COLORADO VOTERS DEFEAT DANGEROUS AMENDMENT AND PUT WOMEN’S HEALTH AND SAFETY FIRST

Washington, DC — Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) stands with voters in Colorado who resoundingly rejected by a three to one margin a ballot initiative that would have eliminated a woman’s ability to make personal, private decisions about her health care. Amendment 48 sought to grant legal rights to a fertilized egg. It could have banned all abortions and could have been used to block stem cell research and in vitro fertilization, among other reproductive health services. It could even have prevented doctors from providing lifesaving care to a woman if the medical treatment needed could harm a fertilized egg, and it could have triggered government investigations into miscarriages. Amendment 48 would have seriously endangered women’s health and family privacy.

“This rejection by voters of Amendment 48 sends a clear message: personal, private health care decisions should be made by women, their doctors, and their families, not by politicians,” said PPFA President Cecile Richards. “We need government policies that improve access to health care, not take it away.”

Planned Parenthood will continue to work to protect women’s health and safety by providing affordable, high-quality health care, including family planning services, cancer screenings, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, abortion services, and information and education.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America is the nation's leading sexual and reproductive health care advocate and provider. We believe that everyone has the right to choose when or whether to have a child, and that every child should be wanted and loved. Planned Parenthood affiliates operate more than 880 health centers nationwide, providing medical services and sexuality education for millions of women, men, and teenagers each year. We also work with allies worldwide to ensure that all women and men have the right and the means to meet their sexual and reproductive health care needs.