Protesters gather outside the Colorado State Capitol in support of abortion rights. Oct. 2, 2021. (Io Hartman/CU Independent)
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn nearly 50 years of federally protected abortion rights, people across 46 states, including Colorado, took to the streets in protest. Signs with messages such as “This body is not a political battlefield,” “Keep your law off my uterus,” “Women’s rights are human rights” and “Take care of the people that already exist,” were prominent throughout the demonstrations. Over 200 marches took place nationwide, reflecting a widespread public response to the ruling.
In June 2022, the US Supreme Court held that there is no constitutional right to abortion and overruled the court’s previous decisions in Roe v. Wade in 1973. This decision left the matter of abortion policy in the hands of the states and since then, 21 states have implemented either complete bans on abortion or restrictions in certain terms.
Two years after the Supreme Court’s Decision, Americans find themselves in the midst of another divisive presidential election season. This year has seen the most statewide ballot measures related to abortion in a single year – 10 states have ballot initiatives related to abortion. The previous high was six initiatives in 2022, the year of the court’s decision.
Colorado is one of just 10 states that does not restrict abortions after a certain term. Amendment 79, sponsored and initiated by Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, aims to solidify the right to abortion by enacting it into the Colorado Constitution.
According to Ballotpedia, “This initiative would provide a right to abortion in the state constitution. The initiative would prohibit the state or local governments from denying or impeding the right to an abortion and allow abortion to be a covered service under health insurance plans. The initiative would repeal Section 50 of Article V of the Colorado Constitution, adopted in 1984, which prohibited the use of public funds for abortion.”
By repealing Section 50 of the Colorado Constitution, this amendment aims to ensure female government employees as well as women under public health insurance plans such as Medicaid, also have solid access to abortion care.
“This formal recognition of our initiative as Amendment 79 emphasizes yet again the importance of our efforts to keep the government out of Coloradans’ personal private health decisions,” wrote Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedoms Campaign Director Jessica Grennan in a statement. “Amendment 79 is essential to ensuring abortion care remains safe from the swipe of a politician’s pen, and we will continue to put everything we have behind passing this amendment in the fall.”
Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom is a coalition of organizations – the ACLU Colorado, New Era Colorado, Cobalt and LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Progress Now Colorado – dedicated to protecting the states “access to abortion once and for all,” according to their website.
A University of Colorado Boulder group, Buffs for Reproductive Rights, was also a part of the efforts required to get this initiative on the ballot.
“Last spring, we had gotten training on how to petition people. Then we helped (Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Rights) collect and get the number of signatures they needed, which was a ton,” said Eva Basa, the group’s treasurer.
The measure needed just over 124,000 signatures, the threshold required of all proposed initiatives. They were able to gather more than 225,000 signatures in support of this initiative.
Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Rights has reported over $9.2 million dollars in campaign contributions and has built an extensive and diverse list of endorsers including Catholics For Choice, the Center for Biological Diversity, Denver Health Workers United and One Colorado, an LGBTQ advocacy organization.
United States senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, as well as the Democratic and the Green Party of Colorado have endorsed the initiative. Former New York City Mayor and well-known politician Michael Bloomberg has contributed $750,000 to support this amendment.
“The messaging we’ve been using, because it’s true, is just that reproductive care is a form of healthcare,” said Karl Lapham, the regional organizer for New Era Colorado. “That decision is up to the individual, their faith, and their medical provider. It is not up to the government to decide.”
The opposition party includes organizations such as the Pro Life Colorado Fund, Coloradans for the Protection of Women and Children and Vote No on 79. Together, these organizations have raised around $500,000 – considerably less than the Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedoms.
One of the biggest cash contributors, the Archdiocese of Denver, a catholic church, contributed $225,000 to opposition committees, almost half of the total reported contributions.
Scott Shamblin, the leader of Vote No on 79, has, on his website, said that, “by stating there will be no fiscal impact, the Blue Book ignores the reality that taxpayer dollars will be used to fund abortions for public employees and Medicaid recipients — an expense that will undoubtedly cost the state millions.”
With Americans already paying into public health insurance plans such as Medicaid, it does not seem as though taxpayer dollars will be used to fund abortion care in Colorado if Amendment 79 were to pass.
According to the 2024 Blue Book Fiscal Impact Statements, the measure will not have a fiscal impact on state or local government.
“At this time, no change in spending is estimated, as it will depend on future decisions by the state legislature and local governments,” it reads.
“We’ve been doing a lot of battling misinformation and trying to explain at the basic level what this amendment would do, which is simply just make it a constitutionally protected right to access abortion care,” Lapham said. “It is not forcing anyone to get abortions, it’s not using taxpayer money differently. It is simply acting as one extra layer of protection.”
The amendment requires 55% of the vote to pass, and groups like New Era Colorado and Buffs for Reproductive Rights are in full swing trying to get out the vote and encourage support for the amendment as the November 5 election creeps closer.
“I think if this amendment were to pass, it would show the other states that something like this is very possible and would be very beneficial to its people,” Basa said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Camryn Montgomery at camryn.montgomery@colorado.edu
