Assignment for Robert Novak

Dear Mr. Novak,

Please read the following articles, and then explain why "jailing women [for abortion] is a spurious issue" that no Republican candidate should be expected to address:

Court Clears Way for Egg Rights Showdown (Wash. Post 11/13)

DENVER -- The Colorado Supreme Court cleared the way Tuesday for an anti-abortion group to collect signatures for a ballot measure that would define a fertilized egg as a person.

The court approved the language of the proposal, rejecting a challenge from abortion-rights supporters who argued it was misleading and dealt with more than one subject in violation of the state constitution.

If approved by voters, the measure would give fertilized eggs the state constitutional protections of inalienable rights, justice and due process.

Jore looking to challenge abortion law  (Helena Indep. Record 11/14)

State Rep. Rick Jore of Ronan, a staunch abortion opponent, hopes to have Montana voters decide next year whether the state constitution should define “person” in such a way as to outlaw abortion.

Jore, the Legislature’s only Constitution Party member, is proposing a ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to define person as “a human being at all stages of human development or life, including the state of fertilization.”

If the measure gets on the 2008 general election ballot and is approved, essentially defining life as beginning at conception, the Montana Legislature would have little choice but to outlaw abortion, Jore said Tuesday....

It would establish constitutional rights for a fetus or human embryo, so they could not be deprived of “life, liberty and property” without due process of law, Jore said....

“My view of ‘due process’ is that you have to have had a trial and be found guilty, and I have a very hard time understanding how we could find an unborn child guilty of anything,” Jore said.

Sincerely,

Caitlin Borgmann