{"id":326333,"date":"2025-02-13T08:44:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T14:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=326333"},"modified":"2025-02-13T05:55:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T11:55:02","slug":"colorado-bill-stabilizing-abortions-er-willing-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/colorado-bill-stabilizing-abortions-er-willing-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado bill requires ‘stabilizing’ abortions, says ERs must have willing staff always available"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Legislators in Colorado have introduced<\/a> a new bill stating that emergency room doctors must commit induced abortions that are “necessary to stabilize the patient.” Senate Bill 130<\/a> also orders that a staff member must be available to commit abortions “at all times,” but includes an exception for workers who refuse to commit abortions for moral reasons.<\/p>\n

Induced abortion is not considered the standard of care<\/a> or stabilizing care for any health condition. In addition, the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) already states that emergency rooms must provide emergency medical care to all patients, which makes parts of this bill appear redundant.<\/p>\n

Under Colorado law, abortion<\/a> is considered “any medical procedure, instrument, agent, or drug used to terminate a pregnancy of an individual known or reasonably believed to be pregnant with an intention other than to increase the probability of a live birth.” It’s a confusing way of saying that the intent of the procedure is a dead baby. However, it also makes it unclear whether treating a natural miscarriage is conflated with induced abortion within this wording, as the bill also fails to specifically mention miscarriage care in its list of “reproductive health care”:<\/p>\n

“Reproductive health care” means health care and other medical services related to the reproductive processes, functions, and systems at all stages of life. It includes, but is not limited to, family planning and contraceptive care; abortion care; prenatal, postnatal, and delivery care; fertility care; sterilization services; and treatments for sexually transmitted infections and reproductive cancers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Induced abortion \u2014 the direct and intentional act of killing a preborn child before delivery \u2014 is not medically necessary even in emergency situations, but is already completely legal in Colorado<\/a> for any reason throughout pregnancy<\/a>. If the pregnancy is being “terminated” in an emergency, it is a disservice to the child’s parents and the baby to take actions in an attempt to ensure the death of that child.<\/p>\n