KTVN Channel 2 - Reno Tahoe News Weather, Video - January Hearing Set on Nevada Personhood Initiative
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A state judge in Carson City has scheduled a Jan. 8 hearing for arguments challenging the description of a proposed ballot initiative that seeks to define a person and override Nevada's abortion laws.
The Nevada "personhood" initiative seeks to amend the state constitution by defining a person and extending due process rights to "everyone possessing a human genome" from the beginning of biological development through end of life.
Three plaintiffs being represented by lawyers for Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union are challenging the proposal on grounds the description of its effect is vague and that it violates a state law limiting referendum questions to a single subject.
Depending on the outcome of the legal challenge, initiative backers would need to gather about 97,000 signatures to qualify for the November 2010 ballot.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
