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AP17:063

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 8, 2017
Contact:
Jesse Melgar or Sam Mahood
(916) 653-6575

Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation

Criminalizes abortion as first-degree murder and expands definition of abortion to include certain forms of birth control, some medical research, and many in vitro fertilization procedures. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.

SACRAMENTO – Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced the proponent of a new initiative was cleared to begin collecting petition signatures this past Wednesday. 

The Attorney General prepares the legal title and summary that is required to appear on initiative petitions. When the official language is complete, the Attorney General forwards it to the proponent and to the Secretary of State, and the initiative may be circulated for signatures. The Secretary of State then provides calendar deadlines to the proponent and to county elections officials. The Attorney General’s official title and summary for the measure is as follows: 

CRIMINALIZES ABORTION AS FIRST-DEGREE MURDER AND EXPANDS DEFINITION OF ABORTION TO INCLUDE CERTAIN FORMS OF BIRTH CONTROL, SOME MEDICAL RESEARCH, AND MANY IN VITRO FERTILIZATION PROCEDURES. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Eliminates a woman’s state constitutional privacy right to terminate a pregnancy, and to use certain birth control methods. Outlaws: abortion including cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the woman; intentionally terminating a fertilized egg; most embryonic stem cell research, some fetal tissue research; and many in vitro fertilization procedures. Women, medical professionals, researchers, and others, who violate these restrictions would be guilty of first-degree murder. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Assuming that provisions of the U.S. Constitution would prevent the initiative from taking effect, voter approval of this measure would have no impact on state and local finances. (17-0008.) 

The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1804 and the Attorney General’s tracking number is 17-0008.

The proponent of the measure, Daniel Ehinger, must collect the signatures of 585,407 registered voters (eight percent of the total votes cast for Governor in the November 2014 general election) in order to qualify it for the ballot. The proponent has 180 days to circulate petitions for the measure, meaning the signatures must be submitted to county elections officials no later than March 5, 2018. The proponent can be reached at (818) 863-6228. 

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