An effort is underway to put an initiative on the November ballot restricting abortions of “viable fetuses” in Colorado, adding another culture-war component to a campaign shaping up to include debates over immigration and gay marriage.
The initiative would bar such abortions with an exception for when the woman is at risk of death or serious injury – an exception the U.S. Supreme Court has held must be included.
In addition, the proposal would make it a felony for doctors to knowingly perform an abortion on a viable fetus or conduct an abortion with “reckless disregard of whether the fetus is viable” outside the womb.
The authors are Denver lawyer Mike Lawrence and Tim Dore, executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference, the public-policy arm of the state’s three Catholic dioceses. Dore said his involvement is personal and not part of his work with the conference.
Lawrence said the goal is to assemble a coalition of individuals and organizations to back the initiative, which still must clear state legal hurdles and gain roughly 68,000 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.
“It’s meant to have a mild effect,” Lawrence said. “It is not meant to prohibit women from access to abortion. It simply tells them, ‘If you’re going to have an abortion, do it in the first five months or so of pregnancy.”‘
Though battle lines are still being drawn, abortion-rights groups are focusing early attention on the impact on doctors.
“We’re very concerned that under this initiative, a doctor could be convicted of a felony for acting in the best interests of her patient,” said Crystal Clinkenbeard, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.
“We believe doctors who provide responsible critical health care for women deserve our respect and support and not to be treated as criminals,” said Kathryn Wittneben, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado.
In the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion, the U.S. Supreme Court left the door open for states to restrict or ban abortions after a fetus reaches viability, which it defined as “potentially able to live outside the mother’s womb, albeit with artificial aid.”
According to NARAL Pro-Choice America, 39 states ban abortions of fetuses that are viable outside the womb or have reached a certain gestational age. Colorado isn’t one of them.
Back in 1973, fetuses were viable at roughly 28 to 32 weeks, said Jeffrey Kahn, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota. Thanks to technological advances, it’s now about 24 weeks, he said. A typical pregnancy is 38 to 40 weeks.
Yet the shift has had little impact on the abortion debate because most abortions take place early in pregnancy, Kahn said.
In Colorado, 2.4 percent of 7,757 abortions in 2002 were performed at 21 weeks or later, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s higher than the national rate of 1.4 percent. Most abortions in Colorado – 60 percent – take place at 8 weeks or earlier.
The Colorado initiative defines viability as “that stage of fetal development when its life may be continued indefinitely outside the womb by natural or artificial life-supportive systems.”
“We’re looking at human life that can survive outside the womb,” Dore said. “I don’t think anyone would say we should destroy human life at that point when it can survive on its own or with even a little assistance.”
Dr. Warren Hern of Boulder, who since 1973 has run the Boulder Abortion Clinic, said the proposal targets him. He said his practice specializes in late-term abortions for women who want a child but learn their fetuses have severe fetal anomalies or genetic disorders, or that their lives would be endangered.
“This would be catastrophic for these women,” said Hern, one of a handful of doctors nationwide who conduct third-trimester abortions. “(Proponents) want to prove they can get enough votes to stop abortion at least in one aspect and go on from there. This is about ending all abortions in Colorado, no matter what they say.”
Hern contends the language could bar any second-term abortion, is unclear about how viability is determined and interferes with the medical process.
Lawrence said Hern is not the target and that he can continue to perform abortions if it passes.
Colorado voters in 1998 defeated a late-term abortion ban. A bill on the subject died last year in a legislative committee.
In November, state officials approved the title and wording of Dore and Lawrence’s initiative. But the pair filed an amended version Dec. 26, and a hearing is scheduled for later this month to finalize the wording so signature-gathering can begin.
Among the changes: dropping a requirement that all doctors who perform abortions in Colorado file reports with the state.
Now, it would require doctors who perform abortions on viable fetuses to file reports documenting why the abortion was performed.
Staff writer Eric Gorski can be reached at 303-820-1698 or egorski@denverpost.com.
