CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- A Colorado Senate committee has advanced legislation that could bar any new pro-life laws in the state, prompting criticism that the bill is extreme and would prevent reasonable health and safety-based regulations. \u00a0<\/p>\n\tJenny Kraska, executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference, said the bill would \u201cset back the pro-life cause in Colorado greatly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cNot only would it undo good prolife laws that we already have enacted, but it would hinder the ability for any good measured policies in the pro-life arena to even be enacted,\u201d she told CNA April 10.<\/p>\n
\tThe bill\u2019s \u201cextraordinarily broad\u201d definition of reproductive health care would create a \u201cfundamental right\u201d to anything defined as such, including abortion.<\/p>\n
\tThe Catholic conference said the bill could affect many laws including parental notification or involvement laws, conscience protection laws, and requirements that only licensed physicians perform abortions. The bill could affect laws concerning maternal health, as well as government programs and facilities that pay for or promote childbirth without subsidizing abortion.<\/p>\n
\tIt could also impact school health clinics and abstinence education policies.<\/p>\n
\tThe bill, S.B. 175, says each individual has \u201ca fundamental right of privacy with respect to reproductive health care decisions\u201d and is \u201centitled to make reproductive health care decisions free from discrimination, coercion, or violence\u201d and without \u201cinterference from the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe bill would bar state agencies and local government from having a policy that \u201cdenies or interferes with an individual\u2019s reproductive health care decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cGiven the current political climate in Colorado, I would say there is a very good chance this bill would pass in its current form,\u201d Kraska warned. She urged Coloradans to contact their legislators and \u201cmake their voice heard\u201d in opposition to \u201csuch a broad expansion of Colorado\u2019s pro-choice laws.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe Democrat-controlled Colorado Senate Health and Human Services Committee passed the bill by a 4-3 vote at the end of an April 10 hearing, splitting along party lines.<\/p>\n
\tCommittee member Sen. Jeanne Nicholson, a bill sponsor, explained her support for the bill, saying, \u201cThe only thing I do not tolerate is intolerance and it is obvious to me that any time we are imposing our views on another person\u2019s reproductive health rights, we are not respecting their view.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe pro-abortion group NARAL Pro-choice Colorado said in an action alert that if the bill passes, it will be the first law of its kind in the country.<\/p>\n
\tCommittee member Sen. Kevin Lundberg asked the bill proponents how the bill defines \u201cindividual.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cDo we mean every human being?\u201d he asked, saying if the meaning of \u201cindividual\u201d is meant to exclude the unborn, then \u201ctheir fundamental right to life is being jeopardized.\u201d He said the bill \u201cpresumes that the unborn human being has no rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe bill\u2019s proponents did not address how the bill affects the unborn.<\/p>\n
\tThe bill\u2019s other sponsors are State Sens. Andy Kerr and State Reps. Dianne Primavera and Mike McLachlan, all Democrats.<\/p>\n
\tJessica Haverkate, vice president of Colorado Family Action, told CNA that the bill is \u201ca radical attempt to sweep aside existing laws and to prevent the state from enacting true protective measures for women in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThis legislation poses an undeniable and irreparable danger to common-sense laws supported by a majority of Americans,\u201d she said April 10.<\/p>\n
\tNatalie Decker, an attorney with the religious freedom group Alliance Defending Freedom, told those present at the hearing that her organization is \u201cvery concerned\u201d about the impact of the bill. She characterized the legislation as \u201cdeceptive\u201d saying it should be called the \u201cabortion on demand act.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tShe said the bill \u201cfailed to provide basic definitions\u201d and uses an \u201cextremely broad\u201d conception of reproductive health care.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cMy first grader has the right to demand access to reproductive health care decisions and to that information,\u201d she said. She warned that the bill would bar \u201ccommonsense laws and policies that protect the health and well-being of women and children.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tDecker said the legislation could bar health and safety regulations on abortion clinics and partial birth abortion bans. She said that the law directly conflicts with Colorado\u2019s constitutional ban on public funding for abortions.<\/p>\n
\tAttorney Nicole Martin warned that the law could endanger conscience protections for state employees and employees of state pharmacies. The legal ambiguities of the bill would only be clarified through court action. She said that local governments and agencies, including school boards, would change their policies for fear of lawsuits if the bill is passed.<\/p>\n
\tKraska suggested to the hearing that the bill is based on a wrong idea of freedom.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cFreedom is more than an unlimited supply of choices. True freedom is the ability to know, and the courage to do, what is right, and what is just,\u201d she said. \u201cThis legislation is neither right nor just for the people of Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tDenver Archbishop Samuel Aquila has asked the people of Colorado to pray and contact their lawmakers about the bill. He invited the faithful to join him to pray in front of the State Capitol at 3 p.m. April 15.<\/p>\n
\n
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Denver, Colo., Apr 14, 2014 \/ 09:13 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- A Colorado Senate committee has advanced legislation that could bar any new pro-life laws in the state, prompting criticism that the bill is extreme and would prevent reasonable health and safety…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
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