Colorado Advocates Say They Have Enough Signatures to Put Abortion Rights on the Ballot

Colorado activists said on Friday they gathered enough signatures to put abortion rights on the ballot in November's elections.

They had to get over 124,000 signatures from state voters, including at least 2% of all registered voters in the state's 35 senate districts.

Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom said they gathered more than 225,000 signatures and met all district requirements. They had until April 18 to do so.

Abortion is currently legal in the state, but the proposed amendment would prevent the government from taking away the right and override a 40-year-old measure that forbids health insurance providers from covering abortion care for "public employees and people on public insurance," CBS News reported.

Abortion has been at the center of the political conversation since the 2022 repeal of Roe V. Wade, which enshrined abortion as a constitutional right at a federal level.

However, its presence has dominated the news cycle this week after Arizona's Supreme Court upheld a 1864 law that banned practically all abortions in the state, including in cases of rape and incest. The only exception to the ban is when the mother's life is in danger.

The ruling caused widespread condemnation, with even some Republicans (presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump included) saying it goes too far.

Democrats, in turn, have been galvanized and pinned the blame on their political opponents, especially considering that abortion rights have not yet lost a vote when on the ballot. The Colorado amendment would need 55% of the votes to pass.

There are a total of eleven states that are likely to take abortion rights measures on the ballot in November: Florida, Maryland and New York are confirmed, while Arizona, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Nevada, Missouri and Arkansas are still moving towards this.

Over two thirds of Latinos (68%) oppose abortion bans, according to a poll by Axios-Ipsos from this week. More prefer Joe Biden's stance on the issue (30%) compared to Donald Trump (21%).