Colorado governor signs abortion, transgender care bills

DENVER — Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis on Friday announced a series of procedures specifying access to abortion and gender-confirming procedures and medication as the Democratic-led state seeks to create a safe haven for its neighbors. I signed the health care bill. Limited care.

The purpose of this law is to allow people in surrounding states and beyond to go to Colorado to get an abortion, start a puberty blocker, or get gender reassignment surgery without fear of prosecution. . Neighboring states of Wyoming and Oklahoma have passed abortion bans, while Utah severely restricts transgender care for minors.

Many states that ban abortion and transgender care make it a crime to travel to the state to access legal health care.

Conflicting laws include a patchwork of same-sex marriage laws that existed until 2015, and a 19th-century law over whether fugitives enslaved in the free states would remain the property of their slaveholders when they fled north. It’s setting the stage for interstate disputes to rival legal battles.

With new legislation, Colorado joins Illinois as a progressive peninsula, offering reproductive rights to conservative state residents on three fronts. Illinois abortion clinics now serve people in her 1,800-mile (2,900-kilometer) region of 11 southern states that have largely banned abortions.

California and New York are considering similar bills after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Roe. v. Wade leaves abortion laws in the hands of the Legislature.

Colorado’s southern neighbor, New Mexico, is also Democratic-controlled and signed a similar abortion bill earlier this year. Provides legal protection from interstate investigations.

Governor Polis added a first tier of abortion protection a year ago and signed an executive order barring state agencies from cooperating with out-of-state investigations into reproductive medicine. One of his bills, which he is signing Friday, codifies that order. Similar to New Mexico law, it blocks court subpoenas, subpoenas, and search warrants from any state that decides to prosecute someone for having an abortion.

Extend these protections to transgender patients who bypass restrictions in their own states. Gender-affirming health care has been available for decades, but some states have recently banned minors from accessing it, even with parental consent. Some hospitals say gender reassignment surgery is rarely recommended for minors. Adolescent blockers are more common.

Conservative states are pushing back. The state of Idaho has passed a bill banning minors from providing abortion pills and helping them to abort a pregnancy by leaving the state without their parents’ consent.

Colorado’s legislation was enacted at a time when medical abortion was a nationwide backlog and mail-order prescriptions for critical abortion pills were effectively banned pending the outcome of a federal court case.

Also on Friday, The Police signed into law a bill banning “deceptive practices” by anti-abortion centers known to be marketed as abortion clinics, but not actually offering procedures. , attempts to persuade the patient not to terminate the pregnancy. The bill also prohibits sites from offering to cancel medical abortions.

A third bill, signed Friday, requires large employers to cover the total cost of abortions, except for those who object on religious grounds. Colorado’s constitution prohibits the use of public funds for abortions, thus exempting public officials. ____ Jesse Bedayn contributed to this report. Bedayn is a member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to cover hidden issues.