Colorado Governor Signs First Pro-Choice Bill in a Decade!

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed the first pro-choice bill in a decade into law in March.

The bill, Senate Bill 60 (Boyd, McGihon), "EC in the ER," will mandate that all emergency rooms in Colorado notify survivors of sexual assault of the availability of emergency contraception, which, when taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, can prevent unintended pregnancy. Catholic hospitals, which constitute the majority of emergency rooms in Colorado, are not exempted from this requirement. Hospital staff are only required to tell women about EC. There is no mandate to provide the medicine, nor to provide a referral.

An amendment to the bill also requires all Colorado pharmacies that do not dispense EC post a public sign of their policy toward EC.

This bill will be signed today thanks to the hard work of NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, and Colorado's Protect Families Protect Choice Coalition. During his campaign, Gov. Ritter promised to institute common sense prevention first policies that reduce the number of unintended pregnancies in Colorado.