Abortion seekers need more support under Trump administration, Colorado advocates say

Yahoo

02-05-2025

Abortion rights supporters protest outside the state Capitol in Denver in the wake of a leaked Supreme Court opinion that indicated justices would overturn Roe v. Wade, on May 7, 2022. (Kevin Mohatt for Colorado Newsline)
Abortion advocates and providers in Colorado feel increased pressure under the Trump administration to support people seeking abortions from Colorado and surrounding states with restrictions.
Melisa Hidalgo-Cuellar, abortion fund director for Cobalt, said the organization has been 'constantly adapting' to meet the demand for support. The abortion fund has increased its staffing capacity over the last couple of years and ramped up its digital security to ensure client information is protected.
Cobalt, one of two Colorado-based abortion funds that offers financial support to patients seeking abortion care, is also helping clients navigate mis- and disinformation related to abortion care. Hidalgo-Cuellar said many patients in restrictive states don't know there are financial assistance resources available because their states and communities intentionally try 'to keep that information out of their hands.'
'We really see that play a role in the abortion funding world when we are working directly with abortion seekers who are fearful of leaving their state to access care and having to walk them through the resources available to them,' Hidalgo-Cuellar said.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
While there's been an increase of people seeking abortion care in Colorado since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the national right to an abortion in the Dobbs v. Jackson decision and Texas' abortion ban, providers are looking for different ways they can help meet the demand, relying particularly on telehealth, Hidalgo-Cuellar said. She's also seen increased coordination between abortion funds and clinics to help make sure each patient gets care in a way accessible to them.
About 62% of Colorado voters supported Amendment 79 in November, which made abortion access a constitutional right in Colorado. The Colorado Legislature approved a measure implementing the amendment and also passed several shield laws to protect providers as well as out-of-state patients. Every state except New Mexico that borders Colorado, as well as Texas, has abortion restrictions.
A new report from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health, found that abortions actually decreased by about 2,400 in both Colorado and New Mexico from 2023 to 2024. The total still remains higher than before the Dobbs decision in both states, though. It stood at 24,490 in Colorado last year. Increased capacity from clinics in Kansas likely contributed to the reduction for Colorado and New Mexico, as well as broader access to telehealth medication abortion under protection of shield laws, according to the report.
While Cobalt is still waiting to hear back from a few clinics before it has final spending data from the first quarter of 2025, Hidalgo-Cuellar said Cobalt has already seen an increase in patients served as well as cost per patient, meaning there's higher demand for financial support.
For funding directly supporting a patient's ability to pay for a procedure, preliminary numbers show Cobalt has spent about $306,000 in the first quarter of 2025, compared to $218,000 in the first quarter of 2024, Hidalgo-Cuellar said. The fund also helped 883 clients between January and March 2025 compared to 717 in those months in 2024.
Over 50% of Cobalt's procedural funding in 2024 went to patients in Colorado. But just under 90% of Cobalt's practical support funds — which help people pay for travel, lodging and child care expenses needed to access abortion care — went to patients from Texas.
'That tells you that we have that enormous need coming out of Texas as people are forced to travel for abortion care. They're having to put their lives on pause to be able to access this care,' Hidalgo-Cuellar said. 'These are just the numbers from the people who found out about Cobalt, who knew that money was available. There are so many people who are navigating this process on their own without understanding that financial support is available.'
Vanessa Martinez, vice president of policy at the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, said Colorado's willingness to support out-of-state patients in need is not a threat to Coloradans' ability to access reproductive health care. She said the biggest threat to care would be if anti-abortion states start to bring lawsuits against Colorado providers, though the state's shield provisions exist to protect those providers.
'Colorado has been a leader in reproductive care at the national level, and when we consider the national ecosystem of care, Colorado is so, so important both for abortion care and for gender-affirming care,' Martinez said. 'There are people who drive hours and hours to be able to get the care that they need here in Colorado.'
The Guttmacher report said 26% of abortions provided in Colorado in 2024 went to out-of-state patients.
