August 12, 2013 02:45 PM UTC

Bernie Herpin, Time To Dance With "Personhood"

• 13 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

The GOP successor candidate in the SD-11 recall special election, former Colorado Springs city councilor Bernie Herpin, is pushing back angrily against the accusation that he is a supporter of the so-called "Personhood" abortion bans that have failed in Colorado over several consecutive election cycles. As the Colorado Independent noted updating their report on the matter after belatedly hearing from Herpin's campaign:

The Herpin mailer refers to his alleged support as city council member of the “personhood” movement, which seeks to outlaw abortion by granting full legal rights to fertilized human eggs, or “life from the moment of conception,” as supporters put it. Analysts have said personhood would amount to sweeping changes in the law, where countless statutes would have to be reworked and legal interpretations extended broadly and perhaps to absurd ends, where not only birth control would be outlawed but also where activities like drinking, smoking and raw-cheese eating, for example, could turn pregnant women into suspects or criminals.*

Herpin didn’t answer calls Thursday from the Independent seeking comment. But subsequent to publication, his campaign told the Independent that, although he is pro-life, there is “no evidence” that he has ever supported the personhood movement and that, in fact, Herpin does not support personhood [Pols emphasis] and has never signed a personhood petition.

First and foremost, the attack mailer the Independent's story this weekend reports on, and that Herpin is responding to above, does not allege he signed a petition to place any of the "personhood" ballot initiatives before Colorado voters. As our readers know, the "personhood" abortion ban campaign seeks a constitutional amendment declaring that human life begins "at conception," or at the moment an egg becomes fertilized by a sperm. The logical consequences that follow from that declaration, including a ban on all abortions and even birth control that could harm a fertilized egg, are not expressly defined in the amendment but fully understood.

With that in mind, where does Bernie Herpin actually stand on the underlying issue? For that, we turn to the Pikes Peak Citizens for Life city council candidate questionnaire from last April: 

The answers to these questions, especially #4 where Herpin says that we "become persons" at the "single cell" stage of development, constitute the literal response required by supporters of "personhood" to call someone a supporter of their movement. The fact that the "personhood" initiative has failed in Colorado over and over by seventy percent margins, while remaining a litmus test for Republican candidates, is why they avoid mentioning their support for it at all costs outside of a very narrow audience.

And yes, folks, this means Bernie Herpin "supports a plan that would deny women access to common forms of birth control."

From Bob Schaffer in 2008 to Joe Coors in 2012, Republicans have tried and failed to explain their stand on "personhood" in a way that either placates the hard-liners or keeps them electable–leading directly to this awkward dance around the issue in election after election. Despite the insistence that this isn't "the issue they're running on," predictable failure to adequately respond to questions about abortion has become a very effective way to sink Republican candidates. This issue, which a small segment of the GOP base demands total compliance on, repels too many swing voters in a general election–but dogmatic obsession with the issue among anti-abortion activists prevents Republicans from running away from it.

Folks, we didn't make this rule. But it's a rule. And it applies to Bernie Herpin too.