Snarkvark @ PoliSnark.comLet’s talk about Amendment 79—the latest push to make abortion not only legal in Colorado (which it already is) but to enshrine it in the state constitution. Colorado isn’t just doubling down on access to abortion with this amendment; it’s going all in by lifting a 40-year-old ban on public funding for abortions. Translation? Your tax dollars—including those from folks morally opposed to abortion—will now help foot the bill at abortion clinics.
Here’s where things really go off the rails. Colorado already has some of the least restrictive abortion laws in the country. Right now, a woman can seek an abortion up to the moment of birth if that’s what she chooses. Whether you agree with that or not, it’s already the law, and Amendment 79 won’t change that. What it will do is take things a step further by blocking the legislature from ever placing any limits on abortion, no matter how extreme the procedure might be.
And that’s not all—this amendment opens the door for abortion to be covered under Medicaid and state-funded health plans for government employees. For nearly 40 years, Colorado law has kept taxpayer dollars away from abortion services, except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is at risk. Amendment 79 throws that rulebook out the window. Now, even someone with deeply held religious beliefs will be forced to fund procedures they find morally repugnant—whether they like it or not. In other words, the Catholic priest’s tithe and the Baptist’s donation to the offering plate might just end up in the cash register of the local abortion clinic.
The argument that this amendment “ensures access” is nonsense. Abortion is already widely available in Colorado—so much so that people travel here from states with stricter laws. The real reason behind Amendment 79 is to cut off any future efforts to regulate or limit abortion in any way, even if voters change their minds down the road. By locking this into the constitution, any future attempts to pass reasonable restrictions—say, on late-term abortions—will require another vote of the people and a constitutional amendment to undo. That’s not democracy; that’s handcuffing future generations to the whims of today’s politics.
Supporters argue that this change is necessary to protect against new restrictions and to make sure state employees have the same access to abortion as private citizens. But that’s a red herring. What’s really happening here is an ideological push to cement an unregulated abortion regime into law, using public funds to do it. The people backing this effort—groups like Cobalt Advocates and the ACLU—aren’t content with legal abortion; they want to make sure you pay for it with your tax dollars, whether you want to or not.
For those of us in Colorado who still believe in the old mantra of “safe, legal, and rare,” this amendment is a slap in the face. In the two short years since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, we’ve watched the national conversation around abortion morph from something personal and difficult into an almost celebratory “shout your abortion” movement. This is not about personal choice anymore—it’s about pushing an agenda that erases any notion of moral complexity from the conversation.
Amendment 79 takes a sensitive, private issue and drags it into the public square, where it will be enshrined alongside Colorado’s highest laws. Worse still, it does so at taxpayer expense. This isn’t “live and let live”—it’s “pay up and shut up.” The conversation about abortion should happen between a woman, her family, her doctor, and her God—not on a protest sign outside the Capitol and certainly not on the government’s dime.
So, here’s the bottom line: Amendment 79 isn’t just about access—it’s about making abortion a state-sponsored service with your tax dollars. And once that’s in the constitution, it’s damn near impossible to take back. Colorado has always been a “live and let live” kind of place, but this amendment goes too far. It’s time we stand up and say enough is enough. Keep abortion legal, if that’s what the state decides—but don’t enshrine it in the constitution, and don’t make us pay for it.
This isn’t about restricting access—it’s about drawing the line between personal choice and public funding. Amendment 79 blows right past that line, and it’s the wrong move for Colorado. If we don’t stand up now, we may wake up one day and find there’s no going back.
