How political leaders representing Pueblo reacted to Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade reversal
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With the U.S. Supreme Court’s official reversal of Roe v. Wade Friday, Americans’ constitutional right to abortion, which was enshrined in national law for nearly 50 years, has come to an end.
In Colorado, however, the new Reproductive Health Quality Act, signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis in April, ensures Coloradans’ right to legal abortion, regardless of the court’s decision.
“In Colorado, we will continue to choose freedom and we stand against government control over our bodies,” Polis said Friday in a statement addressing the court's decision.
“State leadership matters now more than ever and in Colorado we will not retreat to an archaic era where the powerful few controlled the freedoms over our bodies and health decisions.”
'We have so much work to do,' Rep. Daneya Esgar says
One of the prime sponsors of the Reproductive Health Quality Act was Pueblo Democratic Rep. Daneya Esgar, who represents House District 46.
Esgar took to social media Friday to share her thoughts, saying, “We knew overturning Roe vs. Wade was a real possibility,” which is why she led the charge to solidify reproductive rights in state law “because we trust people to make their own private medical decisions.”
“We have so much work to do,” Esgar wrote. “Please know a woman's right to abortion, and ALL reproductive healthcare is on the ballot this November. This is a long-term plan to take power back from us.”
'New era' or 'dark day'? Americans divided as they react to Supreme Court overturning Roe.
Another Pueblo Democrat, Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, of Senate District 3, said on Facebook he “strongly condemns” the court’s ruling.
“EVERYONE in this country should have the freedom to decide when to start a family & the liberty to seek out critical, life-saving medical care — without government interference. PERIOD,” Hinrichsen wrote.
The lone Republican representing parts of Pueblo County in the state legislature, Rep. Stephanie Luck, of House District 47, did not immediately respond to The Chieftain’s request for comment.
Rep. Donald Valdez, a Democrat who represents parts of Pueblo County in House District 62, also could not be reached for comment prior to the Chieftain’s press deadline Friday.
Rep. Lauren Boebert celebrates Supreme Court ruling
In Congress, Rep. Lauren Boebert, who represents Pueblo and most of Colorado’s Western Slope as the representative for CD3, celebrated the ruling on Twitter.
“We’ve worked for this. We’ve voted for this. We’ve prayed for this,” Boebert said. “Roe v. Wade is dead, and as a result, millions of children will live. Praise God!”
Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, both Democrats, echoed their fellow party members’ condemnations of the court’s decision, which “demolished fifty years of legal precedent,” Bennet said in a statement.
“This activist ruling, strips women of their individual liberty to make intensely personal decisions about their bodies and futures, and eviscerates their Constitutionally protected rights to freedom and equality,” Bennet wrote.
“This ruling is not the last word. In the months ahead, the American people have the opportunity to elect pro-choice majorities in the Congress and in state legislatures across the country to codify in law the fundamental right to choose.”
Hickenlooper said that the ruling threatens “not just a woman’s physical health and control over their own futures, but it also threatens to put them and their doctors in jail.”
“The vast majority of Americans support the right to an abortion,” he said. “Republicans should join Democrats today and vote to keep politics out of reproductive health care decisions.”
Chieftain editor Zach Hillstrom can be reached at zhillstrom@gannett.com or on Twitter @ZachHillstrom
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Here's how Pueblo politicians reacted to Roe v. Wade being overturned
