Abortion rights group turns in ballot signatures
DENVER (KDVR) — A campaign that would have put an abortion ban on the Colorado ballot fell short of collecting enough signatures. But on the same day, abortion rights advocates turned in what appeared to be more than enough signatures to put a measure to protect reproductive rights on the ballot this November.
The spring snow on Thursday did not stop advocates from turning in hundreds of thousands of ballot signatures in effort to further protect abortion rights in Colorado.
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Coalition members and other advocates for abortion and reproductive health care rights gathered outside the Colorado Capitol to celebrate the ballot initiative moving one step closer to the November ballot.
“This morning, a number of us delivered to the Secretary of State’s Office 99 boxes of petitions,” said Karen Middleton, president of abortion and reproductive rights advocacy group Cobalt. Middleton also co-chairs Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, the coalition behind getting the measure on the ballot.
To make the ballot, the group must submit about 124,238 signatures supporting the effort. After they submitted much more than that, advocates celebrated.
“We collected 240,000 signatures. We turned in slightly less than that, and we believe that it is the statewide record,” Middleton said.
Abortion rights initiative would amend Colorado Constitution
The initiative would have voters whether to protect abortion in the Colorado Constitution and undo a constitutional amendment narrowly passed by state voters 40 years ago.
If approved by voters, the amendment would guarantee the right to an abortion in Colorado, saying the government shall not deny, impede or discriminate against people for using that right. It also would remove the 1984 ban on using public health insurance coverage for abortion, something doctors and students said is limiting patients looking for care.
“Right now in Colorado, there is an outdated funding ban that discriminates and prevents people on state health insurance plans from obtaining abortion care,” said Rosie Glaser, an area college student. “To put this into context, the abortion pill without insurance costs over $600 out of pocket.”
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“As a physician who provides abortions, I see patients every day who are struggling to make ends meet, and when they have a pregnancy that they can’t continue and they need an abortion, they not only have to think about this really difficult medical decision, but they also have to think financially about how that’s going to affect their life,” said Nancy Fang, an obstetrics and gynecology physician.
Almost a dozen other U.S. states have some form of abortion protection measure on the ballot this fall.
Abortion ban effort fails in Colorado
Proponents of a failed measure that was looking to ban abortion thanked volunteers who helped try to get their measure to voters.
“Amazing people volunteered,” Faye Barnhart, a representative for the proposed initiative,” said in a statement. “Elderly ladies stood in the rain outside grocery stores, students talked with other students on college campuses, people walked door-to-door, and many stood with signs at the state Capitol during rallies. We are thankful for the attorneys, doctors, and other professionals who helped make this a solid (proposed) law, for the endorsement of many politicians, and the many pastors who shared the truth with their congregations because this was the Biblical, right thing to do. We had whole communities where every church participated and almost every petition was returned filled. We also had several counties that were ‘super stars’ collecting signatures.”
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