Monday, February 1, 2010

Establishing Personhood in Colorado


I am passionate about the personhood of the unborn. I am also a firm believer in the fact that our government's job (in fact, one of it's ONLY jobs) is to protect the citizens of this country. As it is in our country right now, the government is failing. Let me be very clear: Our government is MISERABLY failing in the task of protecting its citizens because it can't even protect the most innocent and vulnerable Americans. Let me be very clear again: Our government is not even ATTEMPTING to protect the most innocent and vulnerable Americans.

The fact that I believe the government is meant to protect the people and the fact that I'm passionate about the personhood of the unborn is what draws me to Personhood USA. I know that some Christians and Prolife groups believe in separating politics from abortion. They believe that education and love of people will accomplish the goal of ending abortion. I am thankful for those people and groups and I believe in the work they're doing. But I am very convinced that in a political society politics MUST be involved in ending abortion. Defining the unborn as persons in our laws will be a huge step toward ending abortion all together. Personhood USA is stepping up to involve citizens in the Personhood effort all over the country. Colorado was the very first state to step up to the plate with the 2008 Personhood Initiative (This is very appropriate, considering that Colorado was the first state to legalize abortion.), Amendment 48. Not being successful in voting it in, the Colorado citizens have again stepped up to try try again.

I am not an outgoing person. In fact, I'm just the opposite when it comes to most social situations. If I don't know the crowd I'm in, I tend to like to blend in. Last year I signed up to collect signatures for the Personhood Colorado campaign. The goal is to get an amendment on the ballot, once again, that would define a "person" in the Colorado Constitution as a human being from the beginning of their biological development (i.e. from conception). Being a petition circulator is something that sounded incredibly attractive to me. But I didn't think about it before jumping in. I just went with it. Then I realized that being a petition circulator meant some effort was going to be put out on my part. People weren't just going to run up and ask me if they could sign my petition section. Oh how easy life would be if that was the case. But life isn't easy, is it?

Actually, it didn't start out that hard, to be honest. I knew of a few people who would absolutely sign the petition. When I approached them their enthusiasm encouraged me. So then I had... less than a page of signatures.

From there it got a little more difficult, but not much. I collected signatures at two Tea Party rallies. Nearly ever person I approached wanted to sign it. Some had already signed it. Only a hand full of people said they didn't want to sign it, but they weren't argumentative. One of my greatest encouragements was meeting a young man who was so excited about the petition that he wanted to collect signatures too. I gave him an extra petition section I had, and he started collecting signatures right then and there! His enthusiasm encouraged me. And because he was in the same boat as me, we were able to correspond occasionally about collecting.

With a lack of rallies in the last few months, I felt slightly out of the signature collecting loop. Many events to collect were in the Denver area and it's not easy for me to get down there that often. I knew about the opportunity to collect signatures at Safeway. But I wasn't sure that route was the best one for me. Why? Well, it would take me MAJORLY out of my comfort zone. I'd be "one of those" annoying people that stands outside of a store and chases you down as you try to leave. And it would require me to approach random people. Not people at Tea Party rallies who for the most part are supportive of my cause. People that might.. DISAGREE.

As the deadline to turn in signatures got closer, I realized I needed to do something. My petition section was still lacking. Safeway. That's all there was to do. So I went. What an experience. What a COOL experience. Yes, I was completely taken out of my comfort zone and I had to approach whoever came out the doors. Yes, many people saw me as "one of those" annoying people. They rushed off as I tried to talk to them. Some people didn't want to sign it. One woman became very angry and began arguing at me. AT me because I didn't say much back to her. But in one hour I collected a whole page of signatures. Could have done better. But I could have done worse too, by not going.

Today I read an article by Mr. Bryan Kemper, founder of Stand True. The following is taken from his article:

"When will we as the human race stop discriminating against our fellow human persons; when will be come together and stand for the protection of all life? When will we see relief efforts for the almost 4,000 human children who are facing a horrible death every day in this country, and the over 100,000 around the world?"


I wrote all of this to say that as we live our lives, children are dying. As we are living our busy and comfortable lives it's easy to forget that children in our very own country, state, and city are being murdered. Why? Because we don't see it. We don't hear about it. The media doesn't let us know. It's easy to become oblivious or to just not care. I want to ask you to help in the effort of establishing the unborn as people. We are coming down to the last few days of collecting signatures. My petition will be notarized and turned in at the end of this week. If you happen to see this and are a registered voter in the state of Colorado, I'd be happy to have you sign my petition. If you're not close enough, I'm sure I can find someone in your area who is collecting signatures. Every signature will count. It's going to be close.

Please pray for the efforts of Personhood Colorado in the final days of collecting signatures.

If you are not in Colorado, don't feel left out. The Personhood effort is all over the country. Go to www.personhoodusa.com to get involved.

"Be the saviour of those who are given up to death, and do not keep back help from those who are slipping to destruction." Proverbs 24:11

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