COLORADO, USA — Colorado has become a destination for people seeking abortions from states that now outlaw the procedure.
Cobalt is a local nonprofit that has a fund to help those who come to Colorado seeking abortions and reproductive rights.
The group is also significantly funding the ballot measure to put abortion access into the state’s constitution. Cobalt has contributed $2.3 million to get Amendment 79 passed.
Amendment 79 is the Constitutional Right to Abortion
The ballot language reads:
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?
Constitutional amendments require 55% voter support to pass.
Amendment 79 makes two changes.
A YES vote on Amendment 79 would move abortion access rights from state statute into the state constitution.
In 2022, Gov. Jared Polis, D-C.O., signed HB22-1279, which put abortion access into state law. That legislation was signed two months before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That Supreme Court decision meant that individual states could make their own decisions on abortion access or restrictions, and Colorado preemptively put abortion access into state law.
Amendment 79 moves those protections from state statute, which can be changed by future lawmakers, and would solidify those protections in the state’s constitution, which can only be changed by voters.
A YES vote would also repeal the part of the state constitution that bans the use of public funds for abortion services.
In other words, a YES vote would allow for state and local tax dollars to pay for abortions through Medicaid or through a government employee's health insurance plan.
Voters in 1984 added Article V, Section 50 to the Colorado Constitution, which states:
“No public funds shall be used by the State of Colorado, its agencies or political subdivisions to pay or otherwise reimburse, either directly or indirectly, any person, agency or facility for the performance of any induced abortion, PROVIDED HOWEVER, that the General Assembly, by specific bill, may authorize and appropriate funds to be used for those medical services necessary to prevent the death of either a pregnant woman or her unborn child under circumstances where every reasonable effort is made to preserve the life of each."
A YES vote deletes that part of the state constitution, allowing for public funds to be used for abortion services.
A NO vote does not change abortion access in Colorado. The right to abortion access would remain in state statute, which could be changed by future state legislatures.
A NO vote would keep the ban in place preventing public funds from being used for abortion services.
Amendment 79 Financial Impact
The Colorado Blue Book details the fiscal impact of statewide ballot issues. The blue book states that Amendment 79 would have no financial impact. However, it would if state lawmakers or local governments pass legislation to allow for taxpayer dollars to fund abortion services.
Here is how that would happen.
Medicaid is funded by the federal government and the state.
The Hyde Amendment, passed by Congress in 1977, bans federal dollars being used for abortion services, unless the mother’s life is at risk or if the pregnancy is from rape or incest.
KFF, a health policy research and polling organization, tracked which states allow for public funds to be used for abortion care involving women covered by Medicaid.