Colorado's secretary of state affirmed that her office wouldn't extradite anyone for a criminal violation after the governor signed an executive order forbidding state officials from helping other states in criminal and civil investigations of women who travel there to receive abortions.
Republican-led legislatures in states like Arkansas and Texas are considering passing laws that would make it a crime for women to travel to other states to get an abortion.
That would be a blatant overreach of government power for a Democrat like Griswold.
She wrote that every American should have the right to decide who to start a family with and how many children to have. It shouldn't be compulsory for the government to make women pregnant.
Nine Republican-led states have already banned abortion as a result of the court's ruling. Democratic-led states have looked to strengthen protections for women seeking abortions. Legal battles on abortion will continue in the future according to the new reality.
In a conference call with Democratic governors last week, President Biden warned that people were going to be shocked when the first state tried to arrest a woman for crossing a state line.
The U.S. Constitution is at the center of the upcoming extradited standoff. "A person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime who flees from Justice, and is found in another State, must be delivered up by the executive authority of the State from which he fled."
Criminal offenses are legal in one state but not in another. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required that slaves who fled to the North be returned to them. One of the factors that led to the start of the Civil War was the enforcement of that act.
The secretaries of state, already on the frontlines of overseeing state elections, will play a central role in the fight over women travelling out of state to obtain an abortion.
In Colorado, the Secretary of State's Office has a unique role to play. The Secretary of State has the authority to apply the State Seal to this document.
The high court's decision has created a legal quagmire. The interview was edited to make it clear.
Do you think there will be a lot of women going to Colorado to get an abortion?
We think so. There was an increase in the number of women looking to make decisions about their future and their bodies in Colorado. There will be women who can afford to travel from across the nation to the states that still treat women as full citizens.
There will be an increase in deaths of women. I'm not sure if you've seen the case out of Ohio where a 10-year-old who was raped was unable to access reproductive health care services. Everything you need to know about the policies being passed across the United States is contained in the idea that you would allow a 10-year-old who is raped, who could be a victim of incest, and force them to carry a child. Controling women is what it's about. This is about making us feel degraded. Extreme legislators and Supreme Court justices will have blood on their hands from the policies that are being adopted across the country.
Is the state prepared for that?
Legislation protecting the rights to birth control and abortion care was passed in Colorado. It was done before we knew what the Supreme Court was going to say. I joined the governor in making sure that we looked at policies and weren't helping states enforce some of the bad laws. The secretary of state's office is the guardian of the state seal and must sign the extradited person's paperwork. Being just the 10th woman ever elected to statewide office in the state of Colorado, and caring deeply about how women are treated across this country, is important to me. I don't want my office to be involved in the criminalization of abortion patients in Colorado or any other state.
It's unusual for a state to refuse to participate in an extradited person.
Many states refuse to extradite women who have to travel or doctors on the basis of laws that undermine Americans' fundamental freedom.
You said in your statement that you wouldn't participate in the proceedings brought by other states. Do you think that will lead to a lawsuit?
We will stand firm with women and abortion care providers regardless of the court challenge. I am proud that Colorado will continue to uphold Americans' freedom, to make decisions about our bodies and health care without interference from government officials, and that our state will remain a safe place for Americans who need access to this really critical, life-saving care.
Conservatives now control the Supreme Court, so are you worried about how a legal challenge will play out?
I have full faith in our attorney general's ability to uphold our decisions. This is an attack on our fundamental freedoms, including the right to vote, to privacy, and to love freely, all to impose an extreme view of the few on the majority. There is a concerted effort to roll back American freedoms, whether it's politicians who put extreme justices on the Supreme Court, or the assault on democracy and voters' power.
There are many issues with the Supreme Court, whether it's Justice Clarence Thomas's blatant conflict of interest in having a wife being involved in the insurrection and failing to recuse himself, which is an impeachable offense, to the fact that justice It's time for people who believe in freedom to stand up for each other. A majority of Americans agree with the idea of access to abortion care. Most Americans want fair elections.
A woman from Texas would travel to Colorado to have an abortion. How will the state of Texas gain access to the information that the abortion took place if Texas passes a law to punish women who travel to have that procedure?
A person is talking to them. Taxi drivers in Texas were asked to report abortion care to the government. There are many ways to get different information. It's not covered by the law if an employer knows if an employee is going somewhere. We can't allow a legal challenge to scare us from taking action because the other side doesn't want us to.
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