How Colorado’s abortion access change would compare to a federal ban

DENVER – Given the strong support that Amendment 79 has received, the constitutional right to abortion appears to have gained bipartisan support in Colorado.

“We believe that basically one in four Republicans strongly support abortion rights,” said Kiera Hatton, the policy director at Cobalt, an organization that advocates for funding and access to abortion and other reproductive health care.

Cobalt supported the passage of Amendment 79.

“Colorado has always supported abortion rights. We already enshrined this in state law in 2022 and wanted to ensure this becomes a permanent protection for Coloradans,” Hatton said.

But some people may wonder how permanent that is, especially given a Republican-led Senate and a possible Republican-led House.

“It appears that there is some momentum at the federal level for a nationwide abortion ban,” said Sheila Ruski, a political science professor at Metropolitan State University Denver.

Ruski explained that when there is a conflict between federal law and state law, including a state’s constitution, federal law dominates.

Colorado is no stranger to this conflict. Marijuana, for example, is legal at the state level but illegal at the federal level. Experts said some kind of “look the other way” mentality is highly unlikely if federal lawmakers pass a nationwide abortion ban.

“The Preemption Doctrine assumes that the federal government stays out of issues that are traditionally the responsibility of the states,” Ruski said. “But I very much doubt that this standard of restraint will hold up at the federal level in this case.”

Ruski continued, “This is just a guess that if the federal government goes so far as to introduce or enact a federal abortion ban, their primary intention will be to stop abortions in the states.”

She said that hypothetical scenario would not occur immediately because such a decision would likely be followed by legal challenges to a statewide ban.

President-elect Donald Trump has said he will veto any national abortion ban.