Denver, CO (LifeNews.com) -- A constitutional amendment that would define unborn children as persons under law and could lead to a major abortion battle will appear on the November ballot. The Colorado Secretary of State's office notified leaders of Colorado for Equal Rights that enough valid signatures were submitted to qualify it.The measure would define unborn children as persons under state law from the moment of fertilization and it could set off a statewide battle over abortion, embryonic stem cell research and other practices that kill people before birth.
The pro-life group submitted almost twice as many signatures as necessary.
They needed 76,000 signatures to get the measure on the ballot but turned in 131,245 earlier this month. The Secretary of State's Office's random sampling indicated that there were 103,377 valid signatures.
Kristi Burton, a young woman who is the leader of the amendment effort, told LifeNews.com she's excited that Colorado, the site of the nation's first pre-Roe law legalizing abortion, will be the place of the first vote to restore personhood to unborn children.
"The people of Colorado have spoken, the Secretary of State's Office has certified our signatures, and our equal rights amendment will be on November's ballot," she said.
"All humans should be protected by love and by law, and this amendment is a historic effort to ensure equal rights for every person," Burton said.
Burton said the measure qualified in part because of the unparalleled grassroots effort the organization received. The grassroots initiative had over 1,300 volunteer petition circulators.
"We at Colorado for Equal Rights are incredibly thankful for our many volunteers who worked so hard for each signature we delivered to the Secretary of State's Office and the churches who stood behind us and supported us," Burton continued. "This victory is the voice of the people and all credit goes our Creator."
Abortion advocates have already staged rallies and are organizing efforts to defeat the measure at the polls in the fall. They are expected to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat it.
Pro-life advocates in Colorado are split on the idea with some favoring the proposal and others saying it would be overturned in the courts as unconstitutional and that pro-life groups should continue fighting to change the Supreme Court and overturn Roe v. Wade, which allowed virtually unlimited abortions for the last 35 years.
Related web sites:
Colorado for Equal Rights - http://www.voteyescolorado.com