Abortion Would Be A Fundamental Right In Colorado Under Proposed Bill

By Newsline staff, Colorado Newsline

March 4, 2022

Coloradans would have a fundamental right to get an abortion under a bill that General Assembly Democrats introduced on Thursday.

Sponsors had announced in December their intent to pursue the measure, and it was one of the most highly anticipated bills of the current session.

Colorado has comparatively very few restrictions on abortion, but it lacks a law that expressly protects abortion rights. Supporters of House Bill 22-1279, the Reproductive Health Equity Act, say a law that affirms abortion rights is necessary in light of increasing threats.

“The time to act is now, and waiting is not an option,” said Dusti Gurule, President of the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, or COLOR, in a statement. COLOR is a primary force behind the Reproductive Health Equity Act.

Since 2010, the General Assembly has seen, and voted down, more than 44 measures that would ban or restrict abortion, according to COLOR. Several constitutional amendments that would assign “personhood” status to the unborn have appeared on the Colorado ballot since 2008, all of them rejected by voters. During the current session, Republicans introduced three anti-abortion bills, which Democrats defeated.

The Reproductive Health Equity Act announcement in December came on the day the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Dobbs. v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that concerns Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban. The conservative court’s ruling in that case, which is expected to be announced this summer, could bring an end to the abortion protections in the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.

The Reproductive Health Equity Act’s prime sponsors are House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar, a Democrat from Pueblo; Rep. Meg Froelich, a Democrat from Englewood; and Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Democrat from Denver. The bill is co-sponsored by almost every Democrat in the state House and Senate.

No Republicans signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, and Rep. Dave Williams of Colorado Springs told The Denver Post that he and his colleagues plan to “oppose it with everything we have.”

Besides codifying a right to abortion, the bill would also establish that anyone has a right to use or refuse contraception, and it would state that “a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus” does not have independent rights under state law.

The bill expressly intends to address inequities. It would help “decrease the health and socioeconomic disparities disproportionately faced by people of color and people with low incomes,” it says.

Many states with conservative legislatures around the country have gauged a willingness by the U.S. Supreme Court, which during the Trump administration shifted to a 6-3 conservative majority, to overturn Roe v. Wade and have enacted or are poised to enact abortion restrictions.

Democrats currently control both chambers of the Colorado General Assembly, and Gov. Jared Polis is a Democrat. If the proposed Reproductive Health Equity Act were to become law, it could be reversed by a future Republican majority, or by voters in an election.

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