Letter to the Editor: "Eggs Aren't People"

Author: Diana Hsieh (CSG Founder)
Media: Colorado Daily
Date: October 7th, 2008

Eggs Aren't People

Ilana Fischer is right to oppose Amendment 48, the ballot measure that would grant fertilized eggs the full legal rights of persons in the Colorado constitution ("'Personhood' bill is dangerous," Oct 5). However, the measure would do far more than just ban abortion, if passed and enforced.

Amendment 48 would make abortion first-degree murder, except perhaps to save the woman's life. First-degree murder is defined in Colorado law as deliberately causing the death of a "person," a crime punished by life in prison or the death penalty. So women and their doctors would be punished with the severest possible penalty under law for terminating a pregnancy -- even in cases of rape, incest, and fetal deformity.

Amendment 48 has very sharp teeth. By fabricating rights for fertilized eggs, the measure would grossly violate the rights of the people of Colorado. Please vote no.

Diana Hsieh

CU Ph.D candidate

Note: Two additional examples of the effects of Amendment 48 were omitted from this letter as printed:

Amendment 48 would ban any form of birth control that might sometimes prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus -- including the birth control pill, morning-after pill, and IUD. The result would be many more unintended pregnancies and unwanted children in Colorado.

Amendment 48 would ban in vitro fertilization because the process usually creates more fertilized eggs than can be safely implanted in the womb. So every year, hundreds of Colorado couples would be denied the joy of a child of their own.

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