Walter In Denver

Scare Tactics

The most contentious of issues leads to the most heated rhetoric, and Reason magazine mentions a bit in the May issue. Julian Sanchez cites (no link yet) data from the Center for Reproductive Rights, analyzing the prospects of abortion prohibitions if Roe v Wade is overturned. The Center lists 21 states "most likely to ban abortion" in that scenario. To my surprise Colorado makes the list.

That's surprising to me, because Colorado voters have a record of strong support of legalized abortion. In 1998 a state constitutional amendment to ban partial birth abortions made the ballot, and it went down 655,723 votes to 617,977. In 2000, Colorado voted on amendment to require a 24 hour waiting period for abortions. It was trounced, 1,020,029 to 664,411. The only vote that could be construed as anti-abortion was a 1998 amendment to mandate parental consent for minors having abortions, which passed 707,021 to 581,481. (all vote numbers via the Colorado Secretary of State website.)

The Center's state-by-state report, available here (pdf), notes that Colorado has a pre-Roe abortion ban, limited by some state supreme court decisions. Given that Colorado has easy ballot access for constitutional referenda and amendments, it's certain that even if the ban were reinstated the voters would quickly decide the issue. If Colorado voters won't ban partial birth abortion, there's no chance they will vote for a wider abortion ban unless there is a massive change of opinion among the voters.

I'm not as familiar with the situations in the other states listed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, but their analysis of the Colorado situation is bad enough to bring their conclusions into question. It also means there may be little change to the legal status of abortion in the U.S. if Roe v Wade is overturned.

Posted by Walter at March 30, 2005 07:53 PM