Colorado Democrats sounded alarms as state Republicans welcomed news that the U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to overturn its decisions in two landmark cases that outlined a constitutional right to abortion, according to a leaked draft of a majority opinion.

The 98-page document, written by Justice Samuel Alito and published Monday night by Politico, would strike down both the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and the high court’s 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito wrote in the draft opinion on a case challenging a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

Chief Justice John Roberts, who wasn’t among the justices who favor overturning Roe, verified the draft opinion’s authenticity in a statement released Tuesday but emphasized that the document “does not represent a decision by the Court of the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”

The report confirmed what abortion-rights supporters have feared and anti-abortion activists have envisioned: the end of Roe and its guarantees, likely in late June or early July, when a decision is expected to be released.

It’s too early to tell whether the ruling will upend the electoral dynamics heading into this year’s midterms, but strategists tell Colorado Politics that the effects of overturning Roe and Casey could cut multiple ways – by lighting a fire under Democratic base voters, who have so far expressed less enthusiasm over November’s election than their Republican counterparts, and by bolstering conservatives with a long-sought win after decades of pushing to reverse the 1973 decision and numerous rulings based on the precedent.

Statewide candidates and party officials who weighed in on the decision mostly fell along party lines, with Democrats decrying the development and nearly every Republican celebrating the possible ruling while also criticizing the leak itself, although at least one GOP candidate said he doesn’t support overturning Roe. 

“If this draft opinion reflects the Court’s decision to overturn Roe, it represents an attack on a fundamental constitutional right enshrined in law for half a century,” said U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat seeking a third term this year, in a statement released Monday night. “And it would drag us into a past when women faced horrific risks to their lives because they lacked the freedom to make their own health care choices.”

In a fundraising email sent on Tuesday, Bennet’s campaign pitched the prospect as a rallying point for supporters. 

“We always knew overturning Roe v. Wade would be the worst case scenario of this radical Supreme Court,” Bennet’s email said. “Now, we need to fight to enshrine this fundamental right.”

A spokesman for Joe O’Dea, one of the two Republicans running in a primary for the chance to challenge Bennet, said the candidate has said he’s opposed to overturning Roe.

“Joe was adopted at birth and is a practicing Catholic, but he was also raised to believe that government shouldn’t be in charge of telling people how to live their life,” O’Dea campaign spokesman Sage Naumann told Colorado Politics in a text message. “Joe has said very clearly he doesn’t support ending Roe or Casey. When we know what the actual decision of the Supreme Court is, we will be happy to comment further.”

Last month, O’Dea said at a campaign stop that he doesn’t approve of a Colorado law passed this session that enshrines the right to an abortion in state law, calling the Reproductive Health Equity Act “reckless,” according to The Colorado Times-Recorder.

State Rep. Ron Hanks, the Canon City Republican facing O’Dea in the June primary, voted against the state bill and sponsored another measure that would have outlawed abortion at any stage by changing the legal definition of a “person” to include fertilized embryos. The bill, which was defeated in committee, would also have required the state to disregard any federal court rulings – including Roe – and allowed for the impeachment or removal of any Colorado judge who sought to prevent the law’s enforcement.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Hanks, who attended the Jan. 6 rally outside the White House and maintains that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, blasted whoever leaked the court document, suggesting the motives involved creating pressure on the justices who had signed on to the draft opinion. 

“That leaker should be found, tried and then convicted of an insurrection against our government,” Hanks tweeted. “That leaker is the greatest threat to our American legal system that we have seen in the history of our nation.”

Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, who is seeking reelection, referenced the state law he signed last month in a statement issued Monday night, saying it sets Colorado apart from its neighbors as “a refuge where individual rights are respected.”

Referring to the draft opinion to overturn Roe, Polis added: “While this is extremely disappointing news, representing a radical shift in American life away from individual freedom, in Colorado we will continue to fight for and respect the right to make decisions about your own body and medical health.”

The two Republicans seeking the nomination to run against Polis both testified against the state law Polis signed and have made clear they want it repealed.

A spokeswoman for gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl declined to speculate whether the University of Colorado regent would sign a Colorado bill to outlaw abortion if Roe is struck down but emphasized Ganahl’s anti-abortion position.  

“Heidi is pro-life,” Lexi Swearingen said in a text message. “What we are certain of is that the abortion bill just signed into law by Jared Polis must be undone. It is the most extreme abortion bill in the nation. Coloradans are not extremists.”

A spokeswoman for Greg Lopez, the former Parker mayor making a second run for governor this year, didn’t respond to a request for comment on the Politico story, but the Republican spelled out his opposition to the Colorado law guaranteeing the right to an abortion at a March forum in Colorado Springs, the Colorado Times-Recorder reported.

Calling the bill “an indication that we have lost our moral compass here in society,” Lopez said he would veto the bill if he were governor and vowed to “rally the people” to repeal it with a ballot measure.

Said Lopez: “I have faith in our people that when they understand it they’re going to vote it down. When they say they’re trying to protect the most vulnerable, don’t believe that.”

Colorado GOP Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown, who sponsored an unsuccessful state personhood ballot initiative when she was a teenager, hailed news of the draft ruling in a tweet Monday night.

“Every. Single. Life. Is. Precious,” she tweeted. “Every child is worth saving. Praise God that truth and justice can only be hidden for so long before they rise again.”

On Tuesday morning, Burton Brown issued a statement saying that “countless lives have been saved” if the report on the draft opinion were accurate.

“Equal rights are not equal until they extend to every human being,” she said. “I pray that the Supreme Court releases an official decision that recognizes that fact. We must all choose to keep working until every child is protected, every woman is supported, and every family is strong.”

Calling the leak “a blatant act of sabotage aimed at bullying Supreme Court justices and undermining the legitimacy of the court,” Burton Brown added that while she was praying for the safety of the justices “the full power of the government should also be used to get to the bottom of this leak and hold the individual responsible.”

Her Democratic counterpart, state party chair Morgan Carroll, pointed with pride in a statement at the state law signed by Polis “to ensure that a women’s right to choose is protected in our state.” She added, “We must continue to fight for the Democratic values we believe in by showing up and voting. We will not allow this extremist court to take us backward.”

In a fundraising email sent on Tuesday, Carroll said her mother grew up before some methods of birth control were legally available and had friends “whose entire lives were side-tracked, women legally stuck with abusive men who impregnated them, and others who pursued illegal back-alley abortions, because that was all that was available.”

“The idea that our US Supreme Court could take us back to a point where women were not full people, capable of making their own life and health care choices, but instead to face a future of either government-forced childbirth, facing illegal or unsafe abortions, or be criminalized based on their gender and biology is cruel and barbaric,” Carroll wrote. “Elections matter.  Every office. Every seat.  Every year. They impact our laws, our rights, our lives, our courts, our policies, our opportunities, and our freedoms.”