DENVER (AP) – Tuesday marks 50 years since a groundbreaking Colorado law significantly loosened tight restrictions on legal abortions.
Before the law, Colorado – like many states – allowed abortions only if a woman’s life was at stake.
In 1967, a Democratic freshman state lawmaker introduced a bill that allowed abortions if the woman’s physical or mental health was threatened, if the unborn child might have birth defects or in cases of rape or incest.
Rep. Richard Lamm said he feared he might be committing political suicide by introducing the bill to the overwhelmingly male, Republican-dominated Legislature.
But within weeks, Republican Gov. John Love signed the bill into law, making Colorado the first state to loosen restrictions on abortion – six years before the U.S. Supreme Court would legalize it nationally.