DENVER — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys and allied attorneys Tuesday appealed the decision of a Colorado court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging $18 million in illegal state contracts awarded over the last year to a Planned Parenthood affiliate and a Boulder abortion provider.
“The democratic process and the rule of law should not be sacrificed for the sake of benefitting Planned Parenthood’s bottom line,” said lead counsel Barry Arrington, one of more than 1,600 attorneys in the ADF alliance. “The governor and other state officials are not at liberty to ignore the will of the people on this matter. Colorado voters amended the state constitution to prohibit tax dollar subsidies to abortion providers, so it’s the right decision to take this to the court of appeals.”
The lawsuit, filed in October 2008 on behalf of Colorado taxpayer Mark Hotaling, contends that five contracts which Gov. Bill Ritter and the executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Jim Martin, awarded to two abortion providers unconstitutionally use taxpayer funds to subsidize abortion.
In 1984, Colorado voters approved the Abortion Funding Prohibition Amendment to the Colorado Constitution, which prohibits the direct or indirect use of public funds to pay for abortion. In 2001, the Health Department, under then-Executive Director Jane Norton, conducted an audit of the operations of Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood and its affiliate Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains Services Corporation. The department ended funding for Planned Parenthood after finding that it indirectly subsidized the abortion operations of its subsidiary.
Under Ritter and Martin, however, the department disregarded the ruling and, claiming to be using federal funds instead of state funds, awarded five funding contracts to Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains Services Corporation and Boulder Valley Women’s Health Center, which both provide abortions. The lawsuit argues that the funding of their abortion operations is in direct violation of the Abortion Funding Prohibition Amendment.
The appeal in Hotaling v. Ritter asks the Colorado Court of Appeals to reinstate the lawsuit, which seeks a legal declaration that the contracts violate the Colorado Constitution. The suit also seeks an injunction that would prohibit the Colorado Department of Health from awarding further contracts to the two abortion providers.
“The people of Colorado felt strongly that no taxpayer should be forced to pay for a procedure that takes innocent human life. That’s why they amended the state constitution to put a stop to it,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Steven H. Aden. “This is a simple matter of the rule of law. Government officials cannot circumvent this amendment simply because they prefer to impose public funding for abortion on demand.”
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.