Colorado contraception bill ventures into abortifacient debate

A “dangerously broad” proposed Colorado law written to protect contraception in response to a “personhood amendment” ballot measure is headed to the governor’s desk for approval. Amendment 48, a ballot measure on the 2008 Colorado ballot, would have defined a human being from the moment of conception as a person. It garnered only 26.7 percent of the vote.

The pending law, Senate Bill 225, is called the Birth Control Protection Act. It defines contraceptives as “any medically acceptable drug, device or procedure used to prevent pregnancy.”

The bill also defines “emergency contraception,” excluding from its definition RU-486, mifepristone, or “any other drug or device that induces a medical abortion.”

Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains President and CEO Vicki Cowart called the bill’s approval by the state legislature a “victory” that reaffirms birth control as “basic, preventative health care.”

The Colorado Catholic Conference opposed the bill, calling it “dangerously broad and sweeping” in its definition of contraceptives. The CCC said the law could classify abortifacient drugs as contraception.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a Catholic, must sign the bill if it is to become law.

Source: Catholic News Agency
Publish Date: April 8, 2009
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