What the Texas abortion ban means for Colorado and four other states
It’s been 19 days since the now-infamous Senate Bill 8 — or better known as “The Texas Abortion Ban” — went into effect. Now, women and pregnant people all across the state have virtually no access to abortion, even at only six weeks of pregnancy. When I first heard the news that the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block a bill that effectively serves as the antithesis of the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, my brain sifted through all the headlines I have read over the past few years of other Republican state legislatures attempting similar restrictions. That was when I realized that the precedent set last week by Texas and five supreme court justices poses a serious threat to abortion rights, female reproductive health care, and female bodily autonomy not just in Texas, but throughout the entire country.
Here are other states that will likely follow Texas’s lead and pass, or attempt to pass, laws and regulations to undermine Roe v. Wade:
1. Colorado
While most of the country knows Colorado as a solid-blue state at the federal level, state government and policy are, in fact, influenced by the state’s rural conservative voices. These voices were amplified in the midst of the 2020 election when a “yes” or “no” vote to Proposition 115 faced Colorado voters on the ballot. Although 59% of voters shot down the proposition that attempted to ban abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy, in the wake of Texas anti-abortion advocates in Colorado will be in full force once again. Proposition 115 was formally endorsed by the Colorado Republican Party, meaning most, if not all, of the 15 Republican senators and 24 Republican representatives were hoping for the acceptance of the proposition. Now that states can get away with having six-week bans on the books, these 39 legislators will be prompted to find new means to restrict abortion in Colorado.
For Colorado voters who care about abortion rights, it is important for them to be aware of the abortion platforms their elected representatives embrace. Both Sens. Michael Bennett and John Hickenlooper are active in the fight for the continuation of abortion access across the country, as is Rep. Joe Neguse, who has a 100% rating from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. At the state level, Fort Collins is represented by Sen. Joann Ginal and Reps. Cathy Kipp and Andrew Boesenecker. With a professional medical background in reproductive health care, Ginal has a record of fighting for abortion rights, even positioning herself as one of the state’s fiercest abortion rights advocates. Kipp and Boesenecker are both pro-choice as well.
2. Mississippi
In 2018, both chambers of Mississippi’s state legislature overwhelmingly passed the Gestational Age Act, which prohibited abortions in the state past 15 weeks. The only exceptions to the law were for cases of “medical emergencies or severe fetal abnormality.” As of 2018, it was the earliest ban on abortion of any state in the U.S.
Less than one hour after then-Gov. Phil Bryant signed the law, a Mississippi abortion clinic, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for Mississippi’s Southern District. The case is slated to be argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court during their next term in October. Many pro-life and pro-choice advocates are watching to gauge the court’s adherence to precedent and the consequential future of Roe v. Wade.
3. Florida
Only hours after the Supreme Court’s 5–4 decision was announced, Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson jumped on the opportunity to restrict abortion access and reproductive care in his own state. According to Simpson, state Republicans were “already working on” a now-common restrictive abortion bill, coined “heartbeat bills.” These types of bills, which have been mimicked by various state legislatures in recent years, ban abortions once a fetus’s heartbeat can be detected — typically at six weeks of pregnancy, raising identical critiques of Texas’s Senate Bill 8. Florida’s Speaker of the House, Chris Sprowls, also committed to passing restrictive abortion legislation and Gov. Ron Desantis has been known to be sympathetic to the idea of a heartbeat bill in his state.
4. Ohio
Unlike many states that have toyed with the idea of enacting a heartbeat bill, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine put pen to paper in 2019 when he signed legislation that banned abortions once a heartbeat could be detected. The bill made no exception for cases of rape or incest and only permitted an abortion procedure when a medical emergency required one. Although a federal judge blocked the legislation before it could take effect, the recent Supreme Court ruling re-invigorated efforts in Ohio’s legislature to pass similar legislation. In a text message from Sen. Kristina Roegner, she explained that state legislatures often learn from one another, and stated she “would not be surprised if Ohio and other pro-life states follow suit.”
5. South Dakota
On Sept. 7 South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem issued an executive order that restricts telemedicine from being used in cases of abortion and further restricts access to abortion medications. The order comes only five days after Noem vowed to review her state’s abortion laws in the wake of Texas’s near-total ban, and ensure that South Dakota’s are “the strongest pro life laws on the books.”
