Let states decide

According to all the “experts,” it seems very likely that the SCOTUS will overturn Colorado’s decision to take Trump off the ballot. Their logic is apparently represented by something Justice Elena Kagan said, which is that one state should not be able to decide who runs for President of the United States. 

That view would completely make sense if the presidential election was a federal one, but IT IS NOT. The election for president consists of fifty state elections, with vastly different voting laws, accounting systems and voters’ rights. Based on that, it seems only fair that Colorado gets to decide who is on the Colorado ballot. 

If not, then the electoral college needs to be eliminated (LONG overdue) and voter’s rights and election laws need to be uniform in all states.

— Kyle Richardson, Boulder

Protect abortion access in Colorado

As an eighth grader, I would like to be hanging out with my friends and talking about teenage girl stuff. Instead, I’m worried about the possibility that my life and the lives of many others like me could be derailed because we were denied access to reproductive rights. 

Since the overturn of Roe V. Wade, states can deny women the freedom to end a pregnancy. Colorado has allowed abortion to remain legal but has not yet fully protected reproductive freedom. 

In the past few months, there has been a petition to add Section 32 to Article II of the Colorado constitution on the ballot; this recognizes the right to abortion and health insurance to cover any abortion. Hopefully, women in Colorado will have the right to decide what to do with their own bodies. 

The Guttmacher Institute declares that fourteen states in the U.S. prohibit abortion and seven have restricted abortions in some areas; this leaves eighteen million people without the opportunity to abortions. That's possibly eighteen million lives turned upside down by the lack of reproductive rights. 

People have strong beliefs on abortion for religious or ethical reasons, but the choice should lie with the women whose life could be turned upside down by an unwanted pregnancy. If you don’t want an abortion, don’t get one.

I know that it is important to many Coloradans, especially women, that this amendment is passed. As a teenage girl, I especially hope to see Colorado protect reproductive and abortion rights. 

I can’t change the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and I can’t change people’s views on abortion, but I can help Colorado protect and secure abortion rights in the Constitution. Maybe, just maybe, Colorado will encourage other states to protect women's rights to reproductive freedoms.

— Joanie Michel, Boulder

Opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly.

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