Personhood backers fail to make Colorado ballot

Backers of a proposal to ban abortion in Colorado have failed in their first attempt to get the measure on statewide ballots in November.

Secretary of State Scott Gessler announced Wednesday that backers of the so-called personhood amendment fell about 3,900 signatures short of the some 86,000 needed.

This is the first time supporters failed to get the proposal on the ballot on their first try and the campaign says it will appeal the decision. It says some pages were discarded even though they had valid signatures.

Gessler’s office said signature checkers lost a section of the petition containing 20 signatures but counted them as valid anyway.

Similar measures were overwhelmingly defeated by Colorado voters twice before.

The proposal would also ban embryonic stem-cell research and some fertility treatments.