DENVER – Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis is scheduled to sign a series of health care legislation Friday afternoon to enshrine access to abortion and gender-affirming procedures and medications as the Democratic-led state seeks to become a safe haven for its neighbors make whose Republican leaders are restricting care.
The aim of the legislation is to keep people in the surrounding states safe and beyond may go to Colorado to have an abortion, start puberty blockers, or have gender-affirming surgery. Contiguous States of Wyoming and Oklahoma have enacted abortion bans and Utah has banned transgender underage nursing.
With the new laws, Colorado joins Illinois as a progressive country Bastion for reproductive rights mostly surrounded by conservative states. Abortion clinics in Illinois now serve people living in a 1800-mile stretch of 11 Southern states that have largely banned abortion.
California and New York are considering similar bills after the The US Supreme Court has brought down Roe. v. calfput abortion laws in the hands of state legislatures.
Colorado’s southern neighbor, New Mexico, is also controlled by Democrats and signed a similar abortion law earlier this year. It legal shields those who want abortions or transgender care and those who provide the treatments, by interstate investigations. Colorado law blocks court subpoenas, subpoenas, and search warrants from states that decide to prosecute someone for having an abortion.
Gov. Polis added the first layer of abortion protections a year ago, signing an executive order barring state agencies from collaborating with non-state reproductive health surveys. One of the bills he signed Friday codified that order into law.
Similarly, it protects patients who travel to Colorado for gender-affirming healthcare from prosecution in other states. While health care was gender-affirming available for decades and is legal for adults in the US, some states have barred minors from accessing it, even with parental consent.
Conservative states are pushing back. Idaho passed a law prohibiting laws Providing abortion pills to a minor or helping them leave the state to terminate a pregnancy without their parents’ consent.
Visits to Colorado’s abortion clinics have increased by about a third since the Supreme Court ruling, and wait times for an appointment have increased from a day or two to three weeks, according to lawmakers. They also expect waiting times for gender-affirming care to increase.
Also on Friday, Polis is expected to sign legislation banning “deceptive practices” by anti-abortion centers, which are known for marketing themselves as abortion clinics but don’t actually offer the procedure. Instead, they try to convince patients not to terminate their pregnancy. The bill would also ban websites from offering to reverse a medical abortion.
A third bill will require large employers to offer coverage for the full cost of an abortion. The rule allows for special treatment for employers who object on religious grounds and does not include government employees, since the Colorado Constitution prohibits the use of public funds for abortions.
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Jesse Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that brings journalists into local newsrooms to cover undercover topics.
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