A week before the legislative term ends, Republican lawmakers are pushing forward a far-reaching anti-abortion bill in the Senate to require an ultrasound and a 24-hour waiting period, a move that promises to finish the session on a bitter political note.
The last-minute legislation would require a physician to give a woman seeking an abortion detailed information about the unborn child — including its ability to feel pain at the stages of development — or face criminal charges.
The measure gets its first hearing Thursday and probably will land on the Senate floor for a vote and heated debate in the final days before Wednesday’s adjournment.
It will bookend a session that began with a partisan tone in the Senate, where Republicans used their newfound majority to push a conservative agenda that generated controversy.
“It’s an unfortunate way to define a whole session,” said Senate Democratic leader Morgan Carroll of Aurora.
Sen. Tim Neville, the bill’s sponsor, called it a common-sense bill to provide women more information about their decision and rejected the idea that it would spark rancor.
“I don’t think it has to be a divisive issue,” the Littleton Republican said. “I can’t pick what’s going to be divisive or not.”
His son, Rep. Patrick Neville, who is the House sponsor, said he began working on the bills months ago.
“I think women have a right to view an ultrasound, and it’s also a safety issue, too,” the Castle Rock Republican said.
But critics argue the measure would require doctors to give patients what they say is misinformation about fetal pain and create an unnecessary burden on patients.
Combined with other bills this session, abortion-rights organizations say Colorado lawmakers are making the boldest attempts in recent memory to restrict access to the procedure.
Cathy Alderman, with Planned Parenthood Votes Colorado, pointed to parts of the bill that copy language from model bills proposed by national anti-abortion organizations. “Colorado has become one of their main targets,” she said.
An unrelated measure is being pulled into the abortion debate. House Bill 1194 would allow the state to continue much-acclaimed grant-funded program that provides long-acting contraception, such as intrauterine devices, to women and teenagers at little to no cost.
A Senate “kill committee” on Wednesday rejected the bill on a party-line vote with no discussion. Other members of the chamber referred to IUDs as an abortifacient, a drug that causes abortions — an assertion rejected by the medical community. The chamber also rebuffed an earlier Democratic attempt to tuck it in the state budget.
John Frank: 303-954-2409, jfrank@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ByJohnFrank
