November 22, 2017 10:40 AM UTC

It's Official (Maybe): Cynthia Coffman is Pro-Choice

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• by: Jason Salzman

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

CBS4 political specialist Shaun Boyd reported last week that newly minted gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Coffman was pro-choice.

This set of a wave of disbelief and anger in conservative circles, led by KNUS radio host Dan Caplis, who said on air that Republicans wouldn’t have allowed Coffman to become Colorado’s attorney general if her pro-choice views were known.

But in reporting that Coffman was pro-choice, Boyd did not quote the candidate directly on the matter. Boyd asserted it as a background fact, leading Caplis and others to question whether it was true.

Boyd settled any lingering doubts with this tweet this morning:

Boyd: Responding to questions about my report on @CynthiaHCoffman being pro-choice. I learned it via a source after my interview. I’ve asked Coffman’s campaign if she wants a correction. Her spokesperson says she does not.”

Coffman’s official confirmation of Boyd’s reporting will likely be denounced by fellow GOP gubernatorial candidates, like businessman Victor Mitchell, who’s already called out Coffman on it, and Tom Tancredo, who’s openly and seriously anti-choice.

Even if you didn’t witness the impact of anti-choice personhood activists during multiple elections over the past decade, allowing Republicans like Cory Gardner to build their careers on the issue, you probably know that a large block of GOP primary voters, like Caplis, will not support a pro-choice candidate, unless, possibly, the only anti-choice Republican available is a likely child molester. See Roy Moore.

And like Alabama voters who face the decision of  pro-abortion vs. likely child molestation, they might decide not to vote. That’s how “foundational” the abortion issue is, as Caplis puts it.

This might explain why Coffman has at least appeared to be hostile to abortion rights over the years. For example, she’s bragged about opposing public funds for Planned Parenthood. In some interviews that I’ve found so far, she’s dodged the issue.

Conservatives, like Arapahoe County Tea Party founder Randy Corporon, were left with the impression that Coffman was anti-choice.

“I’ve been around her many times over the years, where all sorts of different conversations have come up, and I’ve never left with the impression that she was anything but pro-life,” said Corporon on air.