Study details state-by-state agenda to ban abortions

NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado released a new report showing how the movement against abortion has organized to undermine Roe V. Wade.

DENVER – Passions run high when it comes to deeply held ideological and religious beliefs, and groups determined to ban abortion are no exception.

A new report by NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado exposes how national organizations working to outlaw abortion one state at a time have set their sights on Colorado. State Senator Andy Kerr (D-Lakewood) says even though the majority of Colorado voters support the 1973 Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutional right to abortion, they shouldn’t discount the effectiveness of a coordinated national movement.

“Roe v. Wade was a blanket guarantee, across the country, guaranteeing women their reproductive-health rights that these folks have found it more successful to chip away, in particular states, rather than try and do this at the national level,” says Kerr.

In one example, the study shows how the D.C. based Americans United for Life, which calls itself the “legal architect of the pro-life movement,” earns that title. It found out of 118 state laws restricting access to abortion from 2011 to 2014, nearly one third were based on the group’s model legislation or received its support.

The report was released the same day the U.S. House of Representatives voted to defund Planned Parenthood, a measure President Obama has promised to veto. Kerr says the vast majority of Americans who support a woman’s right to access health care should pay close attention to how the debate is unfolding at the state level.

“It really is about freedom and choice, individual people making decisions for themselves and for their own health care,” Kerr says. “And keeping the government out of the bedroom and out of people’s individual lives.”

According to the report, seven in 10 Americans support a woman’s right to abortion, and Coloradans have repeatedly voted against measures limiting access by the same margins. Six anti-abortion bills were introduced in last year’s legislative session. Kerr says he expects more of the same when the new session begins next week.

This story first appeared on Colorado News Connection. 

Photo credit: Charlotte Cooper, Creative Commons, Flickr.