January 24, 2025 02:38 PM UTC

House Republicans Offer More Gibberish on Reproductive Rights Day

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• by: Colorado Pols

What do you get when you take an issue like reproductive rights, add a few House Republicans, and give them a microphone?

A whole lot of stupid.

As Marianne Goodland writes for the publication formerly known as the Colorado Statesman:

The Colorado House on Friday passed a Senate resolution on “Reproductive Rights and Justice Day,” designated by the resolution for Jan. 22, but not without expected pushback from House Republicans…

…During debate on the resolution Friday, House Republicans, with often graphic descriptions of abortions, blasted those who support that right, even criticizing women for having sex.

“You cannot make the immoral moral,” said Rep. Ken DeGraff, R-Colorado Springs, citing Martin Luther King, Jr. “We can delve into the details where 99% of [abortions] are the result of using procreation as recreation.”

Two lawmakers talked about the experience of losing a pregnancy, including Rep. Brandi Bradley, R-Roxborough Park, who said “Colorado is not a pro-choice state, it’s a pro-death state.”

Rep. Stephanie Luck, R-Penrose, offered statistics provided by a constituent on the risks of abortion, including stating that having an abortion increases the risk of breast cancer by 40%. The American Cancer Society rejects that claim, stating “The most up-to-date scientific research suggests that abortion does not influence a woman’s risk for breast cancer.” [Pols emphasis]

Despite these protestations, the resolution passed the House on a straight party-line vote, with Republican Reps. Dan Woog and Ryan Gonzalez managing to be elsewhere when the roll call took place.

This year should have marked the 52nd Anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that granted federal protections to women seeking an abortion. But since Roe v. Wade is kaput, Democratic lawmakers instead presented a resolution designating January 22 as “Reproductive Rights and Justice Day” and acknowledging efforts in Colorado to protect reproductive rights through legislation such as RHEA and the November 2024 passage of Amendment 79 — enshrining reproductive rights in the State Constitution — by a landslide 62-38 vote. Across the country in 2024, voters in 10 states made decisions on citizen initiatives on protecting reproductive rights; only one of those states (Missouri) rejected such provisions.

In the House of Representatives, this was an opportunity for some of the nuttiest Republican members to voice their opposition to the resolution and to ramble about their anti-choice positions in general. Several of these Republicans remain oddly unaware that Colorado is unquestionably a state that supports a woman’s right to make her own choices about reproductive health care…like Rep. Scott “There is No” Bottoms (R-Colorado Springs):

SCOTT BOTTOMS: I think, if I have to crash and burn politically, it’s going to be for kids. If I lose any sort of political credibility, which I don’t think is possible with this – I think it’s the other way around. There are too many people saying, ‘Stop killing our babies.’ But if I’m going to crash and burn on something, it’s not going to be over taxes. It’s going to be over babies…

…I think we’re seeing that people are done with this. I think we’re seeing that people are tired of messing with their kids. And so, we’ll see. We’ll see how that affects my side politically…[Pols emphasis]

…I will never tone this down, because babies are being killed, and we’re celebrating. I watched last year when champagne was popped because of this. That’s the height of disgusting.

Bottoms, who earlier in the week announced his plans to run for Governor in 2026, apparently thinks he can run a gubernatorial campaign around his opposition to abortion rights. Good luck with that.

The “champagne” line, BTW, is a reference to Democrats celebrating the passage of Amendment 79 in November.

Bottoms’ buddy Ken “Dildo” DeGraaf (R-Colorado Springs) does not have statewide ambitions (not yet, anyway), which perhaps freed him to be…well, Ken DeGraaf:

KEN DEGRAFF: We need to overcome this very ghastly celebration of the rending of preborn humans into tiny parts. Sometimes it’s not even into tiny parts. Sometimes it’s delivering preborn humans directly into the hands of a butcher to have the organs removed – to have the very human organs removed. Or for medical experimentation. This body celebrates that – any method, any reason, any time. 

Sell the child? Any reason. 

Medical experimentation? Any reason.

‘Any’ is a very broad word. 

Indeed it is, Ken. Do you actually think that “any” of this makes sense?

And then there was Rep. Stephanie Luck (R-Colorado Springs), who seems to be mixing up her right-wing talking points:

We’re not going to transcribe this entire bit of nonsense. Luck’s point, such as one existed, is that former Gov. Ralph Carr showed bravery in pushing back against Japanese internment camps during WWII, turning Colorado into what she called a “sanctuary state” for Japanese-Americans. Luck said Carr lost his campaign for U.S. Senate because he fought for full citizenship rights for Japanese-Americans, then concluded by adding, “It seems not much has changed.”

We’re still talking about abortion, right? And are you really arguing that “sanctuary states” are a good thing? Don’t let President Trump hear you say that.

Luck also brought up — again — the oft-dismissed “personhood” idea that life begins at conception. Every time Republicans have tried to promote a “personhood” proposal in Colorado — either through the legislature or via the ballot — it has failed miserably.

There are a lot of different reasons as to why Republicans have fared so poorly in Colorado in the last decade. Their persistent refusal to listen to what Colorado voters are telling them is near the top of that list.