Tomorrow, Feb. 23, CO HB22-1075 is slated to appear before a House committee to determine whether it will be debated during this legislative session. This bill, introduced by Colorado Rep. Stephanie Luck (R), would require “health-care providers that perform induced terminations of pregnancies to report specified information concerning the women who obtain the procedure to the state registrar of vital statistics in the department of public health and environment in an electronic format as prescribed by the state registrar.” This data would be reported anonymously so as to not identify any woman who is seeking an abortion.
A similar bill was introduced during last year’s legislative session, only to be shot down by a committee. However, as the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision looms and the legality of abortion is once more in the national conversation, it presents an opportunity to learn more about why women seek abortions and use that data to reduce the number of abortions performed while directing women to life-affirming resources.
Dr. Thomas Perille, a retired internal medicine and hospital medicine physician and president of Democrats for Life of Colorado, penned an op-ed for the Colorado Sun laying out the many benefits of a bill such as HB22-1075.
“Pro-life advocates have a genuine desire to reduce abortions, regardless of the legal status of abortion rights in our state. Pro-choice advocates have a genuine interest in ensuring women have choices in their pregnancies and reject coercion of any kind. It is a reasonable assumption that both pro-life and pro-choice advocates would be in favor of reducing barriers to continuing pregnancies, especially those confronting low-income women and women of color,” Dr. Perille wrote. “So how do we start to move from our entrenched positions to a more cooperative posture? I believe by agreeing on a set of facts that accurately depicts abortion in Colorado. Accurate abortion vital statistics can show the demographics and magnitude of the issue, the causes of unplanned pregnancies and the drivers of abortion demand in Colorado.”