A Colorado campaign aiming to establish abortion rights as a constitutional provision in the state has successfully collected sufficient signatures to present the issue on the ballot for the upcoming November elections, as per CBS News sources.
In order to make changes to Colorado’s constitution, petitioners are required to collect 124,238 signatures from the state’s voters. This includes obtaining 2% of the total registered voters in each of Colorado’s 35 Senate districts, as stated by the secretary of state’s office.
According to a source, Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom has successfully collected over 225,000 signatures from volunteers who have met the district requirements. The deadline for submitting the signatures is April 18. However, the group anticipates potential challenges to the validity of the signatures from opposing groups.
The ongoing effort to bring abortion to the forefront of state-level discussions has been emphasized with this announcement. This comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, which nullified the historic ruling of Roe v. Wade and removed federal abortion protections.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court gave its approval for a constitutional amendment that upholds abortion rights to be included on the ballot this upcoming fall. In addition, organizers in Arizona have recently announced that they have successfully gathered enough signatures to meet the requirement for a ballot measure on the same issue.
Multiple other states are also making similar efforts.
Abortion remains legal in Colorado, but a proposed constitutional amendment aims to protect this right and override a 1984 restriction that prohibits health insurance from covering abortion care for public employees and those on public insurance.
According to Jess Grennan, campaign director of Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, the Arizona Supreme Court’s recent ruling to enforce a law from 1864 that would effectively prohibit most abortions has shed light on the vulnerability of every state that lacks constitutional safeguards for the right to abortion. In a statement, Grennan emphasized the urgent need for legislation that protects and upholds this fundamental right.
According to Grennan, ballot measures such as Proposition 89 play a crucial role in safeguarding against excessive government control and serve as a valuable means of preserving the autonomy to make personal healthcare choices. Grennan highlights the significance of ensuring that this right is not contingent upon one’s health insurance provider or the political climate, emphasizing that a right without adequate access is merely a symbolic gesture.
According to the Colorado secretary of state’s office, the amendment would require a supermajority of 55% support from voters in order to pass.
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortion rights measures have been successful in every state where they have appeared on the ballot, including more conservative states such as Kansas and Ohio.
A movement in Colorado is pushing for a ballot measure that seeks to define a child as “any living human being from the moment human life biologically begins at conception through every stage of biological development until the child reaches emancipation as an adult.” This measure aims to prohibit harm to such children, effectively imposing a near-total ban on abortions.
