| Amendment 79 | |
| Date: | November 5, 2024 |
| Country: | Colorado |
| Constitutional Right to Abortion[1] | |
| Yes: | 1,921,593 |
| No: | 1,179,261 |
| Total: | 3,100,854 |
| Map Size: | 250px |
| Mapcaption: | ForAgainst |
2024 Colorado Amendment 79 is a proposed constitutional amendment that appeared on the ballot on November 5, 2024. The amendment establish a right to abortion at any stage of pregnancy in the Constitution of Colorado and repealed Amendment 3, a 1984 constitutional ban on public funding for abortions. The amendment passed, surpassing the 55% supermajority vote required for the amendment to be approved.[2]
In the Colorado Constitution, Article II is amended by the addition of a new section 32 as follows:[3]
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.
In the 19th century, bans by state legislatures on abortion were about protecting the life of the mother given the number of deaths caused by abortions; state governments saw themselves as looking out for the lives of their citizens.[4] Colorado's first ban on abortion was passed in 1861.[5] It read:
“[E]very person who shall administer substance or liquid, or who shall use or cause to be used any instrument, of whatsoever kind, with the intention to procure the miscarriage of any woman then being with child, and shall thereof be duly convicted, shall be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three years, and fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars; and if any woman, by reason of such treatment, shall die, the person or persons administering, or causing to be administered, such poison, substance or liquid, or using or causing to be used, any instrument, as aforesaid, shall be deemed guilty of manslaughter, and if convicted, be punished accordingly.”
In 1967, Colorado decriminalized abortions in cases of rape, incest, or in which a pregnant woman would be permanently disabled as a result.[6] Despite adopting what was considered a more progressive law, elective abortions were still illegal under state law.
In 1984, Colorado voters narrowly approved Amendment 3.[7] The amendment effectively banned the usage of public funding for abortions except in certain circumstances. The amendment, which is still a part of the Constitution of Colorado, reads:
"No public funds shall be used by the State of Colorado, its agencies or political subdivisions, to pay, or otherwise reimburse, either directly or indirectly, any person, agency, or facility for the performance of any induced abortion, PROVIDED HOWEVER, that the General Assembly, by specific bill, may authorize, and appropriate, funds to be used for those medical services necessary to prevent the death of either a pregnant woman or her unborn child under circumstances where every reasonable effort is made to preserve the life of each."[8]
In 2023, Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, the group sponsoring the initiative, filed the amendment with Jena Griswold, the Colorado Secretary of State. The measure was approved for circulation on November 14, 2023.[9] On April 18, 2024, the group submitted some 225,000 signatures, well over the 124,238 needed to gain ballot access.[10] [9] Griswold certified the signatures on May 17, 2024.[9]