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Unneeded rancor

Divisive late-session actions cast a partisan pall over the Legislature

As a chamber split between Democratic control of the House and Republican control of the Senate, the Colorado Legislature’s achievements in the 2015 session have largely veered toward the middle. Successful measures many times have had bipartisan support, and while the Legislature has not solved all the state’s problems, it has done a noteworthy bit of work in addressing its duty as the law-passing arm of state government. It is too bad, then, that in the session’s waning days, some lawmakers on the right side of the political spectrum have chosen to make offensive and impractical statements about reproductive rights.

First came the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee’s discussion-free decision to kill House Bill 1194, a measure that would have provided state funding for long-acting, reversible contraception for low-income teens and young women. The program, which is grant-funded through June, has proved effective in reducing unplanned pregnancies, abortion rates and Medicaid expenses to the state. Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose, bucked the right wing of his party in championing the common-sense legislation, but was bucked in return when the bill was sent to a Senate kill committee for prompt dismissal.

Now, young women with limited means will face lesser access to safe, effective and reversible birth control. The likely fallout is easy to predict – and will have been utterly avoidable. Sens. Owen Hill, Ray Scott and Jerry Sonnenberg – all Republican and all men – were the committee members who killed the measure. They ought to have done better for the state.

Meanwhile, a late-arriving bill that would require women to receive an ultrasound and wait 24 hours before undergoing an abortion has been introduced by a father-and-son legislative team. Senate Bill 285, sponsored by Sen. Tim Neville, R-Littleton, and Rep. Patrick Neville, R-Castle Rock, would also require doctors to describe in detail the fetus’ development or face criminal penalties. Full of loaded language, the measure is clearly designed to shock. Among its requirement of physicians, SB 285 mandates that doctors provide, “A description of the development of the child’s nerve endings and the child’s ability to feel pain at each stage of development.” Such a prescription is hardly the business of legislators; physicians’ standards and practices must determine how patient care is administered.

The Nevilles’ patrimonial measure makes a number of offensive assumptions about women seeking abortions, the doctors who provide them, and the pregnancies themselves. Primarily, the Nevilles seem to suggest that women who seek abortions are not aware of the full suite of implications their choice engenders. That is, at a minimum, presumptuous. Second, the Nevilles assume that doctors are not performing their sworn duty to provide adequate care – regardless of the procedure in question. Finally, the bill cavalierly employs the term “child” in reference to a pregnancy. None of these provisions nor the sentiment behind it is acceptable.

Perhaps the only saving grace of SB 285 is that it will surely not be enacted. That will not, however, stop it from sparking an unpleasant and, again, wholly avoidable debate on the Senate floor and perhaps beyond. It is a waste of time and goodwill. With all the positive achievements under the Legislature’s belt during the 2015 session, it is a shame the final days are marred by ideology.



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