Colorado Begins Voting on a State Constitutional Right to Abortion

(DENVER) — Coloradans began voting Sept. 21 on an issue that has not been on the ballot since 1984. The Right to Abortion and Health Insurance Coverage Initiative aims to enshrine the right to abortion in the Colorado Constitution and allow abortion to be covered in state and local governmental insurance programs. 

Coloradans for Reproductive Freedom  announced last week that the initiative has its official ballot number, Amendment 79, for the November General Election. Campaign Director Jessica Grennan wrote, “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.”

View of the Colorado State Capitol from Grant Street

The right to abortion was stripped from the U.S. Constitution in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Abortion in Colorado is currently protected through statutory protection passed in 2022 and a shield law passed in 2023. Amendment 79 would add to that protection and remove financial barriers to abortion.  

In 1984, Colorado voted on a measure to prohibit the use of public funds for abortion. It passed by a slim margin of 50.4% to 49.6%, according to the Colorado Secretary of State.  Voters declined to repeal the measure four years later.

To get on the ballot this year, advocates needed to collect signatures from 2% of registered voters from each of the 35 state Senate districts. Coloradans for Reproductive Freedom reported that it gathered more than 225,000 signatures, exceeding the 124,238 signatures it needed by more than a hundred thousand.

Isabelle Kornberg, a registered nurse working at the Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers, said access to public funding for abortion saved her life in 2016 when she lived in California. Kornberg was a teenager at the time and had an ectopic pregnancy, a dangerous condition when a fertilized egg implants outside of the uterus. According to the Mayo Clinic, untreated ectopic pregnancies pose great risks to the mother’s life. “We thought that Roe v. Wade wouldn’t get overturned,” said Kornberg. “So we need to protect it for future generations of people to know that they won’t feel like they need to compromise their health or well-being.”

Ted Harvey, a former member of the Colorado State Senate from 2007-2015, voiced his opposition to the initiative on Facebook on Sept. 21. “Colorado will become a sanctuary state for pimps, rapists and child traffickers,” he wrote. While out-of-state patients in Colorado clinics have increased since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, no research has surfaced on any criminal activity tied to these visits. Rev. Samuel J. Aquila, the archbishop for the Archdiocese of Denver, has also spoken publicly against the initiative. 

Abortion measures similar to Colorado’s Amendment 79 are on the ballot in 10 states this fall including Arizona, Nevada, New York, and Maryland.