Life on the ballot in Louisiana and Colorado

This is it—the week we’ve all been waiting for. After what feels like forever, Tayshia is replacing Clare as the Bachelorette. Not where you thought I was going?  

Of course, tomorrow is finally the 2020 presidential election, though you’d be forgiven for thinking it was last month with all the hand wringing about doing Senate business “during election season” from the Democrats.  

This year voters in two states will decide critical life-affirming policy on the ballot.  

Louisiana, which ranked #1 on AUL’s 2020 Life List, has a robust history of passing bipartisan pro-life laws.  The Love Life Amendment ensures that there is no “right to abortion” or to taxpayer funding for abortion in the state constitution. It defends against judicial overreach and is a direct response to six judges in Kansas discovering a right to abortion in the state constitution nearly 160 years after it was drafted. The purpose of the amendment is to keep lawmaking authority in its appropriate place, which is the legislative branch.  

State Senator Katrina Jackson, a Democrat from Monroe, wrote, sponsored, and is leading efforts on the Love Life Amendment. She says: 

“Our body of pro-life laws ensure that women are empowered with the truth about their pregnancy prior to an abortion, that minors seeking an abortion have parental consent, and that babies born alive following a botched abortion receive immediate medical care. Our law also makes sure that not a dollar of your state tax dollars fund abortion.” 

Coloradoans will vote on Prop 115, which would limit late-term abortions after 22 weeks. Currently just seven US states, China, and North Korea hold the dubious distinction of permitting abortion throughout pregnancy. Colorado is known as a late-term abortion destination, and Dr. Hern in Boulder is open about the fact that two-thirds of late-term abortions performed at his clinic are elective. For the remainder that he considers “non-elective,” many are because of a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis. Colorado voters have the opportunity to realign with the plurality of states that limit abortions after 20-22 weeks, which is a timeframe historically based on the scientific evidence of when a fetus feels pain.  

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