Inside the Dome, April 2008
By the half-way point of the 2008 legislative session,  Gov. Ritter had signed into law a pro-choice, prevention-first bill aimed at reducing unintended pregnancies. Senate Bill 03 (Boyd, Riesberg), “Expanding Medicaid Family Planning Services,” allows the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to establish an appropriate income-eligibility limit -- using the federal poverty level index -- that is budget-neutral but allows more low-income Coloradans to receive preventative family planning services to reduce unintended pregnancy, increase the length of time between pregnancies, and prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Bottom line, this means that Coloradans who earn too much to qualify for full Medicaid-covered health insurance but not enough to afford private health insurance will be able to receive preventive reproductive health care services. The General Assembly also has rejected two anti-choice choice measures, Senate Bill 95 (Schultheis, Lundberg), “Delay in Health Care,” and Senate Bill 125 (Harvey, Stephens), “Preventing Responsible Sex Education & Reproductive Health Care.” SB 95 would have imposed a delay in the right of a woman to receive an abortion by requiring physicians to perform or refer out certain medically unnecessary procedures, including an ultrasound, and to make women wait at least 24 hours before receiving an abortion is performed. Failure to comply with this bill would result in civil and criminal penalties. Senate Bill 125 would have created statutory definitions for “nudity” and “sexual activity,” and made it a Class 2 misdemeanor for any individual to knowingly distribute material depicting nudity and/or sexual activity, as so defined, to a minor. As written, the bill would have established a legal foundation to restrict comprehensive sex education and could have been used to curtail provision of reproductive health care services. NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado continues to monitor movement at the state Capitol, as the Legislature is now considering bills dealing with comprehensive health care reform. NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado will work to ensure the full range of reproductive health care services, from birth control counseling to pregnancy-related care – including abortion and complications arising from pregnancies or abortions – are included in efforts to expand access to health care.
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