No on Amendment 69
Plan Fails To Cover Abortion Care
Vicki Cowart
Special to the GPHN
As one of the largest health care providers in Colorado, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains has an obligation to our patients. This obligation goes further than just providing the compassionate and exceptional care we are known for, it also includes fighting for and supporting the expansion of access to care.
For many Coloradans, it is this issue of access that Amendment 69 would solve. However, while Amendment 69 has good intentions, there is one very important catch: it fails to include abortion care.
Colorado Constitution Section 50, which was passed by voters as Amendment 3 in 1984, bans state public funding for abortion care. Amendment 69 would create a state-funded and managed health care system, otherwise known as “ColoradoCare” in which Section 50 would apply. As a result, thousands of women would not have access to a safe and legal abortion through their health care plan.
If Amendment 69 passes, people who currently have private health insurance, and move to “ColoradoCare” would lose coverage of abortion care. Under a totally state-funded health care system, the only way a person would be able to obtain an abortion is by paying out of pocket.
Not every individual can afford that cost. In fact, millions who work in government jobs or are covered by government programs like Medicaid have not had such coverage because of the national and state public funding bans for abortion care. The federal ban, known as the Hyde Amendment, actually turns 40 years old this month. Colorado’s ban, Amendment 3, is 32 years old. These bans were put in place by anti-choice politicians and hurt people. For too many years too many people have already been going without access.
Under Amendment 69 the health system will force more people to extreme measures to get the care they need for themselves and their families. Every person has the right to decide when to start their family, and neither income or coverage-type should determine that.
At Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, we agree with and support universal health care in Colorado, and commend Sen. Irene Aguilar and the other leaders of Amendment 69 for starting an important conversation. It’s a compelling proposal. But, the bottom line is this catch cannot be overlooked. Universal health care is simply not universal if it fails to include abortion care.
We need a health care system that supports all people and their health care needs, and that includes abortion. Amendment 69 would only reinforce the divide and stigmatization between abortion and other health care services.
Every person deserves access to the care and medically accurate information they need, which is why PPRM is critical for hundreds of thousands of people in the Rocky Mountain region and beyond. But the fact is, PPRM shouldn’t be the only place a person can go to get this care. We need to expand access to reproductive health care to all communities across Colorado. Even though, make no mistake, we will be here providing it.
We too recognize it is time for progress in our health care system in Colorado—but we take one step forward and two steps back when abortion isn’t made a priority.
The movement around sexual and reproductive health care is growing—people must have agency over their own body, and we cannot support a system that continues to deny those freedoms. Until the conversation about universal health care includes all abortion care, we will not support it.
Vicki Cowart is President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.