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With SCOTUS poised to repeal Roe v. Wade, Democrats defeat dangerous legislation to ban abortion in Colorado and surveil patients and providers
DENVER, CO – Democrats on the House Health and Insurance Committee today defeated three extreme Republican bills that would have banned abortion in Colorado and created a dangerous and invasive registry to track patients and providers. The Republican bills would imprison providers for performing an abortion and would allow individuals to sue health care providers and potentially even patients.
“We won’t let Republican politicians take away a patient’s right to an abortion in Colorado,” said Majority Leader Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo. “Make no mistake, if Republicans were in power, they would eliminate abortion in Colorado, put these health care providers in jail and allow private citizens to bring abortion lawsuits against doctors and maybe even patients. These Republican bills are dangerous and would threaten the health and safety of women and health care professionals.”
“With the Supreme Court likely to strike down Roe v. Wade, it's more important than ever that we defeat these extreme Republican bills that would ban abortion in Colorado,” said Rep. Susan Lontine, D-Denver, Chair of the Health and Insurance Committee. “Coloradans have said time and time again that we trust women to make their own decisions and we don’t want to imprison doctors or ban abortion. We won’t let Republican politicians take us back to a time when women died while trying to seek the care they need.”
Coloradans have been crystal clear that they support the right to an abortion and have repeatedly defeated ballot measures that sought to restrict access to abortion.
HB22-1079, sponsored by Representative Williams, is an unconstitutional ban on abortion in Colorado with no exceptions. The bill explicitly directs Colorado to disregard federal law and federal courts and would subject Colorado judges who support access to abortion to impeachment. It would allow a private right of action against abortion providers, and potentially patients too.
HB22-1047, sponsored by Representative Neville, would ban abortion in Colorado with no exceptions. The bill also criminalizes miscarriages and would imprison providers who perform an abortion.
HB22-1075, sponsored by Representative Luck, would establish a registry to track and surveil abortion patients and providers. It would create a roadmap for abortion opponents to identify and further threaten abortion patients and providers.
Abortion providers, patients and Coloradans who support abortion rights testified for hours about the impact of these bills, how they threaten and intimidate providers, and how they would insert government into families’ private medical decisions
Democrats on the committee defeated each bill.