August 29, 2012 08:14 PM UTC

BREAKING: Personhood Amendment Fails By 3,859 Signatures

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #2: “Personhood” backers vow to fight on, as the Huffington Post reports:

A spokeswoman for Personhood USA, the anti-abortion group behind the nationwide push for fetal personhood laws, contended that the Secretary of State’s office had made a mistake in counting the ballots. “We have more than enough valid signatures that were discounted by the Secretary of State’s office,” Jennifer Mason told The Huffington Post…

Personhood USA is not discouraged by the state’s apparent lack of enthusiasm, Mason said. The group plans to challenge the Secretary of State’s decision, have the signatures recounted and try again to put the measure on the ballot.

“Whole petitions were discarded because of small details, like a notary error,” she said. “Once those things are counted, we’ll have more than enough.”

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UPDATE: Multiple sources now confirming via Twitter.

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We just got word that the “Personhood” Amendment narrowly missed the minimum requirement of valid submitted signatures in support, and will not appear on this year’s statewide ballot.

We’ll update with coverage and statements as we receive them.

As you know, the “Personhood” initiative was set to be a major flash point in this year’s election, with GOP candidates–including those who have previously supported it–refusing to take a stand on the initiative. Controversy over “Personhood” was also stoked this year by the stridently anti-abortion position of vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, not to mention Missouri GOP Senate candidate Todd Akin’s now-infamous remarks on the issue.

By a comparatively small margin, Secretary of State Scott Gessler appears to have relieved the GOP of what would otherwise have been yet another serious optics problem.