October 13, 2014 12:35 PM UTC

Gardner knew about birth-control ban, says pro-personhood group

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• by: Jason Salzman

(Gardner's amazingly selective ignorance – Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Colorado Senatorial Candidate Cory Gardner withdrew his support from state personhood amendments because, he told The Denver Post's Lynn Bartels, he didn't understand that the measures would ban birth control.

Everyone rolled their eyes and moved on, as if to say,"It's obvious he's gunning for female votes statewide, so who cares if he might be lying."

To their credit, reporters cited Gardner's legislation that would have banned some forms of birth control, but, given Gardner's in-bedness with personhood supporters throughout his political career, you'd think we'd have seen more about what Gardner really knew and when he knew it.

Now, with ballots arriving in your mailbox (Yeah!)  this week, comes a blog post from Colorado Right to Life, which was a major backer of personhood efforts in Colorado, stating, yes, Gardner knew all along about the birth control ban.

Colorado Right to Life: As you probably heard, Cory Gardner announced publicly that he no longer supports Personhood. He apologized for ever supporting it. He said he was well-meaning, but it was a mistake.

Of course the reason he gave for not supporting Personhood — that it would ban "contraceptives" — is completely false, and is a propaganda claim of NARAL and Planned Parenthood that is often repeated by the media.

Cory Gardner has attended briefings on Personhood by CRTL where this was discussed — Cory should KNOW better! But since he knew it was a false statement and he made it anyway, we can only conclude he has made a cynical choice to give up on principles so he would be more attractive to moderate voters.

As Bob Beauprez reminded us, personhood backers oppose birth control, like IUDs and Plan B, which they say threated or destroy zygotes (or fertilized eggs).

I get into this in more detail in a post this morning on RH Reality Check, but I reached out to Colorado Right to Life for more details on Gardner's briefings and got no response.

Personhood USA spokeswoman Jennifer Mason told me via email that, when Gardner was in the state legislature, Colorado Right to Life gave legislative briefings "detailing the effects of the amendment."

"I would assume that he attended, given his position at that time, but I couldn't guarantee anything," she wrote.