By: Elan Waite

After driving down Interstate-75 for any given amount of time, you’re bound to see a few staple billboards. The group of vandalizing cows painting “eat more chicken,” the hot and ready boiled peanuts at the next exit, and every so often, the one that reads that a fetus has a heartbeat 18 days after conception.

In November, Colorado will vote on Amendment 67. This amendment will essentially include unborn human beings as people in the criminal code.

The fight is one that has gone on for years and will continue to go on for years to come. While both sides are adamant about their stance, we must respect the laws in place.

The fact of the matter is that the amendment is a facade, one that will result in the slow and steady removal of the rights already laid out in Roe vs. Wade. If the idea that a human being is a human from the point of fertilization to the point of its last breath, the definition of murder will expand with it. With these guidelines in place, one could argue that many things are murder, any procedure that may save a pregnant woman’s life but may result in the death of the unborn child can be placed in that category as well.

Even though the amendment has been narrowed down to include the unborn in the Colorado criminal code and the Colorado Wrongful Death Act, it’s still is something that should worry voters both in Colorado and in the nation. This is a stab at women’s rights that the support of enough people can cause major changes to the abortion rights put in place now.