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April 30, 2015 07:25 PM UTC

BREAKING: Senate Abortion Bill Dies in Committee

  • 14 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Wow.

After all the talk about Senate Bill 285, the GOP’s surprise attempt to place new restrictions on abortion (and the Super-Friendly Ultrasound Bus), the bill failed to even make it out of committee. As John Frank reports for the Denver Post:

A Republican lawmaker broke party ranks and joined Democrats to reject a major abortion bill in Senate committee Thursday…

…Freshman Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik, R-Thornton, said she is concerned about the mandates on women and physicians in the bill.

“I’d like to see more work done on this, more discussion, more thought put into this,” she said. “My people have spoken to me and they don’t feel this bill is in their best interest.”

The vote came as a surprise because it is one of the only conservative bills to get voted down in the Republican-led Senate since the party took power in January. Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, said he was disappointed an abortion bill would fail before getting to the floor.

We’ll have more on this in the coming days, including the horribly insensitive statements and testimony from a handful of Republican Senators. This is an absolutely stunning end to a really bad idea from Senate Republicans. It is also tremendously damaging to Senate “President” Bill Cadman, who was already reeling from the obvious Republican repudiation of his leadership and now has to explain how taking such a big risk could fail so spectacularly.

We wrote yesterday that this surprise legislation “would not end well.” It couldn’t have ended any worse for Senate Republicans.

Comments

14 thoughts on “BREAKING: Senate Abortion Bill Dies in Committee

      1. Oh, yeah..
        nutcases like the Nevilles and their ilk are notoriously vindictive. It is one of the many childish traits they routinely exhibit…

  1. Perhaps they can amend the Senate Journal tomorrow to reflect that HHS Committee actually approved and sent the bill to the Committee of the Whole.

  2. This is fascinating for the politics.

    This is fascinating for the policy. Isn’t that what matters?

    Don’t be distracted by the latest War on Women outburst from the Nevilles involving forced vaginal ultrasounds and mandatory waiting periods. The only harm possible from this escapade is to the Republican brand, and the Senate leadership.

    True harm to reproductive health in Colorado was done yesterday when Republicans killed funding for the state’s Family Planning Initiative that has contributed to a staggering 40 percent drop in the state’s teen birth rate over the past five years. The abortion rate has dropped by similar numbers, so this can’t be about reducing abortion, it’s about punishing poor people for having sex.
    Colorado Republicans Refuse To Fund Award-Winning IUD Program That Reduced Teen Births

    http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/04/30/3653043/colorado-iud-funding/

    Colorado’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program Works, and That’s Why Conservatives Want to Kill It

    http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/04/28/colorados-teen-pregnancy-prevention-program-works-thats-conservatives-want-kill/

    GOP blocks birth-control funding for low-income women

    http://www.coloradoindependent.com/153006/gop-blocks-birth-control-funding-for-low-income-women

    1. During the testimony and argumentation, Senators Aguilar and Nevell noted that male Senators and House members were not supporting birth control but continued to try to force pregnant and often desperate women to take an extra day to “decide” that this was what they wanted. Senator Agular offered several amendments which would change the language about “unborn child” and supporting birth control, all of which were defeated by the Republican majority. This little demonstration was very deservedly defeated, and the value of the only medical doctor on the panel was clearly evident when the proponents’ ignorance was so very evident. Good riddance to a bad bill.

      1. Agreed. Senator Aguilar is one of my heroes. It’s disheartening, though, to see the “IUDs for teens” program discontinued.

        We’re back where we were in the 1960s, with teens being pressured to be sexually active, but knowing almost nothing about what to do or where to go to avoid becoming a parent while they are still children themselves.

  3. This is fascinating for the politics.

    Below is fascinating for the policy. Isn’t that what matters?

    Don’t be distracted by the latest War on Women outburst from the Nevilles involving forced vaginal ultrasounds and mandatory waiting periods. The only harm possible from this escapade is to the Republican brand, and the Senate leadership.

    True harm to reproductive health in Colorado was done yesterday when Republicans killed funding for the state’s Family Planning Initiative that has contributed to a staggering 40 percent drop in the state’s teen birth rate over the past five years. The abortion rate has dropped by similar numbers, so this can’t be about reducing abortion, it’s about punishing poor people for having sex.
    Colorado Republicans Refuse To Fund Award-Winning IUD Program That Reduced Teen Births

    http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/04/30/3653043/colorado-iud-funding/

    Colorado’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program Works, and That’s Why Conservatives Want to Kill It

    http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/04/28/colorados-teen-pregnancy-prevention-program-works-thats-conservatives-want-kill/

    GOP blocks birth-control funding for low-income women

    http://www.coloradoindependent.com/153006/gop-blocks-birth-control-funding-for-low-income-women

    1. Perhaps that is the reason the bill was tracked as it was. Yet there was no way the IUD program would have survived the Senate kill committee.

  4. Does anyone know how long the waiting period is for a vasectomy? And what state-mandated information must be disclosed by the doc before a guy can have the procedure?

  5. In all seriousness, what really pisses me off about bills like the is the assumption that women who get an abortion are stupid. It’s the assumption that the only reason they’re getting an abortion is because they’re uninformed.

    I would guess that 98+% of abortions are done only after a woman has lost sleep thinking of the repercussions of her actions (giving birth or abortion) and talking with friends and/or family, then losing more sleep then feeling guilt and shame because of people like the Nevilles and that’s all before the abortion! After the abortion there’s more guilt and shame and emotional turmoil. It is not an easy decision to make and if you think that a forced ultrasound is the answer than you’re a fucking moron.

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