During the debate on the Safe Access to Protected Health Care bill package, I learned Rep. Stephanie Luck (R-Penrose) and I have something in common: we’ve both had miscarriages. And we’re both fortunate enough to live in Colorado, a state where our doctors can give us the best medical advice on how to treat them – without abortion bans and bounty hunter laws hanging over our heads.
As we await the final legal outcome of the mifepristone case – one of the two drugs used for medication abortion – it’s important to understand “Abortion is health care” isn’t just a slogan. It’s reality. And I’m speaking from experience. I’m one of the millions of women who has had an abortion, and I’m one of the women who has used mifepristone – which a Republican-installed judge in Texas is trying to ban.
Mifepristone cost me $10 a dose. The D&C I ended up having cost me $3000 – and that was with *good* insurance. Mifepristone isn’t just a safe option for abortion care, it’s an affordable one, which is one of the reasons opponents are suing over it. They want to put as many barriers in front of people seeking abortion care, including cost barriers, as possible.
Colorado has long been a haven state for people seeking abortion care. And it must remain one with Roe overturned. The Safe Access to Protected Health Care bill package just signed into law by the Governor – SB 188, 189, and 190 – will help ensure that happens. SB 188 is shield law to protect abortion providers, patients and helpers AND includes gender affirming care. SB 190 addresses disinformation and deceptive practices at anti-abortion centers pretending to be health care clinics, such as the promotion of deceptive advertising and dangerous ‘abortion reversal’ pills. And SB 189 is a bill to increase insurance coverage for reproductive health care.
This package of laws aims to address the opportunities where Colorado can go even further to protect abortion rights and the rights of patients and providers, to tackle misinformation in our communities, and make care more affordable by closing gaps in insurance coverage. These bills were created in concert with providers, patients, and community members to ensure that we’re addressing the issues most critical to our communities.
And those issues are critical and time sensitive. I found out I had breast cancer and I found out I was pregnant last year *on the same day.* I had to have an abortion to start chemotherapy. I didn’t need barriers of any kind to get between me and my health care. And everyone deserves that same level of access and care. When access to health care is pushed out of reach, the burden falls hardest on people who already face systemic barriers such as racism and discrimination in this country.
When Republicans overturned Roe v. Wade last year in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health, they miscalculated. Badly. They thought overturning Roe would only ban ‘bad’ abortions for women who didn’t ‘deserve’ them. That’s not how abortion bans work because that’s not how reproductive health care works. Voters know that and made that clear during the midterms. Politicians cannot and should not determine who gets health care and who doesn’t.
Every pregnancy is different. Every pregnant person is different. People choose medication abortion and in-office abortion depending on what is best for them. And the reasons people have abortions are all different – and none of them are any politician’s business.
Furthermore, abortion bans with exceptions like rape, incest, and life of the mother are worthless and a myth and frankly insulting. You shouldn’t need to experience trauma or violence in order to get an abortion. It should be a right, not a privilege depending on how awful the circumstances of conception were.
In the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, the future of abortion access, reproductive rights, and dignified care in America is unclear and in danger. While Colorado continues to be a safe-haven for our residents who seek care and those traveling for thousands of miles for care, we know we cannot stop here. Our work continues because all people deserve access to fundamental reproductive health care.
Abortion is health care and mifepristone is safe, effective, and affordable. The Safe Access to Protected Health Care laws are both good politics and good policy. As the first state to allow legal abortion, Colorado has never been afraid to be bold and lead on abortion rights. The time is now to continue that leadership.
Sara Lu Loflin is the Executive Director of Progress Now Colorado.
