Backers of a ballot initiative that would have banned abortion in Colorado failed to get enough signatures by the deadline Monday, so the measure won’t be on the November ballot.
Initiative 56, “unlawful murder of a child,” would have prevented abortion at any stage of pregnancy and did not make exceptions for rape or incest.
Supporters needed to collect nearly 125,000 valid signatures, but they fell short of the required number, organizers confirmed. The campaign refused to say exactly how many signatures they obtained and said representatives did not turn in any signatures on Monday to the Colorado Secretary of State.
The grassroots effort to pass the measure was led by a group of women in northeast Colorado whom “pro-life leaders” asked to push forward an initiative to “keep the momentum going” after Proposition 115, said spokeswoman Faye Barnhart, who lives outside of Fort Morgan. Voters rejected the measure in 2020, which would have banned abortion at 22 weeks.
Colorado voters have voted down four other measures since 2008 that would have restricted abortions, and the Democratic-led state legislature passed a law this year that would guarantee the right to an abortion at any point in pregnancy without government interference.