Coloradans to decide initiative that would prohibit abortions after 22 weeks gestational age
The Colorado 22-Week Abortion Ban Initiative officially qualified on June 8 for the November 3 ballot. If approved, the ballot measure would prohibit abortions after a fetus reaches 22 weeks gestational age as calculated from the first day of the woman's last menstrual period (LMP).
124,632 valid signatures were required to qualify. Sponsors submitted 114,647 valid signatures on the March 4 deadline. They were allowed to collect additional signatures during a cure period, which allows initiative campaigns in Colorado an additional 15 days to collect signatures if they fall short of the required number. The Colorado Secretary of State's office announced June 8 that the measure qualified for the ballot after finding that proponents submitted an additional 38,557 valid signatures. The group Due Date Too Late sponsored the initiative.
Under the initiative, performing a prohibited abortion would be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine except for in cases where an abortion is required immediately to save the life of the pregnant woman. Medical professionals who perform a prohibited abortion would have their medical licenses suspended by the Colorado Medical Board for at least three years. A woman who has a prohibited abortion could not be charged with a crime under the initiative.
In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Roe v. Wade, finding that state laws criminalizing abortion before fetal viability violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The high court held that states can regulate and/or prohibit abortions (except those to preserve the life or health of the mother) once a fetus reaches the point of viability.
Seven states—Alaska, Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont—and Washington, D.C., do not restrict abortion after a certain point in a pregnancy. The other 43 states restrict abortion at a certain point in pregnancy based on varying criteria.
One state bans abortion at 20 weeks from LMP, 17 states ban abortion at 22 weeks from LMP, and four states ban abortion at 24 weeks from LMP. Twenty states ban abortion at viability, which is around 24-28 weeks from LMP and varies by pregnancy. One state, Virginia, bans abortion in the third trimester, or around 25 weeks from LMP.
The map below details these restrictions.
Measure sponsor Erin Behrens said, "We are going to put a very reasonable limit of 22 weeks, which is about five months into pregnancy. And we think that this reasonable limit will pass overwhelmingly in Colorado, and we will finally be brought into the 21st century. We will finally be among all the other states that have reasonable limits, and we will finally not be the late-term abortion capitol of the United States."
Jack Teter, Colorado's political director for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said, "This measure has no exceptions for rape and incest, it has no exceptions for maternal health, and that is cruel and unconscionable and that’s an abortion ban voters aren’t going to support."
Coloradans have voted on eight measures relating to abortion between 1984 and 2014. In 1984, Coloradans voted 50.4% to 49.6% to ban public funding of abortion except for cases where the mother's life is in danger. Colorado voters defeated citizen-initiated constitutional amendments in 2008, 2010, and 2014 that attempted to define person to include unborn human beings from the moment of fertilization. The amendments were defeated by 73%, 71%, and 65%, respectively).
Voters will decide six measures in five states (Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, and Washington) regarding abortion and definitions of when life begins this year. So far, three such measures in three states have been certified for 2022 ballots.
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