Colorado Voters Are Seeking to Prohibit Abortions After 22 Weeks
Some voters in Colorado are fed up with their state’s lack of restrictions on late-term abortions and are looking for a change.
According to the Catholic News Agency, “ Colorado currently has no laws regulating late-term abortion.” This means that a woman can legally have her pre-born baby aborted no matter how far along she is in the pregnancy.
Indeed, one abortion clinic in Boulder, Colorado run by abortionist Warren Hern states on his website that he “specializes in Late Abortion for Fetal Disorders.” Late-term abortions are those performed in the third trimester, where the baby is more than 26 weeks along.
Mr. Hern’s website even acknowledges that a baby in the third trimester is indeed a baby, especially if the abortion is completed for medical reasons. His website states that, “For many of these patients, it is not a fetus – it’s a baby.”
Clearly, Colorado’s law permits women to abort their baby for any reason, at any stage in the pregnancy. With a General Assembly controlled by Democrats, and a Democratic governor, voters have decided to take the issue into their own hands.
In Colorado, voters have the option of starting an initiative process. If organizers can obtain a certain number of signatures from their fellow Coloradans, they can put a question directly before the voters in a general election.
The initiative organized by the Coalition for Women and Children is seeking to prohibit abortions after 22 weeks gestation. Erin Behrens, a volunteer at the Coalition, told The Daily Citizen, “Our state legislature has been unable or unwilling to pass any sort of restrictions [on abortion], so we, as citizens decided that we would have to do it ourselves.”
The measure, Initiative #108, would make it unlawful to “intentionally… perform or attempt to perform an abortion if the probable gestational age of the fetus is at least 22 weeks.” The proposal states, “Modern medical science has the ability to treat a child who is born alive at 22 weeks gestation, and these children survive in hospitals across the nation.”
If the initiative is able to garner 124,632 signatures from Colorado citizens within six months, it will be placed on Colorado’s general election ballot in 2020 for consideration by the voters.
The initiative’s website makes the case for the measure. “Colorado is one of the very few places in the world, and only one of seven states where abortions can be legally performed any time during pregnancy and even up to birth for any reason. In 2020, Coloradans will vote on a common sense limit that will draw a line at five months into pregnancy.”
Truly, this measure is common sense. According to a recent poll, “80% of Americans support abortion being limited to the first three months of pregnancy.”
Unfortunately, not everyone is on board with this measure. Pro-abortion advocates generally use two main talking points when arguing for third-trimester abortions. First, they say that women are only pursuing late-term abortions when their lives are at risk. That is not a reason to oppose this measure because it is always possible for a woman to have an emergency C-section and have the child early. But just in case, the measure does provide an exception so a woman can abort her baby if it “is necessary to save the life of the mother.”
Second, abortion advocates say that if the measure passes, women may be prosecuted or thrown in prison for seeking an abortion. Yet, the initiative states that, “A woman on whom an abortion is performed… cannot be charged with a crime in connection therewith.”
Clearly, there are no good reasons to oppose this common sense initiative. Though I believe every child should be protected from the moment of conception, this initiative would make good, substantive progress towards ending Colorado’s extreme position on abortion. We hope the people of Colorado will have the good sense to support this measure.
Erin Behrens also told The Daily Citizen, “The best way to get involved is to go to our website DueDateTooLate.com and sign up to volunteer or donate. Please spread the word on social media. Few people in Colorado know that abortion up to birth for any reason is legal in our state, and we need to fix that!”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zachary Mettler is a writer/analyst for the Daily Citizen at Focus on the Family. In his role, he writes about current political issues, U.S. history, political philosophy, and culture. Mettler earned his Bachelor’s degree from William Jessup University and is an alumnus of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. In addition to the Daily Citizen, his written pieces have appeared in the Daily Wire, the Washington Times, the Washington Examiner, Newsweek, Townhall, the Daily Signal, the Christian Post, Charisma News and other outlets.
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