Colorado governor signs law guaranteeing right to abortion in the state

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed into law on Monday a bill that affirms abortion rights in the state, saying, "Colorado has been, is, and will be a pro-choice state."

This comes in the wake of several other states limiting access to abortions; last year, Texas enacted a law that bans abortions once any cardiac activity is detected, which typically occurs about six weeks into a pregnancy, and in late March, Idaho passed its own abortion ban modeled on Texas'. Polis called these actions "an enormous government overreach" and "an enormous government infringement" on individual rights, adding, "No matter what the Supreme Court does in the future, people in Colorado will be able to choose when and if they have children."

Colorado's Reproductive Health Equity Act guarantees access to reproductive health care before and after pregnancy; declares that fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses have no independent rights; and prohibits local governments from enacting their own abortion restrictions, The Associated Press reports.

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In 1967, Colorado was the first state to decriminalize abortion in most cases, but until now there was no state law guaranteeing access to the procedure.