Colorado leadership on Roe v. Wade: “A momentous mistake on multiple levels”

WASHINGTON, D.C. (KKCO) - With the overturn of Roe v. Wade altering the landscape of women’s healthcare in the United States, the way has been paved for states to ban abortion. Much of Colorado’s leadership has been quick to criticize the decision, but it still remains divisive within the state as political parties take sides.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser argues that the overturn of Roe v. Wade goes against 50 years of settled legal precedent. “The Court’s decision is not only legally incorrect, but also remarkably out of step with the views of the two-thirds of Americans who believe government should not interfere in a woman’s very personal decision to end a pregnancy,” said Weiser. ““The Court’s decision to overrule Roe v. Wade will cause significant suffering and harm. In many states, women who are raped will be forced to continue the pregnancy, causing untold mental anguish and distress. Doctors providing abortions will be arrested and jailed. Women who cannot access abortion care will resort to desperate and dangerous measures to end a pregnancy, even in ways that threaten their health. Women who experience life-threatening conditions during pregnancy will die.”

The Colorado GOP, however, supports the decision. Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown compared Roe v. Wade to Chinese and North Korean abortion laws.

“Today is the best day. After decades of so many Americans fighting for every single life, today, the Supreme Court of the United States has finally declared that every child is worth saving and that every child must be protected,” said Brown. " I hope this decision leads to a real conversation - between people on all sides - about how we as a country can best work together to further support our children, mothers, and families.”

Colorado House Minority Leader Hugh McKean issued a statement supporting the decision. “The United States Supreme Court today has cleared the way for individual states to determine their own abortion laws. Striking down Roe now pushes abortion rights and limitations back to the states with local voters deciding their own individual rules based on that state’s values and judgment.,” said McKean.

Co-sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act, Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper has thrown his support behind free and available abortions.

“For 50 years, the Constitution has protected a woman’s right to their own health care decisions. Today’s ruling shatters that freedom,” Hickenlooper said. “It threatens not just a woman’s physical health and control over their own futures, but it also threatens to put them and their doctors in jail.”

Hickenlooper also stated that the vast majority of Americans support the right to abortion, a sentiment reflected by the majority of Coloradans. According to a Pew Research study, close to 60 percent of Coloradans believe that abortion should be legal in all or most contexts.

Governor Jared Polis stated that politicians should not be involved in healthcare decisions. “We will continue to choose freedom, stand against government control over our bodies, and will not retreat to an archaic era where the powerful few controlled the freedoms over our bodies and health decisions.

Colorado Senate Majority Leader Daneya Esgar also criticized the decision. “This decision by five Republican-appointed Justices is a travesty of justice, a perversion of our Constitution, and a tragedy for the American people,” said Esgar. “The Court has stripped millions of women of our bodily autonomy, reproductive freedom, and the rights that have been the law of the land for over fifty years.”

Representative Boebert has not issued any official statements beyond a tweet.

Senator Michael Bennet has also issued a statement, calling Roe v. Wade a “bedrock of American law.”

“Today, a radical majority of the Supreme Court demolished fifty years of legal precedent. This activist ruling strips women of their individual liberty to make intensely personal decisions about their bodies and futures, and eviscerates their Constitutionally protected rights to freedom and equality,” said Bennet. “This ruling is not the last word. In the months ahead, the American people have the opportunity to elect pro-choice majorities in the Congress and in state legislatures across the country.”

The court reached the decision on Friday morning, with a vote of

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