As leaders react to Roe getting overturned, Coloradans take to the street

Following the release of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, hundreds of Coloradans protested the decision outside the state Capitol, while Colorado officials publicly voiced their opposition and support for the ruling.

On Friday evening, protesters rallied against the ruling that overturned the nation’s guarantee for abortion rights, relegating the decision to individual states.

Although abortion will remain legal in Colorado and the majority-conservative justices’ opinion comes as no surprise following a Supreme Court draft decision leaked in May, the decision will have repercussions across the country. Abortion will become illegal or severely restricted in about half the states, prompting an anticipated surge of abortion patients flocking to Colorado.

Chants of “keep your rosaries off my ovaries” and “not the church, not the state, women should decide their fate” could be heard in downtown Denver as protesters marched through the drizzling rain down Lincoln Street toward 16th Street Mall and beyond. Cars honked as they passed to cheers from attendees.

They continued moving through the area, passing by businesses filled with Avs fans watching the game who went outside to see what was going on. Activists stopped at 20th and Stout streets to give speeches.

Protesters included men, women, nonbinary folks and people of all ages, including children. They held up signs that said things like “If you think being forced to wear a mask is bad, imagine being forced to carry a baby” and “safe, legal abortions now.”

pic.twitter.com/woOcgkcHMI

— Elizabeth Hernandez (@ehernandez) June 25, 2022

Kate Tester, 40, said she was at the protest for the people who don’t live in a state like Colorado where their right to an abortion is protected.

“Don’t like abortion? Don’t have one. The end.” Tester said.

Elizabeth Bass’s 3-and-a-half-year-old son rolled down the hill outside the Capitol before the march began. It’s his first protest. Bass, 33, had an abortion when she was 22 and said her son wouldn’t be here today if she hadn’t made the right choice for her at the time.

“I didn’t love myself then and I couldn’t afford to take care of a child. Now, I’m a proud mom, and I’m able to care for him. An abortion should be a decision between a woman and her doctor.”

Anticipating this move by the Supreme Court even before the draft opinion leaked earlier this year, Colorado Democrats passed legislation that would codify the right to abortion in state law. Abortion and reproductive rights advocates are also working on a ballot initiative that would guarantee access to abortions in the state constitution in 2024.

“For decades, Republican politicians and secretive outside groups worked to put conservatives in power on the Supreme Court in order to overturn Roe v. Wade and ban abortion,” said Rep. Meg Froelich, an Englewood Democrat and a sponsor of the Colorado abortion law. “With this decision, ultra right-wing politicians are now free to impose their own beliefs on everyone else, send abortion providers and patients to prison, and put bounties on anyone who helps them. In large parts of our country, women have become second-class citizens overnight and no longer have the right to determine their futures and make decisions that impact their livelihoods.”

Colorado voters have repeatedly struck down measures to restrict abortions, and the Democratic-led legislature has defeated attempts by Republicans to outlaw the medical procedure. Coloradans don’t want politicians deciding their health care, Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement.

“Because of my administration and Democratic leadership in the legislature, Coloradans don’t have to worry because our rights are still protected today despite the unfortunate reality that the U.S. Supreme just rolled those freedoms back for millions of Americans in other states,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement on Friday.

In a statement from Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, the organization’s political director Christina Soliz noted that people who already face systemic racism and discrimination will be hit hardest by this ruling.

He added that Coloradans “will not retreat to an archaic era where the powerful few controlled the freedoms over our bodies and health decisions.”

“This is why we protected our right to abortion here in the state by leading the passage of the Reproductive Health Equity Act, and now that the Supreme Court has cleared the way for bans across the country, we’ll continue to lead in building a future where reproductive healthcare is safe, accessible, and without shame,” Soliz wrote.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser called the decision a “momentous mistake,” saying it will cause 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,” he said in a statement. “Women who experience life-threatening conditions during pregnancy will die. And women of color will be disproportionately impacted. These scenarios are now realities as laws in other states restricting abortion go into effect.”