A blue bus emblazoned with the words “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” pulled up outside a brewery in Denver last week, attracting a crowd of over 100 people. It was part of the Harris-Walz campaign’s effort to bring the national battle for abortion access to Colorado.
Reilly Jackson, 20, waited in the throng outside Raíces Brewing Company with Dani Dawes Cox, 34.
Dani Dawes Cox holds a sign during a Harris-Walz Fighting for Reproductive Freedom National Bus Tour stop outside Raíces Brewing Company in Denver on Oct. 7, 2024. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
“An abortion ban is a ban on women being able to receive good health care, and to really save their lives in a lot of cases,” said Jackson, a student at the University of Colorado Boulder. “Those decisions need to stay between a woman and her doctor — and the government needs to stay out of it.”
In the Nov. 5 election, Coloradans will decide on the future of abortion access in the state when they consider a ballot question that would elevate abortion protections to the state constitution. But in the continuing fallout from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the issue also permeates the rest of the ballot, with abortion stances influencing the presidential and downballot races.
Abortion has ranked among the top five most important issues identified by voters participating in The Denver Post’s ongoing Voter Voices survey, carried out in partnership with other media outlets through the Colorado News Collaborative.
The gathering outside Raices showed how Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign and Democrats in general are harnessing abortion as a tool to motivate voter turnout.
Attendees chanted, “When we fight, we win,” before the speakers — Gov. Jared Polis, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette and U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper among them — stepped off the large vehicle.
“This is truly a fight for our future,” Polis told the group. “And in Colorado, we’re taking action.”
On mail ballots that were sent out in the last week, voters face Amendment 79, which requires 55% support to pass since it would amend the state constitution. Besides enshrining the state’s existing wide-ranging abortion protections in that document, the measure would repeal language from 1984 that prohibits the use of state and local government funding toward abortion services. Doing so would allow the state to greenlight abortion coverage for Medicaid enrollees and public employees on government health insurance plans.
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Supporters of the ballot measure, including leading Democratic elected officials, say they want to protect abortion access in Colorado from future political decisions. Opponents, including many conservatives and anti-abortion groups, say they’re against putting taxpayer funds toward abortion.
Colorado is among 29 states where abortion is broadly legal two years after Roe’s repeal, including states with varying degrees of protective laws along with a handful where bans have been blocked by the courts, according to The New York Times. Among the 21 states with more
Source:: The Denver Post – Politics
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