Colorado’s ranking as a haven for reproductive rights has improved, according to a just-released national scorecard. RePROs Fight Back, an initiative of D.C. think tank the Population Institute, awarded Colorado a ‘B+’ in its annual 50 state report card. Colorado jumped from a ‘C-” to a ‘B+’ since voters passed Amendment 79 in November, which established the right to abortion and repealed a constitutional ban on public funding for abortions.
“In 2011, attacks on reproductive health and rights really skyrocketed at the state level,” explained Jennie Wetter, Director of the rePROs Fight Back initiative, during a Zoom press conference this morning. “However, when [we] were having conversations with people, it became clear that they may be familiar about what was happening in some states, that there was something particularly egregious happening, like, for example, Texas, but a lot were less familiar about the range of issues around sexual and reproductive health in their own state. So in order to fill that gap, we started doing our 50-state report card. That first year in 2012, we had three states getting an A and nine states failing. Clearly, a lot has changed since then.”
Colorado is one of 11 states to receive a ‘B’ rating, due to its broad protections for abortion patients and providers. Five states — California, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Vermont — received an ‘A’ rating, four states received a ‘C’ rating, 31 states received a ‘D’ rating, and 25 an ‘F’ rating. While Colorado received high marks overall, it did not receive an “A” because the state does not mandate sex education.
‘When we do the report card, we break it down into three main categories,” explained Wetter. “We look at prevention, we look at affordability, and then we look at access, and then we look at 11 indicators across those categories … under prevention, the first indicator we have is sex education. Sex education varies widely from state to state, honestly, even from school district to school district. We want to make sure that young people are getting a comprehensive sex education that is medically accurate.”
Colorado’s comprehensive sex education law, passed in 2019, does not require districts to teach sex ed, but does require that those who do avoid emphasizing sexual abstinence as the primary or sole acceptable preventive method available to students and prohibits instruction from explicitly or implicitly using shame-based or stigmatizing language or instructional tools; employing gender stereotypes; or excluding the health needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender individuals. However, many school districts in Colorado rely on the sex education curriculum Education for a Lifetime, a program developed by Life Network, a chain of anti-abortion centers based in Colorado Springs. Education for a Lifetime’s website describes their Pursue module as a “sexual risk avoidance (SRA) program for teens” that “Emphasizes avoiding sexual activity in order to stay in school, attain a quality education, and focus on goals and dreams.”
Wetter has personal experience with lackluster sex ed programs. “As somebody who went to a Catholic school and had sex ed from a nun, I know… how it can be to get sex education that is neither comprehensive nor medically accurate, and it sets you up for failure later in life,” she said. “Sex education is a really important base for young people. They can learn about healthy relationships, and they can build the skills they need to make safe and healthy decisions for their future.”
Beginning on Jan. 1, 2026, Colorado employee health insurance plans will cover abortion care and require the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to authorize reimbursements for abortion care under publicly funded insurance, including community members with coverage through Health First Colorado, and the Reproductive Health Care Program, following the passage of Amendment 79.
Additionally, this year Colorado legislators are moving to strengthen Colorado’s shield law, which protects abortion patients and providers from prosecution by states where abortion is illegal. In December, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter of New York for providing medication abortion to Texas residents in violation of state law. Last week, a Louisiana grand jury indicted Carpenter on similar charges. These cases could challenge the shield laws in place in states where abortion is legal.
This week Paxton also charged a Texas midwife with providing illegal abortions. “The more we hear about this case, the more troubling it gets,” said COBALT CEO Karen Middleton in a news release. “And it certainly emphasizes the need for strengthening Colorado’s shield law to protect medical professionals and patients. According to news reports, Maria Margarita Rojas is a Latina midwife serving low-income and immigrant communities, not a doctor. As reported in the New York Times, ‘She was on her way to the clinic and got pulled over by the police at gunpoint and handcuffed,’ said the friend, a fellow midwife, Holly Shearman, who said she had spoken with Ms. Rojas by phone last week. ‘She said they wouldn’t tell her what was happening. She said they took her to Austin.’ We are seeing a pattern of intimidation of immigrant communities around the country, including here in Denver. Abortion is health care and it should be accessible for all. Threats, PR campaigns, and intimidation tactics against any health care provider, or their patients, are offensive and unacceptable.”
