Colorado voters reject 22 week abortion ban

Colorado voters on Tuesday rejected a measure that would prohibit abortions in the state after 22 weeks.

Proposition 115 would have slapped doctors with a three-year license suspension, fines up to $5,000 and a possible misdemeanor if they performed an abortion at 22 weeks or later, except in the case to save the life of a pregnant woman.

Proposition 115 did not include any exceptions in the case of incest or rape, CBS4 noted.

With 83 percent of the votes counted, about 59 percent were cast against the ban, while nearly 41 percent of voters supported it, The Denver Post reported.

The measure was the fourth attempt for stricter regulations on abortions in the state since 2008, according to the Post.

“For the fourth time in 12 years, Coloradans have rejected attempts to ban abortion at the ballot, trusting patients and families to make the personal medical decisions that are right for them, without interference from politicians,” Lucy Olena, campaign manager for No on 115, said in a statement to the newspaper.

Proponents of the measure spent a total of $505,488 but were vastly outspent by opponents, who garnered nearly $9 million toward their campaign.

“This measure bears no relation to previous attempts to pass personhood amendments in Colorado, which would have banned all abortions,” said Giuliana Day with Due Date Too Late, an organization that campaigned for the initiative, told the Post.

Forty-three states in the U.S. already have restrictions in place that ban abortions after women reach a certain point in their pregnancy and of those, 22 ban abortions between 13 and 24 weeks, according to Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights research and policy organization.