Is it an egg? Is it a bird? No, it's a person. At least, that's the contention of the framers of a ballot proposition which received approval from Colorado's supreme court last week.
The proposition, which will make the ballot next year provided its backers collect the necessary 76,000 signatures, aims to give fertilized human eggs - or embryos - the same constitutional rights of due process and justice afforded you or I. Not everyone is happy about this. And a lot of people are unhappy with the people who are not happy.
As critics of the measure point out, the language approved by the court makes no mention of abortion, embryo or egg. Its defenders point out that it is simply intended to extend legal protections to all human life, regardless of maturity and has little to do with the abortion debate or stem cell research.
AP reports that similar initiatives are being prepared in five other states: Montana, Georgia, Oregon, Michigan and South Carolina. Naturally, none of this has anything to do with the strange resurgence of social issues at election time.
