Colorado organizers attempting to place an anti-abortion initiative on the ballot this November were unable to collect the required number of signatures within the given time frame.
The Colorado Life Initiative’s proposed measure aims to establish that it is prohibited to deliberately dismember, mutilate, poison, scald, starve, stab, administer lethal injections, leave a child to perish due to exposure or lack of nourishment, subject a child to inhumane experimentation, or intentionally cause physical harm resulting in death or disability to healthy body parts of a living human child.
According to the group’s website, they define a “living human child” as a being that exists “from the moment human life biologically begins at conception.”
The group fell short of their goal of collecting 124,238 signatures by the April 18 deadline, according to Faye Barnhart, co-sponsor of the measure. She told CBS News that they were able to collect “tens of thousands of signatures,” but it was not enough.
According to a press release by the Colorado Life Initiative, they attributed the failure to gather enough valid signatures for their cause to a combination of factors. They specifically pointed fingers at abortion opponents they referred to as “ProLife In Name Only” or “PLINOs,” as well as inadequate publicity and recruitment efforts.
Barnhart expressed her commitment to addressing the issue and shared her plans to propose another ballot measure in the upcoming election, as she stated in an interview with CBS News.
The signature collection efforts of Coloradans for Reproductive Freedom, an abortion rights group, seem to have yielded positive results. Their aim is to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot, which would protect the right to an abortion. On Thursday, the group submitted a total of 230,000 signatures to the secretary of state’s office. The next step involves the validation of these signatures by the secretary of state.
Abortion is legal in Colorado, but the abortion access constitutional amendment aims to safeguard this right and overturn the 1984 restriction that bars health insurance coverage for abortion care for “public employees and people on public insurance.”
Abortion may be up for consideration in over 10 states this November, with measures advocating for the procedure having achieved success in every state where it has been on the ballot since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which removed federal safeguards for the procedure.
The issue, although now in the hands of the states, has also become a crucial aspect of President Biden’s reelection campaign. According to former President Donald Trump, the decision should be left to the individual states.
According to a recent CBS News poll, the majority of Americans (57%) believe that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe versus Wade is detrimental to the country. These individuals also support the notion that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Furthermore, polling data suggests that abortion is a more significant issue for Democrats than it is for Republicans. Women, younger voters, and individuals with college degrees – all of whom tend to support legalized abortion – have stated that the abortion debate will heavily influence their voting decisions in the upcoming election.
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