Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis said Friday that access to so-called abortion pills was precarious across the country and that some neighboring conservative states had moved to restrict such procedures.
Polis signed the US Supreme Court’s Roe v. It comes a year after he signed a bill codifying abortion rights into Colorado law, months before he overturned a Wade decision to repeal federal protections for abortion rights. At the same time, conservative neighboring states Oklahoma and Wyoming passed stricter abortion laws, and in Utah, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox earlier this year signed legislation banning hormone treatments and surgical procedures for minors seeking gender reassignment treatment.
One of the bills Polis signed, SB23-188, establishes Colorado as a haven for people in states with more restrictive laws demanding access to abortion and gender-recognized care.
The new law prohibits a Colorado court or judicial officer from issuing a subpoena in connection with an abortion or a procedure in another state that involves a person receiving or “performing, aiding or abetting” gender-affirming treatment in Colorado. Both are legal. protected by the state.
Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, a blue neighborhood south of Colorado, also passed legislation last month that bars municipalities and other public entities from interfering with individuals’ ability to access reproductive or gender-affirming health care in the state. Will stop from
“I am proud to sign these paternity laws to support Colorado’s values of protecting access to reproductive health care,” Polis told CNN in a statement. “[Here] in Colorado, we value individual liberty and we stand to defend it.”
Another bill signed into law by Polis directs large employers to provide compensation for the total cost of abortion treatment starting next year.
According to the bill’s summary, a third law would make it a “deceptive trade practice” for companies to advertise that they provide “abortion, emergency contraception, or recommendations for abortion or emergency contraception.” A health care provider may also be subject to disciplinary action if it “provides, prescribes, administers, or attempts to abort” a medication abortion in violation of applicable state regulations.
All three bills passed the Democratic-led state legislature earlier this month.
Republicans criticized the new law. House Minority Leader Mike Lynch said they denied women the right to “choose to terminate a pregnancy”.
As Polis signed the bill on Friday, the fate of access to the abortion drug mifepristone continued in court last week, when a US district judge in Texas said it would suspend the Food and Drug Administration’s approval for the abortion drug. will do it.
US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito extended the suspension of the lower court’s decision on Friday to give the justices more time to consider the case.
Part of the Texas decision is set to take effect at 1 p.m. EST on Saturday, but Alito’s hold postpones the deadline until 11:59 p.m. EST Wednesday.
The case focused on the scope of the FDA’s authority to regulate the drugs used in most abortions in states that still allow abortions today.