Denver, Colo., Apr 9, 2025 /
17:41 pm
The Colorado Catholic bishops are urging state Gov. Jared Polis to veto a bill that would put at least $1.5 million of public funding annually toward Medicaid-covered abortions.
The Tuesday open letter — co-signed by Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez of the Archdiocese of Denver, Bishop James Golka of Colorado Springs, and Bishop Stephen Berg of Pueblo — urged the governor “to consider the millions of Coloradans who do not want their hard-earned tax dollars to be used in the destruction of human life.”
The legislation would require the state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to cover abortions for Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus participants. The bill passed the state House earlier this week and the state Senate in March.
In the letter, the Colorado bishops expressed their “deep disappointment and grave concern” over the bill, saying it “violates the dignity of human life,” “disregards the safety of women,” and neglects “the conscience rights of millions of Coloradans who do not want to pay for abortion.”
“Every human life, from conception to natural death, is a sacred gift from God,” the bishops continued. “No act of law can change this truth, nor can it erase our moral obligation to defend the most vulnerable among us.”
The bishops called the bill “a tragedy for Colorado.”
Rather than supporting “life-affirming alternatives,” the bill “prioritizes public funding of abortion at the expense of the lives of preborn children, the health of their mothers, and the conscience rights” of pro-life Coloradans, the bishops noted.
The legislation follows the passage of Amendment 79 in November 2024, which enshrined a right to abortion in the Colorado Constitution.
The bishops cited the financial impact of the bill, noting that “the electorate was informed by the legislative blue book and media that Amendment 79 would not cost the state money.”
A “fiscal note” of the bill argued that the government would save money due to the number of “averted births,” a claim the bishops decried as “abhorrent.”
“Such a statement is an egregious reflection of the inhumane mentality behind the bill,” the bishops wrote.
The bishops maintained that the so-called “averted births” wouldn’t save money.
“The fiscal note drastically underestimates the cost of abortion,” they wrote, noting that legislators used the average cost for first-trimester abortions — and not the more expensive late-term abortion costs — in its calculations.
Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute and assistant professor of practice at the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America, called the arguments for the bill “bad economics and even worse ethics.”
“[T]he federal government subsidizes other health services covered by Colorado’s Medicaid program. Colorado taxpayers pay for only a fraction of the cost of Medicaid births,” New wrote at National Review earlier this month.
“Indeed, contrary to the assertion of Colorado Democrats, covering elective abortion would cost Colorado taxpayers money.”
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In his analysis of the bill for the Charlotte Lozier Institute, New found that when state Medicaid programs cover abortions, the number of abortions increases in the state.
In his estimate, if passed, the bill would increase the number of abortions in Colorado by more than 1,800 annually.
Nineteen states allow Medicaid programs to use state taxpayer dollars to cover elective abortions.
Kate Quiñones is a staff writer for Catholic News Agency and a fellow of the College Fix. She has been published by the Wall Street Journal, the Denver Catholic Register, and CatholicVote, and she graduated from Hillsdale College. She lives in Colorado with her husband.
