It is rarely a good thing for our democracy or government to cast a ballot based on a single issue. This will inevitably lead to the election of candidates with problematic views on a host of other issues or with little or no legislative experience. However, there is a time when a candidate’s position on a single issue is so extreme and destructive that it should be disqualifying for public office.

In Colorado, candidates for state or federal office, who voted for or lend their unqualified support to the Reproductive Health Equity Act (RHEA), which passed during the last Colorado legislative session, should be turned away from public office. The bill was portrayed as an effort to codify the findings in the Roe and Casey decisions regarding abortion access. However, the bill went radically beyond these Supreme Court decisions which implicitly or explicitly supported the restriction of abortion in the third trimester or after viability. RHEA has absolutely no restrictions on why or when a woman chooses abortion – including late in the third trimester when the fetus can easily thrive if born prematurely. It deprives the fetus of all rights, even when Coloradans, untrained in human embryology and development, can easily recognize the humanity and inherent dignity and value of the pre-born human baby.

And yes, we know that hundreds of abortions currently occur after fetal viability in Colorado and that 70-80% of these late abortions are performed on healthy women with healthy fetuses. RHEA and those who support RHEA are promoting this practice and will make it a norm in Colorado – radically deviating from abortion practices across the world.

Late abortions in Colorado are typically performed using a D&E procedure, in which the fetus is systematically dismembered (while pain capable) or a D&X procedure, in which the fetus is poisoned in a fashion that results in hours of agony before the dead fetus is extracted. Any of us would be outraged if animals destined for our dinner table were treated this way. We can’t be complacent when our candidates endorse this barbarity.

Those who passed RHEA voted down amendments to exclude abortion for sex selection, for racial animus and for disability. This endorses the most egregious forms of sexism, racism and ableism. The supporters of the bill also refused to add an amendment explicitly supporting parental notification – portending a time when our teenage daughters will face such a life-changing decision completely on their own without the loving support of their parents.

These legislators and candidates show very little imagination or compassion when their only solution to an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy is abortion. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, why not address the drivers of abortion demand? Why don’t they expend as much energy and legislative effort on measures that prevent unplanned pregnancies and ensure women’s fertility is not an impediment to equality and economic success?

The candidates who voted for RHEA or provide unqualified support for RHEA are mostly Democrats. This is an opportunity for voters to pull back the Democratic party from pro-abortion extremism. RHEA places Colorado light-years away from the formulation “safe, legal and rare” which is widely supported by Democratic and non-Democratic constituencies alike in Colorado.

Please ask every candidate running for state and federal office if they profess unqualified support for RHEA, and vote accordingly.  

Thomas J. Perille MD  

President, Democrats for Life of Colorado

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