Legendary human rights leader Dolores Huerta will be in Denver, Colorado next Friday to Get Out the Vote for the 2014 election.
Huerta, a Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree, will be on the educational facility the Auraria Campus to take a stand against proposed Amendment 67, a personhood initiative on the Colorado ballot this Fall aimed at restricting abortion and birth control access.
If passed, Amendment 67 would extend the definition of “person” and “child” to a fertilized egg in the Colorado criminal code and Wrongful Death Act. The measure is a what some call a trigger law, meaning that if Roe v. Wade were ever overturned, then the amendment would be “triggered,” automatically banning all abortions, even in the case of rape, incest, or the save the life or health of the woman.
“Dolores is an important voice in Colorado, Latinas/os are a growing and powerful voting constituency – especially among young people,” says duVergne Gaines, director of the Feminist Majority Foundation Choices Program. “There is no better person to sound the alarm about how deceptive and harmful this amendment is to women’s lives, including cutting off all access to abortion and birth control.”
Amendment 67 would not only cut off all access to abortion, but if passed, it would subject any woman whose pregnancy did not result in a live birth, including women who have a miscarriage, to a criminal investigation. Moreover, it would also subject a woman’s healthcare provider to a criminal investigation. By giving legal rights to fertilized eggs, the measure could also restrict access to birth control, including IUDs, the pill, and emergency contraception. Amendment 67 would even ban in-vitro fertilization for women who want to get pregnant.
Huerta will be speaking at the 11:30 am assembly preceding a 12:00 noon Rally in an effort to encourage Colorado students to Vote No on 67 and ensure that women in Colorado have access to safe and legal abortion, birth control, and comprehensive reproductive health care.
Media Resources: Ms. Magazine Fall 2014; Vote No on 67
