I am writing specifically about an issue that is on the state of Colorado ballot this year. Some other states have similar proposals. For those of you living in a different state, hopefully you will get something helpful as well. The issue is a proposed amendment to the Colorado state constitution, Amendment 79.
Here is the description of the proposal in the 2024 State Ballot Information Booklet, pages 63-64:
Ballot Title:
Shall there be a change to the Colorado constitution recognizing the right to abortion, and, in connection therewith, prohibiting the state and local governments from denying, impeding, or discriminating against the exercise of that right, allowing abortion to be a covered service under health insurance plans for Colorado state and local government employees and for enrollees in state and local governmental insurance programs?
Text of Measure:
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Colorado:
Section 1. Legislative declaration. We, the voters of the state of Colorado, hereby find and declare:
(a) Colorado has been a leader in affirming the right to abortion since 1967;
(b) In 1984, Colorado adopted Amendment 3 which has had the unintended consequences of denying health insurance coverage for abortion services for state and local public employees, even in cases of rape, incest, continuation of a pregnancy that gravely endangers the patient’s health, or even when it is clear there is a fatal fetal condition;
(c) Amendment 3 also prevents use of health insurance coverage provided through medicaid for abortion services, even when continuing the pregnancy gravely endangers the patient’s health or when it is clear there is a fatal fetal condition;
(d) In 2022, the United States supreme court reversed the long-standing decision of Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), that had provided federal constitutional protection for abortion rights, leaving decisions about the right to abortion up to policy makers at the state level;
(e) In 2024, Colorado voters recognize Amendment 3 has had discriminatory and harmful effects on state and local public employees and those enrolled in state sponsored insurance programs and their families;
(f) Voter reversal of this policy is consistent with U.S. supreme court rulings on recognizing equal access to rights, such as the right to vote. Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 383 U.S. 663 (1966). Therefore, it is timely and appropriate for voters to enact this amendment now.
Section 2. In the constitution of the state of Colorado, add section 32 to Article II as follows:
Section 32. Abortion
The right to abortion is hereby recognized. Government shall not deny, impede, or discriminate against the exercise of that right, including prohibiting health insurance coverage for abortion.
Section 3. In the constitution of the state of Colorado, repeal section 50 of article V.
Currently there are only two restrictions on abortion in Colorado:
1. Public money cannot be used to pay for abortions.
2. Health care providers must notify parents or guardians of a minor at least 48 hours before the child is scheduled to get an abortion.
There is no restriction on when an abortion can be committed during pregnancy.
Restriction 1 will be eliminated if Amendment 79 passes. That’s the only thing that would change current state laws on abortion. Amendment 79 will “enshrine” almost unfettered access to abortion in the state constitution. That means for any future changes to abortion laws, there would have to be another voter-approved change of the constitution. It takes a 55% majority vote to approve a proposed amendment.
Supporters of Amendment 79 are spending a lot of time and money to convince voters to approve the measure. We recently received a mail-out from ColoradansForReproductiveFreedom.com. On the face, it says “Paid for by Cobalt Advocates. Registered Agent: Karen Middleton.” There is a picture of a young couple, Anna and Nate. I don’t know if they are real or just models, but there is a quote saying, “We were ready to have another kid. When the doctor told us there was no way for our baby to survive, it was shocking. But we knew we had to make the painful decision to end the pregnancy. Amendment 79 guarantees it remains our decision.” Opening the brochure, the quote continues: “Voting YES on 79 means we are free to make our own medical decisions – no matter what.” (If this is a real couple, they have my sympathy for the traumatic ordeal they experienced.)
This is a deceptive scare tactic. Pro-life advocates understand that there would need to be exceptions to banning abortions for specific cases like the baby not being able to survive or to save the mother’s life. But the pro-choice movement deems it necessary to frighten people with lies to make sure abortion continues to be acceptable in Colorado. (By the way, if you think you are free to make your own medical decisions, you haven’t had any medical needs for a long, long time – you are restricted by government, insurance, and health industry protocols.)
I would have a little more respect for the pro-choice lobby if they would just tell the truth about abortion and say that they still want it to be available instead of denying scientific facts that the fetus is a human being and using bankable euphemisms like “health care” and “terminating a pregnancy” and “women’s rights.” (Please see my earlier article – Against Abortion)
So, in Colorado, a woman can literally be minutes away from delivering her baby and decide she doesn’t want the child and have an abortion. Thankfully, this rarely, if ever, happens. But it is possible. It can happen. And no one could stop it. This is what pro-choice advocates want us to approve as a state constitutional right.
This is serious.
