Campbell Certifies Legal Personhood Initiative
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 09-004
(October 22, 2009 Anchorage, Alaska) – Lieutenant Governor Craig E. Campbell today certified an initiative that would extend legal person status to the pre-birth stages of human development. The bill would recognize a legal person starting from the point of conception. This bill would not amend or repeal existing state law regulating abortion, but would likely impact other areas of the law to extend rights prior to birth. This certification allows the initiative sponsors to proceed with gathering signatures required to place the measure on the ballot.
Lieutenant Governor Campbell’s decision to certify the initiative, known as 09LPHB, was supported by a Department of Law legal opinion. The Department of Law’s opinion, dated October 22, 2009, concluded that the bill and application are in the proper form, and that the application complies with the constitutional and statutory provisions governing the use of the initiative.
Petition booklets will be prepared by the Alaska Division of Elections. The sponsors will have one year to gather at least 32,734 valid signatures, composed of at least seven percent of the last general election turnout from thirty election districts in order for the proposed bill to be placed on a ballot.
The Lieutenant Governor’s letter to the initiative sponsors, the Department of Law’s legal opinion, and the Division of Elections memorandum are available online at: http://initiatives.alaska.gov.
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