Anti-abortion group using Horton's message

DENVER, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- A Colorado anti-abortion group is using the theme of "a person's a person, no matter how small," from the children's classic "Horton Hears a Who" for its cause.

With a big screen version of Dr. Seuss's 1954 story slated for release March 14, Colorado for Equal Rights is celebrating the tale's message and petitioning for a ballot measure asking voters to recognize conception as the start of personhood, the Denver Post reported Wednesday.

The "Horton" book and movie are about an elephant who grows protective when he learns of the existence of a community of tiny creatures.

"It's so true that whatever stage of life you're in, you're a person, whatever your size," Kristi Burton, the anti-abortion group's founder, told the Denver Post.

The newspaper said the catchphrase from "Horton" has been quoted by anti-abortion groups for years, however, the late author Theodor Seuss Geisel and his widow, Audrey Geisel, spoke out against using it in that manner.