This week, Colorado lawmakers approved Senate Bill 25B-2, which directs state taxpayer dollars to cover up to $4.4 million in Medicaid reimbursements to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.
The bill responds to the provision defunding the abortion giant in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which became federal law in July.
Though Colorado is facing a $1.2 billion budget deficient, pro-abortion Colorado lawmakers made it clear that fully funding Planned Parenthood with taxpayer dollars is a top priority.
Support for the bill SB 25B-2 split along ideological lines between pro-abortion lawmakers and pro-life lawmakers. In the state House of Representatives, the vote was 43-19 in favor of bailing out Planned Parenthood. In the state Senate, the vote was 23-12.
Planned Parenthood testified in support of the bill, claiming it has canceled nearly 1,000 appointments since July due to federal cuts.
A Planned Parenthood patient gave testimony before the senate committee that her follow-up appointment was canceled after she took the abortion pill. She had to go to urgent care for hemorrhaging.
This individual’s testimony should have been used as evidence of the dangerous risk chemical abortions pose to women, not to support the bailout for Planned Parenthood.
Thankfully, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced in May, the Food and Drug Administration will perform a complete review of the abortion medication mifepristone.
His statement was made in response to the Ethics and Public Policy Center study which revealed nearly 11% of women experience serious or life-threatening adverse effects, including sepsis, hemorrhaging, infection and emergency room visits, within 45 days of taking the abortion pill.
The bailout is especially shocking considering Planned Parenthood’s latest annual report, which revealed the abortion giant pulled $2 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2023-2024.
As previously reported by the Daily Citizen, of that $2 billion, “Planned Parenthood received $792.2 million in taxpayer money through government grants, contracts and Medicaid reimbursements.”
“Over the last three years, the abortion giant has received $1.535 billion from the Department of Health and Human Services through grants and agreements from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.”
Scott Shamblin, the Executive Director of Colorado Right to Life, told the Daily Citizen, “Lawmakers just approved up to $4.4 million a year for Planned Parenthood to provide primary care through Medicaid, even though Planned Parenthood does not actually provide primary care services. With Colorado facing a $1.2 billion budget deficit, this isn’t about healthcare, it’s a political bailout for the nation’s largest abortion business.”
Shamblin also revealed that pro-abortion lawmakers refused to include an amendment to the bill which would have penalized the sale of fetal organs. He insists this shows the “continued and informed consent to abortionists’ backroom organ and fetal tissue trafficking.”
The bailout bill was signed into law on Wednesday, August 27.
Shamblin lamented the action, “There is no world in which taxpayers should be forced by the government to subsidize abortion.”
Many Coloradans agree with Shamblin and find the use of taxpayer dollars to subsidize abortion providers violates their conscience.
Earlier this year, Colorado lawmakers passed HB25-183, which required the state to use taxpayer dollars to cover abortions as part of its Medicaid services. The fiscal note on that measure estimated abortions will cost taxpayers $5.9 million in the first year. Those expenses are separate and in addition to the $4.4 million approved by the legislature this week to cover the federal government’s drop in funding.
Daily Citizen is a news division of Focus on the Family that provides a faith-based perspective to counter the mainstream media’s anti-Christian bias.
