How do you make Colorado liberals hopping mad? Dissent from their talking points and speak your mind. 

This is the hotseat Gov. Jared Polis found himself on when he dared to say he and other Democrats view abortion as “bad” – this from one of the most aggressively pro-abortion governors in the country. 

“Democrats don’t believe abortion is good,” Polis said on CNN.  “We think it’s bad.”

It was a statement most people would find commonsensical, regardless of one’s position on the issue.

But it was not part of the abortion lobby’s approved talking points for public officials.

Indeed, that abortion is not an unvarnished good for American society was news to the network of Colorado abortion advocacy groups, and their allies in the Colorado Legislature.

They erupted in howls of outrage like a chorus of scalded marmots.

And in their over-wrought anger, they ended any pretense that abortion advocates are “pro-choice.”  They made it abundantly clear they are loudly, proudly, 100% pro-abortion.

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A great example was an opinion piece penned by three Democrat women legislators who did the rhetorical equivalent of hauling the governor into a dark alley for an “attitude adjustment.”

Among their charges is that by merely saying abortion is not something society should celebrate, Polis was “unnecessarily stigmatizing” the procedure and with his words somehow denying “women the opportunity to make their own decisions about their own bodies.” In a state where abortion access is virtually unlimited, thanks to Jared Polis.

At the core of virtually every group’s emotion-laden over-the-top reaction was the clear and unvarnished statement abortion is unarguably good.

They want to pretend the profoundly serious decision to undergo an abortion is as consequential as a tooth extraction. When any sentient, compassionate human knows it is a far more serious life-altering decision.

Their position is intellectually and morally bankrupt.

Obviously, people who are pro-life, including me, believe abortion is not only “bad” but a horrific procedure that not only results in the death of an unborn child, but can also leave lifelong emotional scars on women.

But even among average Coloradans who say they want abortion to be legally available, you seldom hear them embrace the nutty notion that abortion is a good thing.

Yet in statement after statement, that is exactly what the abortion advocates have done.

And up until his CNN interview, I would have given Jared Polis the title of poster boy for the Colorado abortion industry.

Though some may argue this move by the Colorado governor is a head-fake to try to give himself a national reputation as a moderate on hot-button issues, his record on abortion is radical.

Indeed, from virtually the moment the ink was dry on the U.S. Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, Jared Polis issued an executive order that prevented any Colorado agency from cooperating with investigations in other states on “reproductive freedom.”

He proudly and publicly touted his efforts to make Colorado an abortion beacon for America, sending out the message Colorado was the best destination for terminating a pregnancy.

And among the many abortion bills was a shameless attack on crisis pregnancy centers, which are an actual competitive alternative to the abortion industry. The allegation, among others, is that these centers that are openly pro-life – and often provide free ultrasound to moms so they can hear the child’s heartbeat – engage in deceptive trade practices, hoodwinking mothers into choosing a different path from abortion.

In this bill and others, Democrats, including Gov. Polis, showed they are not interested in pregnant women having alternatives, nor did they even hint they believe abortion is bad. Instead, they used the power of state law to promote and protect the abortion industry to the point abortion numbers in Colorado are soaring.

One of abortion’s best friends in Colorado history got torched with flame throwers from the abortion industry for the slightest rhetorical crack in a monolithic wall. Intolerance of dissent usually demonstrates insecurity that a position can’t hold up to real scrutiny. Perhaps the abortion industry knows only the most extreme Coloradans would agree with them that abortion is to be celebrated rather than lamented.

Sean Duffy, a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Bill Owens, is a communications and media relations strategist and ghostwriter based in the Denver area.