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Colorado measure to ban abortion after 22 weeks fails

The ballot question failed 40% to 60%. The campaigns were expecting a tighter race.

By Jennifer Brown
The Colorado Sun
Information on Proposition 115 in Colorado's 2020 "blue book."
Photo by Jesse Paul / The Colorado Sun

A measure that would ban abortions in Colorado after 22 weeks of pregnancy, except in cases where the mother’s life is at risk, failed Tuesday night.

Both supporters and opponents of Proposition 115 had predicted a tight battle over what supporters of the ban call “late-term abortion,” but opponents declared victory about an hour after the polls closed.

“We voted no because we trust patients and families to make the personal medical decisions that are right for them, without political interference,” Vote No on 115 campaign manager Lucy Olena said. “We voted no to keep Colorado a safe haven for abortion access because no one should have to cross borders to get the medical care they need.”



The measure went down 40% to 60%, according to unofficial returns but with about 75% of the vote tallied.

Coloradans have swiftly defeated three other ballot measures since 2008 that attempted to define a fetus as a person under the criminal code, but this question was different, targeting the point in pregnancy at which a fetus might survive outside the womb. 



Read more at ColoradoSun.com.

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