Colorado’s conservatives embraced news of a purported draft opinion suggesting U.S. Supreme Court justices have decided to strike down Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion in America, while Democrats responded with defiance, vowing to continue to fight. 

“I pray and am hopeful that these reports are true, and the Supreme Court does the right thing,” U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn said in a statement. “The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was tragically wrong and has cost over 73 million unborn children their lives. I have always fought for the lives of the unborn and will never waver in my fight.”

Lamborn, a Republican, cautiously eyed the reports, saying they may or may not be true and noting that drafts of opinions aren’t final. He said overturning Roe v. Wade means the arena of the abortion debate will shift to the states – it doesn’t mean that fight is over. 

“Overturning Roe v. Wade would return the highly contentious issue of abortion back to the states for elected representatives to decide. It would not be decided by nine unelected judges,” he said. 

Democrats denounced the draft opinion, but they also hinted of some sense of acceptance that, absent federal protection for abortion, the fight is moving to the states.

“While states like Texas, Florida, and Arizona are engaging in the unwelcome intrusion of government into deeply personal and religious decisions, Colorado remains a refuge where individual rights are respected and where any person has the ability to live, work, thrive, and raise a family on their own terms,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement. “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.”  

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said if the draft, indeed, reflects the court’s opinion, it “represents an attack on a fundamental constitutional right enshrined in law for half a century.”

“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,” he said, adding the American people “will have to fight to enshrine this fundamental right in our national and state laws.”

Democratic legislators Majority Leader Daneya Esgar, Rep. Meg Froelich and Sen. Julie Gonzales, who authored legislation to guarantee the right to an abortion in Colorado, said they are “devastated, but not surprised” by the news.

“States across the country will continue to pass restrictive anti-abortion legislation or outright bans, making abortion nearly impossible for some and sending doctors to prison for providing abortion care,” they said in a joint statement.

Polis last month signed the legislation guaranteeing the right to an abortion in Colorado statutes.

In doing so, Colorado became the second state this year to adopt a law protecting legal access to the procedure. In January, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a similar law. So far, three states, plus the District of Columbia, have codified the right to an abortion throughout pregnancy, while 12 other states explicitly permit abortion prior to viability, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Meanwhile, 21 states have adopted statutes that could be used to restrict abortion. In 12 of those states, overturning Roe v. Wade would trigger an abortion ban.