The Colorado state legislature passed a birth control protection bill this week in a primarily party-line vote. The bill (see PDF), entitled the Birth Control Protection Act, legally defines ‘contraceptive’ and ‘contraception’ as “a medically acceptable drug, device, or procedure used to prevent pregnancy,” but does not apply to mifepristone. Governor Bill Ritter is expected to sign the bill.
According to the Colorado Independent, the bill was crafted to prevent future legal challenges similar to the Amendment 48 campaign in the last election cycle.
Amendment 48 (see PDF) was a personhood initiative that declared a fertilized egg to be a person who enjoys all constitutional rights “relating to inalienable rights, equality of justice, and due process of law”. Personhood initiatives not only put a woman’s right to an abortion in danger but also threaten oral and emergency contraception, IUDs, and in vitro fertilization clinics.
