The Colorado and South Dakota secretaries of state recently announced they had approved pro-abortion Constitutional amendments for inclusion on their respective states’ November 5 ballots.
The two states currently have diametrically opposed laws regarding abortion.
Colorado is one of only a handful of states that allow abortion up until birth – including late-term abortions. South Dakota on the other hand has enacted a pro-life law that protects almost all unborn children in the state.
Although Colorado has already completely legalized abortion, its pending initiative would formally “enshrine the right to unlimited abortion in the state constitution and would also override a 1984 measure that prohibits health insurance from covering abortions for public employees and those on public insurance,” Breitbart reported.
Per Breitbart, Colorado’s “measure would need the support of 55 percent of voters to pass.”
Meanwhile, the proposed South Dakota pro-abortion amendment “would allow abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy and would only allow the state to regulate abortion in the second trimester in ways related to the physical health of the pregnant woman,” noted Breitbart.
“The amendment would allow abortion to be regulated or prohibited in the third trimester, except when necessary to preserve ‘the life or health’ of the mother,” Breitbart’s report added.
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Like in many other states such as Ohio, South Dakota’s amendment only needs the support of a simple majority of voters to become part of the state’s constitution.
However, NBC News pointed out that the amendment’s placement on South Dakota’s November ballot “can still be challenged before June 17.”
In the case of both Colorado and South Dakota, a pro-abortion activist group was the primary driving force behind the respective states’ initiatives.
After the news broke late last week, the pair of states joined Florida and Maryland in having a pro-abortion measure on their November ballots – which will also include the contentious presidential election.
On April 1, the Florida Supreme Court allowed the controversial Amendment 4 to go on the state ballot. Florida is unique in that it requires a 60% voter threshold to add an amendment to its constitution.
Maryland is similar to Colorado in that abortion is already legal throughout a pregnancy with no gestational limit. However, its pending “Reproductive Freedom Amendment” would add a “right” to abortion to the state’s constitution.
Pro-abortion activists in a half-dozen more states – Arkansas, Arizona, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, and Nevada – are still attempting to add pro-abortion amendments to their November ballots. In New York, the process is currently held up in court.
LifeNews Note: Joshua Mercer writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
