Joe O’Dea Signed Petition to Put Abortion Ban With No Exceptions for Rape or Incest on Colorado Ballot and Voted YES
“The revelation further complicates O’Dea’s portrayal of himself as an abortion-rights Republican.”
The Colorado Sun broke news today revealing that GOP Senate candidate Joe O’Dea, who is misleading Coloradans on abortion, signed the petition to put an abortion ban on Colorado’s 2020 ballot known as Prop 115. O’Dea voted in favor of the failed ballot measure.
“This bombshell development confirms what Coloradans already know. Joe O’Dea can lie all he wants about abortion, but his disturbing record of supporting an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest proves that he can’t be trusted. He would give McConnell and MAGA Republicans the majority they need to pass a national abortion ban.” – Colorado Democratic Party spokesperson Nico Delgado
The Colorado Sun Unaffiliated Newsletter reports:
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joe O’Dea didn’t just vote for a 2020 ballot measure that would have banned abortions in Colorado after 22 weeks of pregnancy. He signed a petition to get Proposition 115 on the ballot that year.
O’Dea signed the petition on Feb. 26, 2020, according to documents from the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office that The Colorado Sun reviewed on Thursday.
His signature was the first below an explanation of what Proposition 115 would do: “prohibiting an abortion when the probably gestational age of the fetus is at least 22 weeks and, in connection therewith, making it a misdemeanor punishable by a fine to perform or attempt to perform a prohibited abortion, except when the abortion is immediately required to save the life of the pregnant woman or when her life is physically threatened.”
The revelation further complicates O’Dea’s portrayal of himself as an abortion-rights Republican. Proposition 115 failed 59% to 41%, an 18 percentage point margin.
MORE: Colorado State Senator Jessie Danielson called out O’Dea for misleading reporters and voters on his anti-choice record and said, “Republican Joe O'Dea [...] owes apologies to both the voters and the many reporters whom he has deceived about his extreme anti-abortion record. Criminalizing doctors and punishing victims of rape and incest do not make you ‘pro-choice.’”