When I hear the word Colorado, images of mountains, hikers, and hippie vans immediately pop up in my head. When I visited the state the summer before my junior year, I loved it and thought of it as a liberal, cool place to live. I explored interesting college towns and went hiking, drove through landscapes that a Northerner could never previously imagine, and listened to an awesome street guitarist.

Today, I learned that Colorado is attempted to pass Amendment 67; which would ban ALL ABORTION. I’m intensely pro-choice, and this news is a shock to me. This amendment would ban EVERY SINGLE ABORTION. Cases of rape, incest, when the mother’s life is at severe risk: none of it matters, according to this amendment.

Apparently women’s rights can be blatantly disregarded, as abortion is purely the mother’s choice and the mother’s choice alone. I don’t think that any random government official has the authority to make the decision of what women can do with their bodies. Access to safe abortions is absolutely CRUCIAL. I’m not entirely sure what these people are assuming will happen, should they ban abortion. It’s still going to happen anyways, it’ll just be more unsanitary, dangerous, and emotionally scarring.

If this isn’t bad enough, this amendment would also ban some forms of birth control. Are you kidding me? Women already have to pay outrageous amounts to get their birth control, and now you want to take it away? It’s so essential to have for women so that when they are sexually active, a baby doesn’t automatically follow. In addition, so many women are on birth control for reasons other than literal birth control. I can’t even wrap my mind around limiting access to women’s birth control. It’s just so dumb.

A recent polling showed that Amendment 67 would pass. How this can happen in 2014 is actually so insane to me. Abortion is necessary for women’s rights and health. The access to a safe abortion is a basic right, and should not be taken away; the access to birth control is the same. Keep Colorado a cool state instead of a crazy one: support abortion for women everywhere.

To learn more, go to: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/defeat-the-attempt-to-ban-all-abortion-in-colorado