Colorado groups say they have collected enough signatures to put an abortion rights measure on the ballot

A proposed amendment that would formally enshrine access to abortion in Colorado’s constitution is expected to appear on the November ballot, after a coalition of reproductive rights advocates said Friday that it has collected the required number of signatures.

Colorados for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, the group leading the effort, announced that it has collected signatures from more than 225,000 registered voters, more than the roughly 124,000 needed by April 26 to qualify for this fall’s ballot.

To formally qualify, the total must include 2% of all registered voters in each of the state’s 35 state Senate districts.

On Friday, the group said it met that threshold in all but three districts, and that it fell short of the required number in those three districts by fewer than 100 signatures. They expressed confidence that they would reach the necessary thresholds in the coming days.

“The news of Arizona’s near-total abortion ban ultimately exposed how vulnerable each state is, and will remain, without passing legislation that constitutionally guarantees the right to abortion,” said Jess Grennan, director of the Coloradans to Protect Freedom campaign. Reproductive, in a statement. “Bill measures like Proposition 89 are our first line of defense against government overreach and our best tool for protecting the freedom to make personal and private health care decisions – a right that should never depend on the source of health insurance. health or those in office, because a right without access is a nominal right”, he added.

Grennan’s statement referred to the state Supreme Court ruling in neighboring Arizona that allowed a near-total ban on abortion from 1864 to apply.

Colorado is one of at least 11 states where organizers seek to enshrine the right to abortion in a state constitution through a citizen-led ballot initiative. The measures are officially on the ballot in Maryland, New York and Florida, where the state Supreme Court recently paved the way for six-week abortion bans to go into effect.

And last week, ahead of another monumental ruling by the state Supreme Court, groups in Arizona said they had exceeded the signature threshold to place a constitutional amendment on abortion on the November ballot.

But unlike many of these other states, there are no laws restricting abortion care in Colorado.

The state, in fact, is one of six where there is no gestational limit for women seeking abortion care. As a result, Colorado become a refuge of sorts for women living in conservative states where abortion is restricted or effectively illegal, who can travel to Colorado to get the care they need.

Organizers behind the amendment effort said it is crucial to formally enshrine these rights so that lawmakers never have the opportunity to undo the robust protections Colorado offers.

The proposed amendment would formally declare that “the right to abortion is recognized” and that “the government will not deny, impede, or discriminate against the exercise of this right.”

The proposal explicitly states the inclusion in these rights that the government may not prohibit health insurance coverage for abortion, including insurance plans for public employees and publicly funded insurance plans. That provision would effectively undo a 1984 law that prohibited people from using their health insurance to pay for abortion care.

In Colorado – unlike many other states – the process of determining proposed amendment text is resolved before signature gathering efforts begin.

To pass in November, the measure requires the support of 55% of voters under state law — not just a simple majority.

Organizers expressed confidence they will win, pointing to the fact that abortion rights advocates defeated a proposed ballot initiative in 2020 that sought to restrict abortion rights in the state by 59% to 41% — a better margin of victory in the state solidly blue that year. than Joe Biden in the presidential race.