Colorado joined a handful of other states Monday to codify the right to abortion in a statute, a response from the party’s line to nationwide efforts to limit access to abortion in anticipation of a slope U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a challenge to the historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision banning states from banning abortion.
Gov. Jared Polis signed the Reproductive Health Equity Act, which passed the Democratic-led legislature after tens of hours of testimony from residents and fierce opposition from Republican minorities. The law guarantees access to reproductive care before and after pregnancy and prohibits local governments from imposing their own restrictions.
It also states that fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses have no independent rights, a response to failed voting initiatives that sought to restrict abortion by giving embryos the rights of human-born humans. In 2014, voters rejected a proposal to add unborn humans to the state’s penal code, which allowed prosecutors to charge anyone who kills a fetus with a crime.
“Colorado has been, is and will be a pro-election state,” Polis said, calling the increase in abortion restrictions elsewhere “a huge government overflow, a huge government violation.” of individual rights. “No matter what the Supreme Court does in the future, the people of Colorado will be able to choose when and if they have children.”
Colorado was the first state to decriminalize abortion in most cases in 1967, and allowed access to abortion but had nothing in state law to guarantee it. New Jersey, Oregon, and Vermont had previously codified the right to abortion during pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.
RJ Sangosti / MediaNews Group / The Denver Post via Getty Images
Republicans could still introduce legislative and electoral measures to reverse the new law. For this reason, abortion rights groups are suspending a 2024 constitutional vote measure, as Nevada did in 1990.
Colorado Democrats cited the Supreme Court’s consideration of a Mississippi case that could overturn Roe v. Wade, as well as a new Texas law banning abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. If Roe is completely revoked, at least 26 states are likely to ban abortion directly or severely restrict access, says the Guttmacher Institute.
“We don’t want to see what is happening in Texas happen in Colorado,” said House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar, a Colorado law sponsor.
Idaho has enacted a law modeled on the Texas statute. Missouri lawmakers have introduced a bill to make it illegal for residents of the state to have abortions in other states. The Arizona legislature has passed a 15-week ban on abortion and, like other states, has a law that would automatically ban abortion if Roe is overturned.
In California, Democratic leaders are considering more than a dozen bills this year to prepare for a Roe investment. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law last month to make abortions cheaper for people with private insurance plans. Washington State enacted a law banning legal action against people who help or receive an abortion, in response to a provision in Texas law that allows people to sue abortion providers or those who assist them.
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