steps he would take to ensure that taxpayer dollars were not used to pay for abortion. "On the very first day I will sign an Executive Order reinstating Ronald Reagan’s Mexican City Policy,” Gingrich concluded. “I will also move to defund Planned Parenthood and transfer the money from Planned Parenthood to adoption services. I would also overhaul the U.S. Foreign service to get rid of the people who are aggressively pro-abortion. "

“We’re so grateful that the candidates who are joining us on this call have signed the personhood pledge, participated in the forum, and made commitments on behalf of the preborn child,” added Keith Mason, President of Personhood USA. “I think it’s important to have the candidate’s positions on life known. Now it is critical that the people of Iowa show up to vote."

ARVADA, Colo. -- Texas Congressman Ron Paul became the fifth Republican presidential candidate to sign the Personhood Presidential Candidate Pledge on Thursday.  Personhood USA received a signed copy of the pledge along with a statement attempting to clarify his position on the personhood rights of the preborn.

Paul joins Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and Texas Governor Rick Perry in signing the organization’s Personhood Republican Presidential Candidate Pledge.

Paul, well known for his defense of liberty, authored an addendum to the signed pledge in which he stated, “You can’t have Liberty without Life.”  

“I don't just believe life begins at conception; I know it as a scientific certainty,” he writes.

Upon receiving the signed pledge with the addendum, Personhood USA requested clarification from the Paul campaign for inconsistencies between the accompanying statement and the pledge language.

The pledge requires that the candidates “stand…with the Republican Party platform in affirming that [they] “support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and endorse legislation to make clear that the 14th Amendment protections apply to unborn children.”

Regarding the latter, Rep. Paul stated that “The Fourteenth Amendment was never intended to cancel out the Tenth Amendment. This means that I can’t agree that the Fourteenth Amendment has a role to play here, or otherwise we would end up with a ‘Federal Department of Abortion.’” 

The 14th amendment, which protects individual liberties from state encroachment, requires that:  "No State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” 

“We should allow our republican system of government to function as our Founders designed it to: protect rights at the federal level, enforce laws against violence at the state level,” writes Paul.

“The United States suffered through a terrible civil war precisely because the federal government left it to the states to decide whether an entire class of people were to be considered persons or property,” explained Personhood USA Legal Analyst Gualberto Garcia Jones, J.D.

“If Rep. Ron Paul believes that the preborn are persons under the law, why wouldn't they be protected under the 14th amendment?” asks Garcia Jones.  “Rep. Paul's vague statement on the duty of the federal government to ‘protect rights’ is without effect if there is no mechanism for guaranteeing those protections.”

“Personhood USA understands and agrees with Rep. Paul, that crimes, including murder, are to be prohibited by state laws,” continued Garcia Jones.  “However, pro-lifers are left wondering how a President Paul would seek to protect the right to life in states that would choose to continue to allow abortion after Roe vs. Wade is overturned.”

DENVER, Colo. — 12/22/2011 — The Colorado Secretary of State’s Title Board voted Wednesday night allowing Personhood Colorado’s proposed personhood amendment to proceed. In a 3-0 decision, the board dismissed a challenge filed by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. This is the third such challenge filed by the pro-abortion coalition in an attempt to block a Colorado personhood measure based on the requirement that ballot initiatives be limited in scope to a single subject. The decision is the third straight victory for the Colorado right to life advocates.

Personhood Colorado submitted new language for 2012 reading: “In order to affirm basic human dignity, be it resolved that the right to life in this constitution applies equally to all innocent persons.” The amendment defines “person” as applying “to every human being regardless of the method of creation” and “human being” as “a member of the species homo sapiens at any stage of development.”

The amendment language also clarifies the effects of enacting a personhood measure. In keeping with the prohibition on killing innocent persons, the new section will specify that only birth control and assisted reproduction methods that kill developing preborn human beings would be affected.

Spending much of the last two election cycles battling misinformation propagated by personhood opponents, the drafters of the amendment also cite the fact that spontaneous miscarriages and “medical treatment for life threatening physical conditions intended to preserve life” would not be affected by the enactment of a personhood measure. The latter is defined as including but “not limited to treatment for cancer, ectopic and molar pregnancy, twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, and placenta previa.”

Organizers will have 180 days from the date the format of the petition is approved to submit 85,853 signatures required for ballot access.

“The Colorado Title Board is to be applauded for their discernment,” said Gualberto Garcia Jones, J.D., Director of Personhood Colorado. “Constitutions guarantee many rights, generally with numerous effects, but each is a single principle of law. This amendment simply affirms the most basic of all human rights—the right to live—for all people including the youngest and most vulnerable members of our human family.”

On Monday, Personhood Arkansas submitted the Arkansas Personhood Amendment to the state’s Attorney General, and on Wednesday, Personhood Ohio submitted the required number of initial petition signatures with an amendment protecting the rights of all persons. Both include similar language clarifying the true effects of personhood.