Lawsuit Filed To Block Alaska Ballot Initiative Declaring Fetuses 'Legal Persons'

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The Alaska Civil Liberties Union is supporting a lawsuit filed last week by plaintiffs that include Vic Fischer, a former Democratic legislator and delegate to the state constitutional convention, to block a proposed ballot initiative that seeks to codify that "all human beings, from the beginning of their biological development as human organisms, including the single-cell embryo, ... shall be recognized as legal persons in the state of Alaska," the Anchorage Daily News reports. Opponents of the ballot initiative argue that its broad language would amount to a ban on abortion services and some forms of contraception, including emergency contraception and intrauterine devices.

Attorney General Dan Sullivan (R) issued an opinion saying the initiative would not make abortion illegal, though he suggested that the measure include a disclaimer stating that it "would not amend or repeal existing state law regulating abortion, but could impact some areas of the law, including criminal law, to extend rights and protections prior to birth." According to the Daily News, Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell (R) added that language to the measure before certifying it.

The suit argues that Campbell should not have certified the initiative. It is seeking to stop its sponsors from collecting signatures to place the proposal on the 2010 state ballot. Supporters of the initiative will have to obtain 32,734 signatures to add it to the ballot for the 2010 election, unless the suit halts their efforts, the Daily News reports (Cockerham, Anchorage Daily News, 11/28).

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