We build our families. We control our futures.
We believe that each of us should be able to make our own decisions about if and when to become parents. That means everyone, rich or poor, needs to be able to access the full range of reproductive health services, including abortion, contraception, prenatal care and maternity care.
But, many Coloradans, particularly people of color, immigrants, young people, and low-income families, face significant barriers to getting access to abortion care and all the reproductive health care they need.
These are the facts:
- Restrictions on health coverage for reproductive care fall hardest on people who are already struggling to get by and pushed to the margins.
- Latinx people in Colorado have some of the highest rates of uninsurance and the lowest wages making it that much harder – and for many impossible – to pay for care out of pocket.
- Immigrants face specific restrictions on health coverage and fear of seeking out services in light of a broken immigration system that tears families apart.
- We are in a time when policies are being pushed that make it harder to get contraception and nearly impossible to seek an abortion while also denying the support and services that people need to have healthy pregnancies or care for our families.
- Restrictions on abortion coverage – like Colorado’s Constitutional ban on coverage of abortion for people who use Medicaid benefits – forces people to delay care and prevents many from getting an abortion.
- Young people in our state also face the added obstacle of being forced to notify a parent before they can seek abortion care. We all want to make sure that we have trusted people by our side, but this policy doesn’t do that. It just makes it that much harder for a young person who simply cannot tell their parents to get the abortion they need.
- We know that when someone wants to get an abortion but is denied, they are more likely to fall into poverty. We should all be able to become parents when we are ready and have the support we need.
At Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, we believe that Coloradans should control their future and their fate – and that means access to abortion and all forms of reproductive health care.
