Vote against CI-100

Rev. Ronald C. Greene, 52 Cherokee Drive, Great Falls - 06/01/08

I believe in religious freedom — and I know most Montanans support the right of our citizens to make their own individual decisions of faith.

That’s why I’m asking people not to support CI-100, the extremist initiative to impose a particular religious belief on our entire state by extending constitutional rights to fertilized eggs.

People of faith — including Christians — have different convictions of when human life begins. Even with these diverse beliefs, most religions don’t assign personhood to a fertilized egg. Catholics do not baptize a fetus after a miscarriage for theological reasons.

CI-100 is not good theology and it is not sound medical science. This initiative is a bad idea that could lead to investigations of women suffering miscarriages, punishment of women for having inadequate prenatal care, prohibition of certain birth control methods, and the banning of stem cell research and in vitro fertilization.

Please don’t restrict women’s abilities to make their own personal decisions about reproductive health care. If you’re really opposed to abortion, let’s work together to provide accurate sex education to our youth and ensure access to affordable birth control for all women.