Representatives from a coalition of pregnancy resource centers in Colorado recently assembled at the State Capitol to voice disapproval of three “egregious” pro-abortion bills.
Pregnancy Resource Center Day at the Capitol, held on March 21, 2023, also offered the organizations a chance to highlight the care and compassion they offer to communities throughout Colorado.
In March 2023, lawmakers in the Colorado General Assembly introduced a three-bill abortion legislation package, named “Safe Access to Protected Health Care.” These bills come on the heels of the state’s radical Reproductive Health Equity Act (RHEA), which was passed in 2022.
The Colorado Catholic Conference, in a statement on its website, called the new bills deceptive in their reference to safe access and protected health care.
“Even though the 2022 Reproductive Health Equity Act (RHEA) already made Colorado one of the most extreme pro-abortion states in the country, pro-abortion lawmakers are still pushing for more abortion access.”
“These bills would advance a radical, dangerous, anti-life agenda,” said Joseph Kohm III, Director of Public Policy at Family Policy Alliance.
The three proposed bills include: SB23-190 Prohibiting Deceptive Practices at Anti-Abortion Centers (SB23-190); Increasing Access to Reproductive Health Care Services (SB23-189); and Protecting Health Care Patients, Providers, and Assistors (SB23-188).
If enacted, the bills would mandate employers fully cover abortions until birth, ban treatments to reverse the abortion pill, and greatly restrict pregnancy resource centers from advertising.
Colorado Catholic Conference noted that the proposed bills would have extremely adverse effects on pregnancy resource centers, including “eliminating a woman’s choice to sustain her pregnancy and save her child’s life through Abortion Pill Reversal (APR)” and “restricting and censoring the good work of Pregnancy Resource Centers by banning advertising.”
On Pregnancy Resource Center Day at the Capitol, representatives from PRCs around the state sat in the gallery during House and Senate legislative sessions, donned in pink and blue.
Lauren Castillo, Director of Mission Advancement at Bella Health and Wellness in Englewood, Colorado, told DenverCatholic.org that the bills are “egregiously wrong.”
“It’s really devastating to see our culture move this far”¦They are really placing unconstitutional limitations on the advertising abilities that our pro-life medical clinics and our pregnancy resource centers are able to do to reach potential patients who need their care”¦Not only that, but they’re placing a ban or an attempted ban on abortion pill reversal, which we know saves lives, which we know is safe and effective for mothers who choose it and safe and effective for the babies who are able to be born.”
Brittany Vessely, executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference, said, that “despite their noble mission, PRCs are often criticized by those who misunderstand their purpose.”
“SB23-190 would censor and limit the great work the pregnancy resource centers do for our communities”¦Pregnancy Resource Centers are nonprofit organizations that provide confidential, life-affirming support to women experiencing unexpected pregnancies at no cost to the client”¦”
Colorado Catholic Conference is partnering with pro-life groups and crisis pregnancy centers to counter the state’s pro-abortion legislation. The Pro-Life Colorado Coalition will host a Rally for Life on April 4, the one-year anniversary of RHEA, on the Colorado Capitol West Steps. At that time, the group will also announce the inaugural Colorado March for Life in partnership with National March for Life.
“Now that Roe and Casey are overturned, the question of pre-viability abortion has returned to the states.” Vessely said in a Catholic News Agency article. “For some states that means a culture of life will flourish. For other progressive-dominated states, such as Colorado, that means laws will be introduced that go far beyond Roe and incite a culture of death.”