Eagle River resident Christopher Kurka, 25, is collecting signatures to get an initiative on the ballot for a statewide election that will classify a fetus a "person" from the moment of conception and entitle it to the same constitutional protectiong of every man, woman and child. Photo By DARRELL L. BREESE

What is a person? Or when is a person a person?

There are no easy answers to these questions, but one Eagle River man hopes to change how the state defines a "person" and in turn circumvent the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling, which provides women with access to abortions.

Christopher Kurka, 22, of Eagle River, got approval from Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell to begin collecting the signatures necessary to qualify a ballot initiative that would recognize fetuses as legal persons, for the ballot.

The Alaska Department of Law says there might be a constitutional issue with the initiative and the Pro-Choice movement is gearing up to combat.

It is a battle the young activist says he is ready to take on.

"This is what I enjoy," Kurka said. "Some people have a favorite football or basketball team they cheer for. For me, this is my sports team, and I am a dedicated fan."

The issue for Kurka is not one of eliminating abortion, but defending the civil rights of a fetus.

"It would be extremely difficult to eliminate abortion completely in a society because people are always going to do evil things," Kurka said. "But we can change how the law defines a person and protect the fetus' constitutional rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Kurka's personhood initiative seeks to recognize all human beings, from the biological beginning of their development, as persons entitled to equal protection under the law.

He added that Alaska's constitution protects the rights of all "persons."

Article 1, Section 1 of the Alaska Constitution reads, "that all persons have a natural right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the enjoyment of the rewards of their own industry; that all persons are equal and entitled to equal rights, opportunities, and protection under the law."

Alaska is the eighth state to launch a personhood initiative campaign. The other states are California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Montana and Nevada.

"The initiative brings to the forefront the issue of whether or not the unborn child is a person or not," Kurka said. "It will make people have a discussion and decide where they stand on the question of when life begins. This is not about politics, it is about civil rights."

Attorney General Dan Sullivan said the initiative might have legal hurdles to clear, but it met the state's criteria for an initiative petition circulation to begin.

According to Sullivan, the standard for an initiative approval for the petition process is that it is not "clearly unconstitutional."

In his legal opinion presented to Campbell, Sullivan wrote that since the "controlling law," Roe v. Wade, is not clear on the subject of when a fetus becomes a person, the initiative meets the state standard.

"There is no controlling law that makes it clearly unconstitutional to extend legal person status to the moment of conception," Sullivan said, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to consider the question.

Another challenge to the initiative may come in the courts from abortion-rights groups before going on the ballot.

Clover Simon, Alaska vice president of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, said she thinks the initiative is clearly unconstitutional.

"The intention of this initiative is to outlaw abortion," she said. "To me, it looks like they are trying to return us to back-alley abortions. If a fetus is not viable and could not live on its own, then it is not a human being yet."

Simon said the group is still reviewing the matter and is considering legal action to halt the signature collection process.

"If there is a court battle we're ready to fight to preserve the people's right to the initiative process," Kurka said.

Kurka and his supporters have up to one year to collect 32,734 signatures to get the issue on the ballot for a statewide election. Signatures must be from registered voters representing three-fourths of the state house districts.

Reach the reporter at darrell.breese.@alaskastar.com.