DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado’s Republican Congressional delegation has joined a call for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the 48-year-old case that established the constitutional right to abortion.
U.S. Reps. Ken Buck, Doug Lamborn and Lauren Boebert signed on to an amicus brief in support of Mississippi, which wants to enforce its ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The brief cites the landmark abortion cases Roe v. Wade, which in 1973 upheld the constitutional right to an abortion, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which upheld Roe in 1992.
“These precedents should be reconsidered and, where necessary, wholly or partially overruled,” the brief’s authors argue.
The representatives joined another 225 members of the House and Senate in support of Mississippi’s case. A dozen Republican governors also wrote a brief in support of the state’s abortion law.
The Supreme Court is set to hear a legal challenge to Mississippi’s abortion law later this year.
Colorado’s history on abortion rights
Colorado’s Republican Congressional delegation is at odds with the state’s long-standing support for abortion rights.
In 1967 — six years before Roe v. Wade — Colorado was the first state to decriminalize abortion. Today, it’s one of the few states that allows abortions at any stage of pregnancy.
Colorado voters rejected limits to abortion access four times in the last 12 years. Most recently, about 59% of voters rejected a 2020 measure to ban abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy.