DENVER — DENVER — Colorado voters enshrined abortion rights into the state constitution Tuesday but just days after the election, advocates say they’re concerned — not relieved — because of what can happen at the federal level.
"There is worry, not just for abortion. I think we all know what [President-elect Donald Trump's] campaign has said, who they will target and what they will do if they are able,” said Dusti Gurule, president and CEO of Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR).
Trump played down abortion as a second-term priority, the Associated Press reported, and at his insistence, the GOP platform did not call for a national ban on abortion. He told the AP that overturning Roe v. Wade was enough on the federal level. Trump has said he would veto any national abortion ban, but the AP reported that it is unclear if his administration "would aggressively defend against legal challenges seeking to restrict access to abortion pills, including mifepristone."
Abortion access supporters said they are prepared and are not going to stop fighting.
Politics
Colorado voters approve amendment to make abortion access a constitutional right
“Doing [Colorado's] constitutional protection now has become this much more important given the administration we are heading into," said Karen Middleton, president of Cobalt, a Colorado-based abortion rights organization. "And I do believe it is going to enable us to do as much as we possibly can to help people that have been denied this access in states around us.”
Amendment 79 ends a Colorado constitutional ban on using public money to pay for abortions. The change in the law means state government employees and those on Medicaid can now use insurance to cover abortions in Colorado.
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Advocates said they believe that will free up funding for providers who have found themselves overwhelmed with thousands of patients from other states since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
The Cobalt Abortion Fund in Colorado spent $737,000 in 2022. This year, it had to limit capacity and is on track to spend $2.2 million.
Sheila Ruski, political science professor at Metropolitan State University Denver, told Denver7 on Tuesday that if there is a contradiction between federal law and state law, including a state's constitution, federal law dominates.
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"Under the Preemption Doctrine, there is an assumption that the federal government will stay out of issues that have traditionally belonged to the states. But I am very doubtful that kind of standard of restraint at the federal level would hold in this case... This is just a guess, that if the federal government goes as far as to initiate or enact a federal abortion ban, they will very much be intending to stop abortions in the states."
Pro Life Colorado, which campaigned against the amendment, said they are disappointed and will continue to advocate to protect unborn children.
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