Colorado voters chose to enshrine access to abortion in the state’s constitution, with 61% of voters supporting Amendment 79.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the amendment had over 1.5 million votes in favor. Almost 39% of voters opposed the measure. The Associated Press called the race at 8:39 p.m. on Tuesday.
Amendment 79 needed the approval of at least 55% of voters — a higher threshold to pass because it changes the Colorado Constitution. It guarantees abortion access statewide by protecting it as a right in Colorado, thereby shielding it from the agendas of lawmakers. Here, abortion is currently allowed at any stage of pregnancy.
ELECTION RESULTS: Live Colorado election results for the 2024 election
Amendment 79 also repeals a ban from 1984 that prohibits the use of state and local government funding for abortion services. That means that Medicaid recipients and public employees on government health insurance plans could have the procedures covered in the future.
At a watch party for Colorado Democrats on Tuesday night, Karen Middleton, the president of reproductive rights organization Cobalt Advocates, told The Denver Post: “This is a victory of years of hard work and strategy to ensure our rights are protected by the constitution.”
“The people of Colorado have spoken … our rights cannot be taken away by the stroke of a pen,” she added.
Colorado was one of 10 states where voters weighed on abortion access, with several also deciding whether or not to enshrine it within their own constitutions. As of Wednesday at 12 p.m., New York, Missouri, Arizona, Montana, Nevada and Maryland had approved of abortion protections, while Florida and South Dakota rejected their abortion rights measures, the AP reports. Nebraska enshrined an abortion ban in the state constitution.
Support of Amendment 79 was led by Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, a coalition of reproductive rights and progressive advocacy groups, which petitioned for the measure to make the ballot. The organization was a fundraising Goliath, with almost $6.4 million in its war chest through Nov. 1, according to TRACER, the website that discloses campaign finances.
Advocates argued that the passage of Amendment 79 would guarantee health care access and women’s freedom of choice because abortion would be insulated from future legislative decisions. Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains celebrated the win.
“We’re so proud that Colorado, the first state in the country to legalize abortion, has now enshrined the right to this most fundamental health care into the state constitution, while also repealing an outdated ban on public insurance coverage, in recognition that rights alone are meaningless without access,” said Jack Teter, the regional director of government affairs, in a statement.
One party at the helm of the opposition movement was the Pro-Life Colorado Fund, a coalition of more than 50 anti-abortion groups, which received $250,000 in campaign contributions from the Denver Archdiocese and the Colorado Catholic Conference. It raised close to $373,000 through Nov. 1, TRACER reports.
Opponents largely took issue with the use of taxpayer funds for abortion services, alleging that public spending could rise if the state and local governments opt to cover the procedure.
“Votes are still coming in, but regardless of the results, we will continue to advocate for pre-born children and their mothers,” Brittany Vessely, the executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference, said in a statement. “We know if more Coloradans knew about the harms of 79, they would not have voted for it.”
