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House committee votes down bill that would have made abortion illegal in Colorado

Posted at 8:47 AM, Feb 23, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-23 10:47:29-05

DENVER -- A bill that would have made it illegal for any doctor to perform an abortion in Colorado has failed to make it out of committee. 

The House Health, Insurance and Environment Committee voted 6-7 along party lines to defeat House Bill 18-1225, which was sponsored by Rep. Stephen Humphrey, R-Severance, according to a statement from House Democrats.

The bill as introduced would have made it a class 1 felony to perform an abortion in the state of Colorado. The only exceptions would be for cases in which a pregnancy is terminated to save the mother's life, as long as the doctor takes reasonable steps to also try to save the fetus, and cases in which a fetus is inadvertently injured or killed in the course of removing an ectopic pregnancy.

The bill did not include any exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

The committee voted down another abortion bill, HB 18-1082, which would have required that doctors give an ultrasound to a woman at least 24 hours before performing an abortion and inform the woman of various alternatives.

That bill also was defeated by a party line vote of 6-7.