[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 70 (Tuesday, April 25, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E526-E527]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         FIFTY YEARS OF COLORADO LEADERSHIP ON ABORTION RIGHTS

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                           HON. DIANA DeGETTE

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 25, 2017

  Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, 50 years ago today, Colorado blazed a trail 
for the rights of women and girls when it became the first state to 
loosen restrictions on legal abortions. Until then, the procedure was 
available only if the woman's life was at stake.
   The new law allowed an abortion if the woman's physical or mental 
health was threatened, if the pregnancy was the result of rape or 
incest, or if the child might have serious birth defects.
   Mr. Speaker, this was seven years before the U.S. Supreme Court 
would affirm a woman's constitutional right to choose in Roe v. Wade. 
Today, polling consistently shows that seven in 10 Americans do not 
believe that Roe should be overturned. But back in 1967, allowing any 
loosening of the near-absolute ban on abortion was a risky move from a 
political point of view.
   A freshman Colorado state lawmaker, Richard Lamm, decided the risk 
was worth it, even if it meant the end of his career. After introducing 
the bill, he worked State Senator John Bermingham and many others to 
persuade the overwhelmingly male and Republican-dominated legislature 
to pass it. Within weeks, Republican Governor John Love signed it into 
law.
  The year before, only 10 abortions had been reported to Colorado's 
health department. During the eight months remaining in 1967 after the 
bill was signed, 120 abortions were reported--including for a 12-year-
old girl who had been raped. Without that law, her only recourse would 
have been either a back-alley procedure or carrying the pregnancy to 
term.
  Within the next three years, 11 other states emulated Colorado, while 
four others loosened restrictions on legal abortions even more.
   Rather than see his career come to an end, Richard Lamm went on to 
serve three terms as Colorado's governor. Now age 81, he's the co-
director of the University of Denver's Institute of Public Policy 
Studies.
   Mr. Speaker, as a leader in women's reproductive rights, I am proud 
to hail from the state that, half a century ago, led the way in giving 
women and girls more control over their own bodies. It's thanks to 
enlightened people

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with courage and conviction like Richard Lamm that such progress can be 
made.

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