Colorado has been a leader in reproductive care at the national level, and when we consider the national ecosystem of care, Colorado is so, so important both for abortion care and for gender-affirming care ... There are people who drive hours and hours to be able to get the care that they need here in Colorado.
– Vanessa Martinez, vice president of policy at the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights
Hidalgo-Cuellar said the abortion clinics Cobalt works with overall have seen shorter wait times for an appointment as they have increased their capacity. Many have been able to accommodate urgent cases, when a patient needs to be seen in a day or two.
The need for practical support still exists in Colorado, particularly in abortion deserts, Hidalgo-Cuellar said. Patients in rural parts of the state might have to travel up to six hours to access care.
'Abortion deserts have always been and still are problems even in access states, in protected states such as Colorado,' Hidalgo-Cuellar said.
Telehealth has been crucial for abortion deserts, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains spokesperson Fawn Bolak said. Since the Durango Planned Parenthood temporarily closed due to provider shortages, Bolak said Planned Parenthood has connected patients to its virtual clinic so they can continue to access care. She said the only service patients in Durango cannot access as a result of the closure is a procedural abortion.
'We are actively recruiting for an advanced practice clinician so that we can reopen that health center,' Bolak said. 'The reason why we had to temporarily close that location is because we are navigating a national provider shortage. Health care institutions, not just in reproductive and sexual health care, but across the board are really feeling a significant burden from this provider shortage and we're definitely not immune to that.'
Some providers have looked specifically to abortion deserts for sites of future clinics. Hidalgo-Cuellar said that's what Care Colorado did when it opened a clinic in Pueblo.
Bolak said she's seen how 'frustrated' and 'scared' patients are under the Trump administration, particularly immigrants who lack permanent legal status. Reproductive and sexual health advocates have known the Trump administration would target access to care, but the 'swiftness with which they have begun' attacking health care, particularly gender-affirming care, has been 'pretty devastating,' she said.
'Since Trump announced that he would be seeking reelection, we began preparing for things like additional attacks on access to mifepristone, additional abortion bans, attacks on contraception, attacks on health insurance and different things like that,' Bolak said.
Trump has said he will leave abortion policy to the states, but he pardoned anti-abortion protesters who were prosecuted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, and his administration has withheld funding from Planned Parenthood clinics. Advocates also fear the administration will target mifepristone and misoprostol, two medications used to perform abortions and manage miscarriages.
Hidalgo-Cuellar said attempts to criminalize seeking and providing abortion care have increased across the board under the Trump administration. She said part of the goal is to instill fear in anyone seeking abortion care and anyone helping those seeking care.
Martinez said her organization has had concerns since last summer about attacks from anti-abortion states, especially now that the federal government 'not only doesn't protect the rights of everyone in our communities, but often targets a lot of the community members that COLOR advocates for: community members of color, LGBTQ+ community members, immigrant Coloradans.'
Many Latino and Latina people COLOR works with have felt a sense of instability since Trump took office, Martinez said. Those with immigrant family members who lack permanent legal status have been particularly on edge and consider whether accessing any kind of health care could put their loved ones at risk. Martinez said many people need help understanding what insurance coverage options are available for them, and hesitate to enroll in public programs out of fear it will put them 'on a list that the federal government will later use' to target their families.
'We're seeing uncertainty from community members just in navigating their health needs, and this isn't coming up just in emergency situations,' Martinez said. 'It's coming up too in child visits — Do I take my child to get their vaccines, to their checkups? — which is really scary for entire communities.'
Martinez said Colorado Senate Bill 25-130, which would ensure that anyone who goes to an emergency room cannot be denied care, is especially important after instances in other states when pregnant people have gone to an emergency room needing 'miscarriage management' or abortion care only for that care to be delayed or denied 'at the expense of their lives.'
She said the bill will also help people in rural communities who might not have direct access to specialty providers.
'We know that already has happened in Colorado where folks have seen delays in care at the emergency room or not been transferred to the emergency room soon enough,' Martinez said.
The bill passed the Senate and its House committee hearing Monday, and is scheduled for debate in the House Friday.
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE