A proposed amendment to Colorado’s constitution that would formally enshrine access to abortion is certain to appear on the November ballot after a coalition of reproductive rights advocates said Friday they had gathered the necessary number of signatures.
Coloradans Defending Reproductive Freedom announced that it has collected signatures from more than 225,000 registered voters, more than the roughly 124,000 required by April 26 to get on the ballot this fall.
To officially qualify, a total of 2% of all registered voters in each of the state’s 35 state Senate districts must be included.
As of Friday, the group said it had exceeded that threshold in all but three districts, falling just short of the required number with fewer than 100 signatures. He expressed his confidence that the necessary limits will be exceeded in the coming days.
“The news of Arizona’s near-total abortion ban has finally revealed how vulnerable every state is, and will remain so, without constitutionally enshrining the right to abortion,” said Jess Grennan, director of Coloradans’ Campaign for Reproductive Freedom. “Ballot measures like Proposition 89 are our first line of defense against government overreach and our best means of protecting the freedom to make personal, private health care decisions — which should never depend on the source of health insurance or the incumbent, because a right without access is a right in name only “, he added.
Grenna’s statement cited a decision by the Supreme Court of a neighboring state ArizonaIt decided that from 1864 a total ban on abortion could be applied.
Colorado is one of at least 11 states where organizers are trying to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution through a citizen-led ballot initiative. The measures are officially on the ballots in Maryland, New York and Florida, where the Supreme Court is located opened recently for the six-week abortion ban to take effect.
Last week, ahead of another monumental state Supreme Court decision, Arizona groups said has passed the signature barrier put the constitutional amendment on abortion on the November ballot.
But unlike many of these other states, Colorado has no laws restricting abortion care.
The state is actually one of six states that has no pregnancy limit for women seeking abortion care. As a result, there is Colorado to be a haven of sorts for women who have to travel for the care they require because they live in conservative states where abortion is restricted or virtually illegal.
Organizers behind the amendment effort said it’s important to formally enshrine those rights so lawmakers never have the ability to undo the robust protections Colorado offers.
The proposed amendment would formally state that “the right to abortion is hereby recognized” and that “the government shall not deny, impede, or discriminate against the exercise of that right.”
The proposal expressly states that including in these rights, the government may not prohibit health insurance coverage for abortion, including public employee insurance plans and publicly funded insurance plans. The provision would effectively repeal a 1984 law that barred people from using health insurance for abortions.
In Colorado—unlike many other states—the process of determining the language of a proposed amendment is decided before the signature-gathering effort begins.
To pass in November, the measure requires the support of 55% of voters under state law — not just a majority.
Organizers expressed confidence they would win, pointing to abortion rights advocates defeating a proposed ballot initiative seeking to limit abortion rights in the state by 59% to 41% in 2020. more than Joe Biden in the presidential race.