The enslavement of Africans has been called the original sin of America. Slavery was a horrible, inhumane, ungodly institution. Abortion is worse. In fact, there are similarities between the two.
There was a worldview called the Great Chain of Being, based on ideas of ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. This was the accepted theory of how all of life fit together. According to Dr. Lisa Wade at Tulane University, this was “the idea that human races could be lined up from most superior to most inferior. That is, God, white people, and then an arrangement of non-white people, with blacks at the bottom.” Blacks were seen as the “missing link” between apes and humans in the process of evolution, and were thought to be closer to apes than humans. Then the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Constitution did not extend citizenship to people of black African descent (Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1857). Chief Justice Roger Taney asserted that African Americans could never be citizens of the United States because the framers of the Constitution did not regard Africans as being among the “people” for whose benefit and protection the new nation was founded. Slavery was based on the view that African black people were less than human, subhuman, stuck in evolution as part of the development of humans. Abortion is based on the view that unborn fetuses are not human, not persons, only developing toward being a person. Apparently some magical power (expecto personum!) works in the birth canal changing the fetus from non-person to person.
There’s another similarity between these two horrific American (and other nations) practices. Slaves were absolutely owned by their masters. They were private property, chattel. Owners could do whatever they wanted with their slaves – sell, brand, beat, rape, kill. Some slave owners did not behave like that, but they could. They had complete authority over their slaves. There were laws regarding slavery but they were only for the benefit and protection of the owners. The Virginia slave code in 1669 stated “if any slave resists his master and by the extremity of the correction should chance to die, that his death shall not be accounted a felony…” Within the current system of abortion, unborn fetuses are viewed as the property of the mother. Of course the word “property” is not used by pro-choice advocates, but using the word “choice” has that effect. Mom can choose to do anything she wants with her fetus, just like she can do anything she wants with a pencil or a shoe, and it “shall not be accounted a felony.” Human babies are just commodities.
“Coloradans for Reproductive Freedom” and “Cobalt Advocates” want us to make sure “future generations will have the same rights” and “protect the right to abortion by voting yes on Amendment 79” (from that mail-out). Make sure pre-born babies continue to be treated as non-human property.
A 2024 Gallup poll found that 51% of U.S. adults favor expansive abortion rights (legal in all or most cases) and 45% favor more restrictive rights (legal in only a few or no cases). Also, more Americans self-identify as “pro-choice” (54%) rather than “pro-life” (41%) on abortion.
Pro-life people have failed. The tactics have been wrong. Conducting protests, rallies, and marches don’t work. Testifying before legislatures, getting petitions signed, and putting bumper stickers on cars don’t make a difference. Attempting to change laws and court orders don’t change the acceptance of abortion. The Trump-stacked Supreme Court’s decision to rescind Roe v. Wade in 2022 has not accomplished anything. The New York Times, on October 22, 2024, reported: “In nearly every state that has banned abortion, the number of women receiving abortions increased between 2020 and the end of 2023” and “Nationwide… abortions have continued to rise. There were roughly 587,000 abortions in the first half of this year, an increase of more than 12 percent from the same period in 2023.”
The minds, the understandings of people will have to change in order for abortion to be stopped (like what happened with slavery). We who are pro-life need to work for that goal. Families, schools, youth organizations, and churches must address the reality of abortion, not with fuming rants and condemnations, but with clear, reasonable explanation and education. There are organizations like Students for Life of America that are working this way. Of course, this means a long-haul project as little by little more people come to understand what an injustice abortion is.
Abortion is a spiritual issue. Christians have the power in Christ and through the Spirit to bring about the needed change. Recently I read how some atheist intellectuals are starting to turn toward faith in God. One of the reasons is that Christianity is the source of the concept of human dignity and human rights. We can and should be clearly applying this concept to pre-born children. We need to pray, and not merely for the right people to get elected. We need to pray as representatives, as priests, of humanity – pray in confession and mourning and lamentation as the prophets did; pray in compassion and care and sacrifice as Jesus did; pray in humility and surrender and faith as the New Testament believers did.
I expect that Amendment 79 will pass and the unrestricted right to abortion will be enshrined in the Colorado constitution. I also expect that this will not be the end of it. I expect that the right to abortion will eventually be eradicated. Perhaps sometime in the future enough people will get it and the laws will be changed. If that doesn’t happen, I expect God to reach his goal: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15) and all injustices and evils, including abortion, will be annihilated.
I know that I have a small audience with this website. But if any of you find this helpful, feel free to use it any way you can.
If anyone who is pro-choice has read this article, I invite you to respond with any evidence that a pre-born baby is anything other than a human person.