April 10, 2023 10:41 AM UTC

Too Many More Abortion "Victories" And The GOP Is Undone

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• by: Colorado Pols

Denver7’s Colette Bordelon reports on the dueling federal court rulings Friday that have put in question the legality of the most common and least invasive method of abortion in the United States today, the drug mifepristone used in the majority of medication abortions:

A federal judge in Texas ruled that a hold be put on the pill, while a federal judge in Washington, D.C. ruled to keep the pill in at least 17 states, including Colorado.

It’s expected that the conflicting decisions will head to the Supreme Court.

“Thankfully, here in Colorado, we have representatives and advocates that do know the value of Coloradans, and are doing their best to ensure those protections, but it’s not the same across the country,” said Aurea Bolaños Perea, the strategic communications director of the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR).

Bolaños Perea believes that if the rulings are upheld there will be an influx of people from out-of-state seeking access to abortions in Colorado.

In the United States today, medication abortion now accounts for a majority of procedures. Although the ruling by Trump-appointed Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk included a stay to allow the Biden administration to prevent it from taking effect, this ruling’s hypothetically national scope and sweeping effects make it the hardest shot at abortion rights since last year’s Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.

Despite the further heavy losses in last year’s elections due in part to voter backlash the overturning of Roe, Colorado Republicans made no attempt to conceal their thrill at the prospect of outlawing mifepristone coast to coast:

As the poster child for the state’s many failed abortion ban ballot measures, former Colorado Republican Party chair Kristi Burton Brown was in no position to see the backlash against Roe’s repeal coming. But even if she had, Burton will also proudly tell you that it’s preferable to lose elections on the issue of abortion than compromise. After all:

This was KBB last fall, undercutting her party’s own U.S. Senate nominee Joe O’Dea at the exact moment that O’Dea was trying to falsely present to Colorado voters as “pro-choice.” O’Dea’s failed pivot on abortion marked the end of any pretense of moderation on this issue among Colorado Republicans, who in this year’s legislative session have made obstruction of abortion rights bills their top focus.

It’s very simple: Republicans are committed to a position that will never again represent a majority of voters. Abortion is not the only reason that Colorado has evolved politically toward the current state of total Democratic control, but it’s enough to stop a majority of voters from ever going back–especially with Republicans continuing their aggressive assault on abortion rights at the federal level. Having achieved their long-sought goal of overturning Roe, Republicans are discovering the political consequences of that “victory” are ruinous fifty years later.