Personhood initiative lining up friends and foes

A version of the anti-abortion initiative soundly defeated by Colorado voters in 2008 is making its way to the 2010 ballot, this time reworked as an “egg-as-a-person” initiative. This new version would move the legal definition of a person further back into the reproductive cycle, granting cells the full spectrum of citizen rights. Opposition groups, including Colorado genetic and fertilization researchers, say the law would have spiraling consequences, that it would put women at risk and freeze current work in medicine and reproduction.

Vehicle-impound initiatives test Colorado ballot system

In the debate surrounding Colorado’s famously loose ballot initiative system, the so-called impound initiatives introduced repeatedly in local municipalities over the past three years might serve as a test case. This year, they have been introduced in Denver and two of its suburbs, Aurora and Lakewood. The proposed laws would require police to seize the vehicles of every unlicensed driver they stop.

But the initiatives aren’t primarily about keeping the roads safe and the man behind them doesn’t live in Denver, Aurora or Lakewood. As many know by now, the man behind the initiatives is Daniel Hayes. He lives in unincorporated Jefferson County and his initiatives are a weapon in his personal battle against illegal immigrants.