Amendment 79: Constitutional right to an abortion, explained
·Oct. 6, 2024, 4:00 am
Abortion-rights advocates gathered signatures to add the right to have an abortion to the state constitution. Doing so would prevent the state or local governments from restricting access to abortion in the future.
Amendment 79 would also remove the state’s current constitutional ban against public funding for abortions. That would allow Colorado to cover the procedure under Medicaid and add it to state employee health plans.
As a constitutional amendment, this measure needs 55 percent of the vote to take effect.
Here’s the language you’ll see on your ballot:
Shall there be a change to the Colorado constitution recognizing the right to abortion, and, in connection therewith, prohibiting the state and local governments from denying, impeding, or discriminating against the exercise of that right, allowing abortion to be a covered service under health insurance plans for Colorado state and local government employees and for enrollees in state and local governmental insurance programs?
What would Amendment 79 do?
The initiative is similar to a law Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed in 2022 and would codify those protections into the state constitution, including barring local governments from passing their own laws to try to restrict the procedure.
The provision repealing the state’s public funding ban would roll back a policy approved by voters in 1984. It would allow government employees, and others with publicly funded health insurance, to get coverage for abortions similar to other medical procedures. In addition, the amendment would allow the state to fund grants for programs that provide abortions.
Who’s for Amendment 79?
Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom is the registered group supporting the amendment and has raised more than $5 million to put the amendment on the ballot and push for its passage. The group includes a number of health advocacy organizations such as Colorado Black Women for Political Action, Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR) and Cobalt, the state’s main abortion advocacy organization, among others.
These groups say it’s critical for the state constitution to have explicit language to protect abortion access because, unlike a law that some future legislature could revise or repeal, any change to this measure would require another vote of the people. They also say public employees who need abortions should not be forced to pay out of pocket for the procedure and it should be treated like other legal healthcare services.
Who’s against Amendment 79?
Opposition groups include Coloradans for the Protection of Women and Children, Colorado Life Initiative and Right To Know CO. Opponents have raised around $200,000 to fight the amendment.
These organizations and their members are morally and ethically opposed to the procedure. They warn that putting this language in the state constitution will make it much harder to ever enact even limited restrictions on abortion, such as restricting how late in pregnancy it can be performed.
Opponents also say it’s wrong to ask taxpayers to foot the bill for a procedure that some consider deeply immoral for religious and other reasons.