DENVER – A bill that would have dictated the conversation doctors must have with women seeking abortions and added additional clerical hoops to jump through was killed Thursday in the Republican-held state Senate.
Senate Bill 284, which would have mandated what information abortion providers give their patients, required an ultrasound and 24-hour waiting period between initial contact and performing of the procedure. It was killed by the Senate on a 19-16 vote.
Two members of the GOP, senators Beth Martinez Humenik, R-Thornton, and Don Coram, R-Montrose, sided with Democrats in opposing the measure.
The bill mandated information be provided on the availability of potential abortion reversal medications, which have little case study documentation of being a viable treatment, as well as a printed ultrasound picture of the fetus with an oral description, including a recording of a heartbeat if present.
SB 200 would also have required any facility that did not comply with it to “post a public notice stating that the facility does not provide ultrasounds and is not a medical facility,” and would have imposed $1,000 fines for any procedures performed outside of the regulations laid down by the bill.
All of those factors would have had a chilling effect on abortions.
Sarah Taylor-Nanista, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said in a release that the ultrasound detail required by SB 200 was “extreme and unnecessary” and interfered with doctor-patient relationships.
“Planned Parenthood strongly opposes bills such as these, which really are about shaming women and scaring doctors,” Taylor-Nanista said.
For Coram, the vote on SB 200 was not about being pro-life or pro-choice but about upholding the law of the land.
“I’m totally against abortion personally, but I took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America,” Coram said.
He said the bill conflicted with the Roe v. Wade decision and failed to meet constitutional muster.
“The Constitution is not a buffet. I don’t get to pick and chose what I like, and that’s why I was a no.”
lperkins@durangoherald.com
