Pueblo activists kick off signature gathering for pro-abortion constitutional amendment
Colorado distinguished itself as one of the states that guaranteed access to abortion and reproductive healthcare in state law in 2022, while the federally recognized right to abortions crumbled when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
That protection is in statute, but organizers in Colorado have launched a campaign to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution and allow public employees to have abortion care covered by their health insurance.
Starting in Denver, a statewide coalition launched a signature-gathering campaign on what would have been the 51st anniversary of the original Roe v. Wade decision with several events throughout the state.
Local organizers and officials gathered at Pueblo’s Blo Back Gallery on Jan. 23 to gather some of the first signatures and rally for abortion rights.
Why organizers are trying to protect abortion rights in the state constitution
The gathering at Blo Back Gallery on Tuesday followed a march in downtown Pueblo and was emceed by local drag queen Tara T. Pantease. This was part of the second annual “Bigger than Roe” gathering organized by Pueblo Pro-Choice, a local advocacy group that formed after the fall of Roe and mobilized opposition to the failed anti-abortion city council ordinance in late 2022.
County Commissioner Daneya Esgar represented Pueblo in the state legislature for eight years. Esgar was the majority leader and the only woman in top Democratic leadership in 2022 when the Reproductive Health Equity Act was passed, which she shared “almost didn’t happen.”
Esgar didn’t want to take credit for crafting the bill but listed herself as a prime sponsor after she struggled to convince the Democratic men in leadership to act on abortion during an election year.
“I had to convince them and push them and push them that this bill was of utmost importance because we saw what was coming: we know what's going to happen that summer after the legislative session ended,” Esgar said, referring to the anticipated Supreme Court decision overturning Roe. “We had to protect Coloradans as much as we possibly could through statute, as soon as we possibly could.”
Esgar said that “nothing in statute is guaranteed” and that the law could be changed if political tides turn against the Democratic majority in future years, but “rights shouldn’t be politicized," she said.
Pueblo-Pro Choice founder Jacquelyn Bernal-Montanez also said that state laws aren’t enough to thoroughly protect access to abortions.
“Law alone is not enough. Anti-abortion politicians threaten patients and providers, while anti-abortion extremists try to pass municipal bans … We must enshrine protections for abortions in our state constitution so it's beyond the reach of the municipal politicians,” Bernal-Montanez said.
Community activist and former Pueblo School District 60 board member Sol Sandoval spoke at the event in Spanish with a live interpreter. Sandoval shared that she grew up in a very Catholic household and still believes in God, but that not everyone has access to the same resources and is prepared to have children.
“The government should not intervene in decisions about our health and our reproductive system,” Sandoval said through the interpreter. “We deserve to be free to decide our own future and for our own decisions to be respected and protected.”
What's happening with abortion rights in other states
Ohio voters were the seventh state to approve a pro-abortion constitutional amendment in November 2023, PBS NewsHour reported.
Voters in several other states, such as Nevada, Florida, and New York also expected to decide this year on abortion-related amendments to state constitutions.
What’s the requirement for collecting signatures?
Organizers will need to collect over 124,000 valid signatures to make it to the November 2024 ballots.
The signatures have to come from people around the state, with at least 2% of the registered voters in each of the 35 senate districts in Colorado.
That means the coalition needs to collect signatures from at least 2,505 voters in Pueblo County, according to the most current voter registration numbers from the Colorado Secretary of State.
The deadline is April 25, according to Laura Chapin, a spokesperson for Cobalt, a statewide abortion fund and advocacy organization that is part of the coalition pushing Proposed Initiative 89.
If the initiative makes it to the ballot, 55% of voters would need to approve the constitutional amendment for it to pass.
Anti-abortion activists also mobilizing
Another statewide campaign for an anti-abortion ballot question is also underway, organized by the Colorado Life Initiative.
Proposed Initiative 81 states that life starts at conception and would prohibit abortion, without exceptions. Also, through the initiative, partaking in an abortion could be prosecuted as murder.
“The goal is to mobilize all churches across the state, encouraging pastors to lead congregations and communities, and churchgoers to each do our part to save these very real children's lives,” the website for the initiative states.
Over 3,100 volunteers and 300 churches have signed up to help with the faith-based mobilization strategy.
“If just 20% more churchgoers vote — and vote pro-life — Colorado will flip to a pro-life state! Our goal is to engage God's people in prayer and action to protect all children's lives without discrimination,” the website states.
How Puebloans have voted on abortion
Colorado voters have a recent track record of striking down anti-abortion ballot questions, most recently rejecting a ban on abortions after 22 weeks in 2020.
A list compiled by Ballotpedia shows that Coloradans have decided on nine abortion-related ballot questions over the past four decades. Voters approved an initiative banning public funding for abortion in 1984, which the ongoing pro-abortion initiative is seeking to undo.
While the majority of Puebloans have consistently been in tandem with the rest of Colorado voters in supporting abortion rights on the ballot since 2000, support for anti-abortion questions has been on the uptick in Pueblo over the past two decades. (Pre-1999 local election records are not available online.)
Just 30% of Puebloans supported a constitutional amendment in 2008 that defined personhood as starting at birth. But in 2014, a personhood amendment with different wording garnered support from 45% of voters in Pueblo, which was ten points higher than the statewide average of 35%.
Coloradans defeated the 22-week abortion ban in 2020 with 59% opposing it, but 52% of Pueblo County voters opposed the measure.
Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics at the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com. Please support local news at subscribe.chieftain.com.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo activists gather signatures for pro-abortion Colorado amendment
