News & Commentary

10/7

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DENVER – All of Colorado’s county jails have now confirmed to the ACLU of Colorado that they no longer honor detainer requests from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

-- more -- Statement To Oppose Amendment 67 By Colorado Faith Leaders As faith leaders, we stand in opposition to Amendment 67. By establishing fertilized eggs as persons, this amendment will in effect outlaw and criminalize abortion under any circumstance, including rape, incest and the life and health risks of the mother. Amendment 67 would effectively put into the Colorado Constitution one religious position, negating other faithful perspectives on this issue. It would, therefore, take away the religious freedom of many people of faith who respect the private rights of women and families to make personal choices based upon their own conscience. We believe religious freedom is one of the foundations of our democracy, and one religious belief or doctrine should not be written into the state Constitution. There are many religious perspectives on this issue, and many Christian, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist and other people of faith agree strongly that a woman can make a faithful decision for an abortion under many circumstances, a decision that is loving, fair, and ethical based upon her own personal medical history, beliefs and needs. These issues of reproductive justice are played out in public, but we know as clergy that individual women and their families are the ones who suffer in private. We have walked with women who have been abused and violated, and we have struggled with women and families who must make heartrending decisions about their own lives and the future of their families. We respect open and public dialogue on these issues which affect public policy and the common good, and which include religious perspectives. We do not agree among ourselves as to where each line needs to be drawn, but Amendment 67 goes too far and is too extreme, leaving no ground for the protection of women nor their personal ethical agency to make decisions based upon advice from their doctors, support from their clergy, and their relationship with God. Please stand with us and vote NO on Amendment 67.