Polis signs abortion, trans healthcare protections

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed a trio of healthcare bills into law Friday that will protect the reproductive rights of women and preserve gender-affirming care in the state as Republicans in surrounding states have taken action to severely limit those rights.

The three pieces of legislation signed by the governor; SB23-188 Protections for Accessing Reproductive Health Care; SB23-189 Increasing Access to Reproductive Health Care; SB23-190 Deceptive Trade Practice Pregnancy-Related Service, are all structured to ensure people in surrounding states and beyond can go to Colorado to have an abortion, begin puberty blockers or receive gender-affirming surgery without fear of prosecution.

Colorado now joins its neighboring state to the South, New Mexico, in protecting abortion care and gender-affirming care. However the bordering states of Wyoming and Oklahoma have passed abortion bans, while Utah has severely restricted transgender care for minors.

In January, labeling Senate Bill 16 “a nuanced and thoughtful approach to a terribly divisive issue” Utah’s Re- publican Governor Spencer Cox signed the bill into law. SB16 will take affect in May that will ban most gender-affirming health care for transgender youth.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham on March 16, signed into law House Bill 7, the Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Health Care Act, which prohibits public bodies, including local municipalities, from denying, restricting, or discriminating against an individual’s right to use or refuse reproductive health care or health care related to gender.

In signing the trio of bills on Friday, Governor Polis said: “Here in Colorado, we value individual freedoms, and we stand up to protect them. Last year we took an important step to protect the right to choose how and when to start a family. Today, we are building on those protections by: Codifying the Executive Order I issued last year ensuring healthcare professionals are safe to provide legal healthcare services; Expanding access to reproductive healthcare services in both commercial insurance and Medicaid; And protecting consumers from harmful practices and false advertising by organizations and providers regarding reproductive health services. I’m proud to sign these bills today to further Colorado’s reputation as a beacon of freedom and choice.”