Vital Signs: Babies are people too, even in Colorado

Personhood in Colorado. Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler announced Monday that the Definition of Person and Child measure will be included on the November 2014 ballot. LifeSiteNews reports that 140,000 signatures, nearly 110,000 of which were declared valid, supported the bill. Only 86,000 valid signatures were needed to add the measure to the ballot.

The Brady Amendment was filed by Heath Surovik, who was 38 weeks pregnant when her baby, Brady, was killed in a drunk driving accident. The drunk driver was not charged with murder because Brady was not yet born and not yet considered a person under the state’s laws. Though the Brady Amendment is new to Colorado voters, the personhood measure has failed on ballots before, in 2008 and 2010.

Dead child found in shopping bag. A security guard caught a 17-year-old girl leaving a Victoria’s Secret store in midtown Manhattan with a dead baby in her bag Thursday. Police believe the baby was born alive then asphyxiated or choked to death.

Store security guards suspected Tiana Rodriguez and her friend were shoplifting and smelled a foul odor coming from the bag, CBS News reports. They found the dead newborn after stopping the girls and checking their bags. The guards promptly called the police, who arrested the teens.

Rodriguez claims she gave birth Wednesday but didn’t know what to do with the remains of the baby, who is described as looking about three or four months premature. An autopsy on the baby was inconclusive and more tests are needed, the medical examiner’s office said.

Rodriguez, who has a 2-year old son at home, remained hospitalized Friday. Both girls have been charged with petty larceny and Rodriquez could face more serious charges related to the baby’s death.

From abortion survivor to homecoming queen. Auburn University’s student body elected abortion survivor Molly Anne Dutton as the school’s 100th Miss Homecoming this past Saturday. Dutton ran on a platform based entirely on adoption advocacy, according to Yellowhammer News.

Dutton’s story is dramatic: Her mother became pregnant after a sexual assault, and her husband gave her a choice: abortion or divorce. After connecting with Lifeline Children’s Services, an adoption agency in Birmingham, Ala., Dutton’s mother decided to keep the baby and put her up for adoption. Dutton was adopted by a family with six children, four of whom were adopted.

“Because that resource was made available to my mother, she decided to give birth to me,” Dutton said in a promotional video. “And here I am talking to you guys 22 years later.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.