“Personhood” Proponents Fail to Gather a Sufficient Number of Signatures to Certify for the November Ballot

For Immediate Release: Jan. 30, 2014

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“Women across Colorado are sighing with relief,” said Vicki Cowart, PPRM CEO.

DENVER – Following the Secretary of State’s announcement today that the proponents of the “personhood” amendment did not qualify their proposed ballot initiative for the November ballot, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains’ CEO and President Vicki Cowart said this:

“Women across Colorado are sighing with relief. Today is a victory for women’s health.

“The fact that Personhood Colorado was not able to qualify their measure on the 2012 ballot demonstrates how out of touch their agenda is with Colorado values.

“Health decisions should be left to a woman, her doctor, her family and her faith—not politicians—Coloradans know this.

“Let today be a signal to personhood supporters who return to Colorado year after year with anti-woman, anti-family, anti-patient privacy ballot proposals—Coloradans have said ‘no’ to intrusion into our personal, private medical decisions and we mean it.”

Background
“Personhood” amendments are a direct attempt to ban all abortion, specifically for victims of rape and incest. They put politicians, lawyers and courts between a woman and her doctor, taking away a woman’s ability to make decisions about her own body. This includes important decisions such as what birth control to use, fertility treatments, the treatment of miscarriages, and whether or not to end a pregnancy. Colorado voters overwhelmingly rejected “personhood” in 2008 and 2010 – by three-to-one margins.

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Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains empowers individuals and families in the communities we serve to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health by providing high quality health services, comprehensive sex education, and strategic advocacy. More than 123,000 women, men, and young adults annually visit our 28 health centers throughout Colorado, New Mexico, Southern Nevada, and Wyoming. Since 1916, we have been the region’s most trusted provider of reproductive health care. For more information about Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, call 1.800.230.PLAN or visit pprm.org for the health center nearest you.