For Immediate Release:
June 8, 2021

For More Information:
Karen Middleton, President

Laura K Chapin
Communications Consultant, Cobalt

COBALT ENDORSES WOMEN’S HEALTH PROTECTION ACT, URGES COLORADO FEDERAL DELEGATION TO CO-SPONSOR

 

MAJORITY OF COLORADO GENERAL ASSEMBLY, SOS GRISWOLD, TREASURER YOUNG, AND AG WEISER SIGN ON IN SUPPORT

 

Denver – This morning, the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) of 2021 was introduced in Congress. The federal bill will create a statutory right for health care providers to provide abortion care, and a corresponding right for their patients to receive that care, free from medically unnecessary restrictions that single out abortion and impede access. WHPA would put the protection of Roe into federal law, which is critical because we cannot rely solely on the courts to defend abortion rights and access.

Cobalt is urging Colorado’s entire federal delegation to co-sponsor the Women’s Health Protection Act. Both US Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper and Representatives DeGette, Perlmutter, Neguse, and Crow are original co-sponsors. But despite Colorado’s longstanding, bipartisan support for abortion rights, including 2020’s statewide, landslide defeat across party lines for an abortion ban ballot measure, none of the Republican House members have agreed to co-sponsor WHPA.

A majority of Colorado’s General Assembly Members, as well as Attorney General Phil Weiser, Treasurer Dave Young, and Secretary of State Jena Griswold, have also signed on to a support letter for the bill. You can read the Colorado sign on letter HERE.

According to Cobalt President Karen Middleton, “Coloradans overwhelmingly support abortion rights, whether they’re Democrats, Republicans, or Unaffiliated. The constitutional rights established in Roe are fundamentally part of our Colorado values. We have repeatedly and soundly defeated every attempt to ban abortion both at the ballot box and in the General Assembly.

But abortion rights are under attack across the country and in our neighboring states. We need the Women’s Health Protection Act to create a floor for abortion access nationwide. We cannot rely on the Courts – and definitely not the Supreme Court – to protect abortion access.”

On May 17th, the Supreme Court announced that it will take up a case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,  that presents a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade. It will be heard next spring and a decision is expected in June, 2022.

Continued Middleton, “If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade next June, 24 states could immediately prohibit abortion entirely. Colorado is not one of them – but we also don’t have anything protective of abortion access in state law, which is why we need the Women’s Health Protection Act.”

She concluded, “The people hurt most by abortion restrictions are those who already face barriers to accessing health care—including women, Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), low income folks, LGBTQ Coloradans, immigrants, young people, those living in rural communities, and people with disabilities.  And as an organization, Cobalt intends to do everything within our power to protect abortion rights in Colorado. We will hold accountable those at both the state and federal level who do not strongly and loudly act to protect our Constitutional right to access abortion.”

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Cobalt is a grassroots, statewide Colorado organization that advances abortion access and reproductive rights. Our organization began in 1967 when Colorado became the first state to allow safe, legal abortion. Cobalt believes nothing should stand between you and your health decisions, which is why we are dedicated to fighting for systems, structures and policies that protect reproductive rights and guarantee comprehensive, universal access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion.