Senate Republicans Move to Leverage ACA Subsidies Against Abortion Coverage - Even in States Where It’s Protected

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, November 13, 2025
CONTACT: Hazel Gibson at hazel@progressnowcolorado.org

DENVER, CO — Colorado voters made themselves clear. With more than 60 percent of voters approving Amendment 79 last year and strong bipartisan majorities across every congressional district, our state enshrined the right to abortion in the Colorado Constitution. Colorado law already requires that both private and public insurance plans cover abortion care.

But today, Senate Republicans are threatening to override the will of Colorado voters and the protections guaranteed under our Constitution by using Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies as a bargaining chip in Washington. Their latest proposal would ban ACA tax credits for any insurance plan that covers abortion, effectively punishing states that protect reproductive freedom.

“We all knew there would be a catch to the promised ACA vote. We just didn’t know it would be this early and this cruel,” said Hazel Gibson, Reproductive Rights Director for Keep Abortion Safe. “Senate Republicans are leveraging families’ health-care premiums against abortion care, and that’s a direct violation of Colorado law and our Constitution.”

Colorado Law Is Clear

In 2022, the Reproductive Health Equity Act (SB 22-189) affirmed that every person in Colorado has the fundamental right to make their own reproductive health-care decisions, including abortion. In 2024, voters doubled down by passing Amendment 79, which made those rights part of the Colorado Constitution and ensured insurance coverage parity for abortion care.

Together, those measures guarantee that:

• Abortion care is a protected right under Colorado law;

• Insurance plans, both public and private, must cover it; and

• No state or federal actor may discriminate against patients seeking abortion services.

A Federal Overreach That Undermines State Law

“This proposed ACA deal isn’t just bad policy, it’s unconstitutional in Colorado,” Gibson continued. “Federal politicians have no right to nullify our laws or strip Coloradans of coverage we fought to guarantee.”

Keep Abortion Safe is calling on Senators Hickenlooper and Bennet to reject any federal deal that blocks or restricts insurance coverage for abortion care. Such a move would:

• Violate Colorado’s constitutional protections;

• Harm low-income families who depend on ACA subsidies; and

• Set a dangerous precedent for overriding voter-approved rights in other states.

Colorado Will Not Go Backward

“Colorado cannot and will not go backwards,” said Gibson. “We fought for these protections, we passed them into law, and we will defend them because reproductive health care is health care.”

Keep Abortion Safe urges Coloradans to contact their U.S. Senators immediately and demand that they reject any ACA deal that sacrifices abortion access.

###

← Back