Denver City Wire

Every October, the Catholic Church observes “Respect Life Month,” during which the faithful are encouraged to reflect on the value of every human life and work toward building a culture that defends the right to life from conception until natural death, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"Our friends over at Respect Life Denver & Catholic Charities of Denver hosted a pro-life Eucharistic procession earlier this month!” the Archdiocese of Denver said in a Facebook post. “More than two dozen parishes and prayer groups were in attendance, along with Bishop Rodriguez, the Sisters of Life and some seminarians."

In every month of 2022 except January, the number of women who traveled to Colorado for abortions was more than double what it was in 2021, CPR reported. In 2019, fewer than 1,000 women from different states traveled to Colorado for abortions, while as of September 2022, almost 2,500 out-of-state women came to Colorado for abortions. Around 40% of abortions in Colorado in July of this year were provided to women from out of state.

In 2021, 11,580 women had abortions in Colorado, an increase from 10,368 in 2020, according to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, cited by Abort73. The Guttmacher Institute estimates that 17.9% of pregnancies in Colorado in 2020 ended in abortion. That figure does not include miscarriages.

The Denver City Wire did not receive a response for a request for comment from the Archdiocese of Denver.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed the "Reproductive Health Equity Act" into law in April, cementing the legality of abortion in Colorado. The bill asserts that Colorado women have a right to undergo an abortion, and that embryos and fetuses do not have any rights. The law prohibits state and local public entities from enacting any restrictions on abortions.

Polis issued a press release calling the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade "alarming" and touted Colorado as an abortion haven. 

"Because of my administration and Democratic leadership in the legislature, Coloradans don’t have to worry because our rights are still protected today despite the unfortunate reality that the U.S. Supreme Court just rolled those freedoms back for millions of Americans in other states," Polis said. "In Colorado, we will continue to choose freedom and we stand against government control over our bodies. State leadership matters now more than ever and in Colorado we will not retreat to an archaic era where the powerful few controlled the freedoms over our bodies and health decisions."