Health insurance coverage for abortion shall not be prohibited in Colorado if a proposed Amendment to the Colorado Constitution is passed in November, 2024.
In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, 527 U.S. 215, 142 S. Ct. 2228 (2022). the U.S. Supreme Court took away the right to choose an abortion which was formerly recognized under the U.S. Constitution. In an interesting response to that decision, an amendment to the Colorado Constitution is on the ballot which would not only recognize that right but bar "Government" from prohibiting health insurance coverage for abortion. Here is the text of the proposal:
The right to abortion is hereby recognized. Government shall not deny, impede or discriminate against the exercise of that right including prohibiting health insurance coverage for abortion.
This is the text of the final language of the proposed amendment which was filed with the Colorado Secretary of State in Initiative 89, available at https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/Initiatives/titleBoard/filings/2023-2024/89Final.pdf. It was also published by ballotpedia at https://ballotpedia.org/Colorado_Right_to_Abortion_and_Health_Insurance_Coverage_Initiative_(2024). According to Initiative 89 filed with the Colorado Secretary of State, a previous iteration of the Colorado Constitution was misinterpreted to permit the prohibition of insurance coverage for abortion, and that is why the current proposal would address that issue.
The variety of responses to the Dobbs decision, and the many issues of insurance coverage that the Dobbs decision has spawned and may spawn, are addressed in Chapter 18F in Volume 2 of CATASTROPHE CLAIMS / INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR NATURAL AND MAN-MADE DISASTERS (Thomson Reuters June 2024 Edition). The new Chapter, by Dennis Wall, is titled, Catastrophes of the End of Privacy, the Overruling of Constitutional Rights, and Once Again the Activist Judicial Decisions.
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