Coloradans rejected a ballot measure Tuesday that would have limited the gestational age at which an abortion can be performed to 22 weeks.
The Associated Press reported that 59.3% of voters rejected the measure compared with 40.7% of voters who supported the measure. The last abortion restriction to be approved by Colorado voters was a 1998 ballot initiative that required minors to notify their parents of the abortion, followed by a 48-hour mandatory waiting period.
The text of Proposition 115 says that abortions performed after 22 weeks are unlawful. The measure also stipulates that physicians who violate the law would be charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor and lose their medical licenses for at least three years. Abortions are legal only when the life of the mother is in danger.
Colorado voters had rejected four other abortion restrictions in the past two decades. Three of the four were efforts to classify a fetus as a person, and the fourth would have imposed a 24-hour waiting period and mandatory counseling for women seeking abortions.
Forty-three other states have passed abortion restrictions. Of more than 1,000 state restrictions passed since 1973, 288 have been enacted since 2010 alone, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion rights policy organization.
Views on the legality of abortion have stayed relatively consistent for more than a decade, according to Gallup, with 48% of people calling themselves “pro-choice” and 46% “pro-life” over the past year. Roughly half of the United States believes abortion should remain legal with some restrictions in place.
