Help keep Colorado a free state

Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom (CPRF) made an appearance last weekend in Grand Junction to boost the signature-gathering effort to get Initiative 89 on the ballot, the measure that would amend the state constitution to protect abortion from government interference.

Republicans across the U.S. are currently carrying out a massive attack on women’s right to autonomy over their own bodies. Thanks to Trump, the Supreme Court’s new conservative majority rocked the nation in June of 2022 when it overturned Roe v. Wade which guaranteed the right to abortion in America for over 50 years. Since then, 21 states have either banned or restricted abortion to far earlier in pregnancy than the standard set by Roe v. Wade. Donald Trump himself, now the presumptive Republican nominee for president and a man who a jury ruled guilty of rape in July of 2023, is saying he supports a federal level ban on abortion.

Currently the right to an abortion is guaranteed only by statute in Colorado. We could lose that right very easily. All it would take is more Republicans winning election to the state legislature and the governorship, and they could vote to deny access to abortion. Also, public employees who are covered by state health insurance plans, including police, firefighters and teachers, are currently ineligible for abortion coverage under existing state law. That’s just plain unfair. Ballot initiative 89 will erase that disparity.

To qualify for the November ballot, the Initiative 89 campaign has to gather 185,000 signatures by April 15, 2024.

The signatures are due on April 25, but the campaign will need to check signatures against voter rolls and try to cure defective signatures before turning them in to the Secretary of State, so the campaign wants all signatures turned in to them by April 18th. That’s just around the corner.

Because 89 is a Constitutional amendment, the requirement to get it on the ballot is harder than it would be if it were just a statute. CPRF needs to get signatures from 2% the registered voters in each of Colorado’s 25 state senate districts to qualify for the ballot. It’s a gargantuan effort. They are roughly about 75% of the way there in most counties, but our area is lagging a little behind. We need to step up.

CPRF estimates the ballot initiative effort will cost about $3.3 million, and they are still about $410,000 short of raising this goal. The petition-gathering effort will cost $2.9 million (a majority of that cost) so CPRF needs to raise $410k more by mid-April. Donors should make checks to “Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, and mail them ASAP to P.O. Box 271154, Denver, CO 80027. CPRF also needs help gathering signatures, and they are seeking people who are willing to share their abortion stories to help de-stigmatize reproductive health care and empower others to tell their stories.

Right now, the group is focusing on the ballot initiative, but apart from the campaign, they recognize there is currently a dire lack of clinics offering reproductive health care in many areas of the state, including the western slope. The only facility that provides abortions for people on the western slope is 90 miles away, in Glenwood Springs. After the ballot initiative, CPRF plans to work on establishing more clinics that provide a truly full spectrum of reproductive health care and birth services on the western slope and other parts of the state that currently lack those services.

Sign the petition and/or get trained in gathering signatures at the office of the Mesa County Democratic Party in the old R-5 building at 7th St. and Grand Ave., 310 N. 7th Street, Unit 2, Grand Junction, CO, or call 970-549-8544 or email mesacountydemocraticparty@gmail.com

A list of events and rallies on the western slope where you can attend to sign the petition is here. Other ways to support the campaign and volunteer can be found here.