A campaign in Colorado has successfully collected enough signatures to place the issue of enshrining abortion rights into the state’s constitution on the ballot this November, according to CBS News.
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.
A group called Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom has announced that its volunteers have successfully collected over 225,000 signatures, meeting all the district requirements. The deadline for submitting the signatures is April 18. According to a source familiar with the matter, the group anticipates facing challenges from opposition groups regarding the validity of the signatures.
The ongoing effort to bring abortion to the forefront of state-level elections continues with the recent announcement. This move comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturns federal abortion protections established in the historic Roe v. Wade case.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court gave the green light for a constitutional amendment that upholds abortion rights to be included on the ballot this autumn. In addition, organizers in Arizona have recently announced that they have successfully gathered enough signatures to meet the requirements for a ballot measure on the same issue.
Numerous other states are also engaged in similar initiatives.
Abortion remains legal in Colorado, but a proposed constitutional amendment aims to safeguard this right and override a 1984 provision that restricts health insurance coverage for abortion care among public employees and individuals on public insurance.
According to a statement from Jess Grennan, campaign director of Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, the recent decision made by the Arizona Supreme Court to enforce a law from 1864 that would prohibit the majority of abortions has highlighted the vulnerability of every state. Grennan emphasizes the importance of passing legislation that constitutionally guarantees the right to abortion in order to safeguard this fundamental right.
According to Grennan, ballot measures like Proposition 89 play a crucial role in safeguarding our freedom to make personal healthcare decisions and preventing government overreach. Grennan emphasizes the importance of protecting this right, regardless of one’s health insurance or the political climate. As Grennan puts it, a right without access is merely a nominal right.
According to the Colorado Secretary of State’s office, the amendment would require a supermajority of 55% support from voters in order to pass.
Abortion rights measures have achieved success in every state where they have been placed on the ballot, including more conservative states like Kansas and Ohio, since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
In Colorado, there is an ongoing movement to introduce a ballot measure that aims to redefine 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 seeks to prevent harm to such individuals, effectively resulting in a near-total ban on abortions.
