by Colleen Enos (CHEC Director of Government Relations)

While there was much controversy going on at the Capitol over the past two weeks, I wanted to start out with a bright spot. Meet Your Legislator Day was a smashing success, with 12 legislators and several aides joining CHEC and homeschool families for coffee and donuts in the West Foyer at 8:00 am. The weather was challenging, but we still had a great time getting to know the legislators, taking pictures, and even getting a guided tour of the Dome thanks to Representative Anthony Hartsook! Building relationships is worth the time and effort, so thanks to everyone who came.

Two good bills brought by Representative Scott Bottoms were postponed indefinitely. They were HB25-1068, Malpractice Insurers Gender-Affirming Care Minors, and HB25-1145, Trafficking Minor for Abortion or Transgender Care. The first bill would have created the option for medical malpractice insurers to offer insurance that did not include coverage for gender-affirming care for minors and the second would have made it a felony to transport a minor across state lines into Colorado for an abortion or transgender care. This is a method used by sex traffickers to obtain abortions for their victims to cover up their crimes.

You can probably imagine the extreme testimony against these bills and the outcry against attempts to protect minors from procedures that kill and mutilate healthy bodies. Both bills are dead for this legislative session.

In the Senate, SB25-063, Library Resource Decision Standards for Public Schools, was introduced to require schools to set policies regarding how to handle material that has been challenged from the school library. The bill’s sponsors wrote in the bill that to exclude a resource due to obscene content, it must meet the very subjective and vague standards outlined in MILLER V. CALIFORNIA, 413 U.S. 15 (1973) while making sure to “consider the perspectives of marginalized groups” and prohibiting discrimination of a wide variety of groups including for “sexual orientation, gender identity” and “gender expression” (SB25-063, p.7 (j)). The bill additionally requires that only a parent of an enrolled student at that school can submit a request. Even though all the taxpayers in that district pay for the school, they cannot submit a request to reconsider a library resource. That sounds fair, doesn’t it? SB25-063 is currently making its way through the Senate.

The focus of many legislators is ensuring that anti-life and gender services are provided upon request. Now that Colorado has adopted the most egregious abortion language in the country into our State Constitution and become a leader in gender-affirming care, their focus has turned to enshrining as many regulations as possible into our state law.

SB25-129, Legally Protected Health-Care Activity Protections, and SB25-130, Providing Emergency Medical Services, do just that. SB25-129 allows a doctor prescribing an abortion-inducing drug to hide their name on the label of the drug. This bill also prohibits criminal lawsuits against abortion and gender-affirming care providers and lists penalties for anyone who cooperates with an investigation into those providers. It is scheduled for the Senate floor this week. Lastly, SB25-130 forces every hospital emergency department to employ a doctor who is willing and able to perform abortions at all times. There is an opt-out for health care providers who object due to religious reasons, but Live Action discusses the bill’s conflation of natural miscarriage with abortion. SB25-130 is still in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Please join me in keeping your eyes and ears open for any upcoming bills that would threaten homeschool freedoms, parental rights, or religious liberty in Colorado. Additionally, consider testifying on a bill that you care about, you can even do it remotely.

To review currently introduced bills, go here.

In Him,

Colleen Enos, CHEC Director of Government Relations

About the Author: Colleen Enos

Colleen is a homeschooling mom of eight who just completed schooling her last two children. Her children range in age from 19 to 35 years old. She has been married to her husband, Mark, for 38 years, and they are now grandparents to three and expecting two more grandbabies very soon. She has been a speech and debate coach for 17 years, pouring her time, effort, and energy into preparing the next generation to speak truth into our culture. Colleen serves homeschool families as the CHEC Director of Government Relations and is working hard to safeguard homeschool freedom through her work with the legislature. You can reach Colleen at colleen@chec.org.