Originally published on April 12, 2024 on CBS News.
A Colorado campaign that’s trying to enshrine abortion rights into the state’s constitution has gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot this November, CBS News has learned.
To amend Colorado’s constitution, petitioners must gather 124,238 signatures from the state’s voters, including 2% of the total registered voters in each of Colorado’s 35 Senate districts, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom said its volunteers gathered more than 225,000 signatures and met the district requirements, as well. The deadline to turn the signatures in is April 18. A person familiar with the operation told CBS News that the group expects challenges from opposition groups on the validity of the signatures.
Abortion is currently legal in Colorado, but the constitutional amendment would prevent the government from taking away the right and override a 1984 measure that prohibits health insurance from covering abortion care for “public employees and people on public insurance.”
