The 22-Week Abortion Ban On Colorado’s 2020 Ballot

For the ninth time in 36 years, Coloradans face the possibility of a successful passage public policy that would prohibit or restrict access to abortions. This newest attempt to affect Colorado’s reproductive rights is different, though, as none in the past has attempted to determine when, based on the length of the pregnancy, an abortion could be prohibited.

So, what is the latest threat to reproductive rights in Colorado? Proposition 115, formerly known as Initiative 120.

November is when Prop 115 will be decided as it will be included on the voting ballots Coloradans will be turning in for presidential and state elections and when we vote for various other policy proposals and amendments.

Colorado is currently one of six states in the US that does not restrict abortions after a certain pregnancy point. The other US states that operate similarly in this way are Alaska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and the district of Washington DC.

The campaign, “NO on 115”, which opposes this initiative believes that Proposition 115 is a ballot measure that contains language that is meant to intentionally mislead or confuse intentions. Politicians and interest groups within Colorado are behind Prop 115, where the ballot language is intentionally meant to disguise what they’re trying to do: Ban Abortions in Colorado.

Proposition 115 is a blanket mandate, a sort of one-size-fits-all order that attempts to guide restrictions on a pregnant person’s options. Proposition 115 ignores each pregnancy’s uniqueness and allows politics to dictate what should be a person’s decision between patients and their doctors.

Proposition 115 would do things such as forcing a pregnant person to carry said pregnancy to term with no exceptions for that person’s specific health and individual circumstances. It does not consider rape cases, risks to the pregnant person’s health, or a lethal fetal diagnosis. Rape, incest, or medical dangers to women would generally count for extreme individual circumstances.

Another component to the measure would include establishing criminal penalties for medical professionals who were to perform an abortion after the 22-week mark. The measure’s language suggests that the state would pursue a physician with a Class 1 misdemeanor, which is the most severe misdemeanor in Colorado. That physician would also be punished with a fine ranging from $500 to $5,000 but would not risk jail time. Medical professionals who are found guilty in the engagement of a late-term abortion would have their medical licenses suspended for at least three years by the Colorado Medical Board. The only positive, if you even can call it a positive, is that pregnant people who had an abortion performed on them would not be at risk of being charged with a crime under this initiative.

Why is it that proposition 115 exists? Who is leading the latest charge against reproductive rights in Colorado?

Coalition for Women and Children, which operates Due Date Too Late, is the ballot measure’s leading support campaign. On their website, to explain proposing for a 22-week abortion ban, they provide information such as “Colorado is 1 of only 7 states that allow abortion up until the moment to fo birth for any reason with no restrictions at all. Due Date Too Late continues to explain that, “the mother can feel the baby ‘kick’ and the baby can recognize and respond to her touch and voice.” The Due Date Too Late page for the campaign advocates that “late-term abortions” are dangerous to women’s health, but they seem not to realize that their concern for “late-term abortions” are nearly a moot point.

Our best estimates of when abortions commonly occur in the US were provided by the CDC in November 2018. The data clearly suggests that most abortions are performed within the first 20 weeks– in fact, 98.7% of abortions performed in the US are typically done within the first 20 weeks. So that leaves a noticeable 1.3% of pregnancies that are terminated between 21-30 weeks. Then guess what? While records are kept of abortions performed past 30 weeks, the rate in which it happens is so rare that statistically, they register in data sets as zero percent.

Even regardless of this data reported by the CDC, the Due Date Too Late page claims that the information is a narrative fabricated by abortion right express. They ignore CDC data, saying there is no data cited, and the narrative is only to manipulate public opinion. They continue to explain that, “If a mother has a medical emergency after 22 weeks, delivery of the baby is far safer than an abortion,” which is not valid in all pregnancies.

While November’s vote on Proposition 115 will be the ninth attempt at the passage of abortion bans of some form in 36 years– according to the campaign, NO for 115, this November will be the fourth time in 12 years Coloradans are being forced to vote on abortion rights and the ability for women to have abortions.

Past Abortion Ban Attempts in Colorado

In 1984, Coloradans chose to vote in favor (50.4% to 49.6%) for a ban of public funds being used to fund abortions, minus in cases in which the pregnant person’s life was in danger.

In 1988, the prior decision was challenged in a ballot measure and, unfortunately, was upheld by voters (60.24% to 39.76%)

In 1998, Coloradans voted YES to a ballot measure (55% to 45%) that would require parents to be notified if their minor child sought an abortion and voted NO on another measure (51% to 49%) that sought to ban partial-birth abortion.

In 2000, Coloradans voted NO on a measure that sought to have women required to be given specific information from a physician within 24 hours in advance of an abortion procedure.

Then finally, in 2008, 2010, and 2014, Coloradans managed to defeat three measures that would have defined what it meant to be a ‘person’ to include fetuses or unborn human beings.

It is fortunate we still have the rulings of Roe V. Wade to protect us in Colorado from overreaching public policy. The United States Supreme Court made the landmark decision of Roe V. Wade in 1973. The ruling meant the state could not regulate abortion in the first trimester as Roe allowed abortion without any regulation in the first trimester of pregnancy. Roe ruled that abortions made in the second and third trimesters were contingent upon demonstrated threats to the pregnant woman’s health.

Roe V. Wade managed to bring forth the topic of medical -necessity and put a woman’s needs to receive an abortion based on medical emergencies at the center of the public discourse on abortion.

Those in Support and Opposition of Proposition 115

The campaign believes they will defeat Prop 115 due to their own coalition of Women’s Rights supporters. They have volunteers and people fighting against the proposition all over the state. In fact, the primary campaign fighting against the proposal raised funds to the amount of $603,907 in the fight against Prop 115.

Abortion Access for All is the campaign leading the opposition to the ballot measure. The committee has reportedly gathered $603,907 in contributions while only reporting expenditures at $335,437, which is 55% of what they’ve managed to gather.

Abortion Access for All’s fundraising is a titan in comparison to those of the campaign supporting the initiative, Coalition for Women and Children, who’s committee has only reported fund raisins contribution to be at $108,940, with their expenditures sitting at $91,290, which is about 84% of gathered funds.

Proponents of the proposal claim the measure is being done with bipartisan support regardless of the demonstrably lacking support from any Democratic-aligned elected officials in Colorado.

Organizations involved in the opposition campaign include NO for 115, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado (ACLU), Cobalt (formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado), Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR), Interfaith Alliance, New Era Colorado, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains Action Fund (PPRM), and Progress Now Colorado.

For more information on the campaign No For 115, please visit VoteNo115.com.