Colorado voters will oppose abortion restrictions – again

Health care should be focused on meeting people’s medical needs — not politics or personal agendas. The proposed ballot measure that would ban abortion after 22 weeks is about politics, not medicine.

Colorado is only one of seven states that leaves the decision about whether or when to have an abortion with patients and their doctors, not politicians. These are deeply personal decisions that pregnant people face with support from their health care providers and their families. That’s why our laws take into account the individual circumstances that may lead someone to seek an abortion later in their pregnancy. As states across the country continue to restrict and outright ban access to abortion care, it’s imperative that Coloradans work to eliminate existing barriers to reproductive health care in our state — not create more hurdles.

Colorado voters have already spoken on similar issues; they have repeatedly and resoundingly defeated attempts to ban abortion at the ballot box. We don’t want politicians in our doctor’s offices. Regardless, people who want to make all abortions illegal are spearheading ballot initiatives that would ban abortion after the 22nd week of pregnancy, even creating criminal penalties for physicians. Whether at six weeks or 22 weeks, an abortion ban is an abortion ban. There is nothing “common sense” about creating an artificial political restriction that gets in the way of an individual’s medical decisions, creating even more barriers to care that would disproportionately impact the most vulnerable and underserved in our state.

A recent poll shows that there is overwhelming support at the national level to maintain our constitutional right to abortion, with 71% of folks in support regardless of political party. This decision to seek an abortion should always be between the patient and their health care provider, with the support of people they trust. It is our ethical obligation as physicians to give our patients full and accurate medical information about their pregnancy and their options, without being constrained by politics that are not rooted in medical fact, cultural competence, or compassion.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists asserts that abortion bans like this one are purely political and ignore the variety of reasons why someone would need an abortion later in pregnancy. Some of these circumstances include a fatal medical diagnosis, many of which are not discovered until the 20-week ultrasound or later, or serious pregnancy complications.

Additionally, political barriers put into place by people who oppose all abortion, including insulting waiting periods, bans on insurance coverage and Medicaid coverage, and unethical policies like the Title X “gag” rule, can push abortion care out of reach and force people to travel across state lines or not get the care they need until later in pregnancy.

There are no exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of the pregnant person in the proposed ballot measure. Regardless of the circumstances that would lead someone to seek an abortion later in pregnancy, forcing someone to carry a pregnancy to term after trauma or a fetal diagnosis is cruel and inhumane. And as a physician, I cannot imagine telling my patient they have no compassionate options.

Voters in Colorado have already defeated measures to ban abortion three times over, and we certainly will do so again if faced with this question in 2020. It’s clear that this ban serves as part of a coordinated effort to criminalize health care providers and ban abortion across the country. It is essential that Colorado continues to expand access to the full range of reproductive health services everyone needs and deserves, especially the ability to obtain an abortion.

As a physician, I trust patients to make decisions that are in their own best interests. As the first state to allow safe, legal abortion, Colorado has a long history of doing the same. And I strongly believe that Coloradans will uphold this long-held value in response to this latest abortion ban.