The staff of the former Boulder Abortion Clinic propose opening a second and third trimester abortion facility in Boulder. Later abortions carry significant risks of medical harm to women, which are amplified by a facility which the state does not inspect or regulate, as mandated for other health care facilities. Join us to learn from national and local experts about the impact of this proposal on the women of Boulder and its’ surrounding communities.
Sunday, November 9, 2 pm | Boulder Public Library, Canyon Theater | 1000 Canyon Blvd, Boulder, CO
AAPLOG CO is the first in the nation state chapter of the American Association of Pro-Life OB/GYNS. Our foundation is based on the fact that all human beings deserve optimal healthcare at every stage of their life, starting at fertilization.
Our mission is to equip pro-life medical professionals in our state with the tools they need to provide evidence-based/scientifically sound information:
First half, 2025
We are ecstatic that Bella Health + Wellness and Chelsea Mynyk, CNM, lawsuits resolved with permanent injunctions to prescribe Abortion Pill Reversal (bioidentical progesterone). Colorado law has not been repealed. However, this is a major win in the only state to outlaw APR. We will strive to make APR fully legal again in Colorado.
We have great hope, as we see the advancement of REAL women’s healthcare services, mental health services, and outreach to men in many pregnancy centers; and increasing boldness and community amongst our life-affirming medical professionals. At AAPLOG’s annual conference (MBEC) Colorado was well-represented, with Bella Health + Wellness, Marisol Health, and (Sarah Pederson, MD) hosting booths. In one of the darkest states, medical professionals are taking a stand for women and babies. Colorado’s destiny is being a leader for LIFE.
We have the incredible privilege of hearing peoples’ stories of how abortion has impacted their lives, their practice of medicine, their families, and those around them. We knew people in the state were aware there is an effective prolife medical organization in Colorado when the Denver Post reached out to us twice for comments, and when medical professionals reached out for help with issues they were facing. THERE IS A LIFE-AFFIRMING MEDICAL PRESENCE IN COLORADO!
The annual strategic planning meeting was held in February 2025. See our goals listed below.
Membership
Zoom sessions through April focused on equipping members to understand the bills impacting Life in Colorado and providing the evidence to defend the Life position. In May 2025, John Bruchalski, MD, presented on the Tepeyac Clinic and Divine Mercy Care. In July, Jeannine Duffield shared the life-affirming care and extensive resources provided by Marisol Health.
2026 Colorado legislative session. We focused on:
We testified regarding these bills, also:
When we do not get our desired outcomes based on the evidence, we know that there is an impact on many who hear the testimonies, read the Op Eds, and who are emboldened by our evidence-based defense of both of our patients. It All Matters and leads to changing hearts and minds.
Strategy for the 2026 Legislative session is being developed with AAPLOG Action.
Public and Media Education, Support of students
By Wendy J. Smith | Member executive team AAPLOG CO
On June 23, 2025 – An anti-trafficking operation in Florida, dubbed Operation Dragon Eye, rescued 60 minors from sex trafficking. Their ages ranged from 9-17 years old. Forty three were girls, while 17 were boys. Surprising to me was that fact that 68% were from their local communities, 31% were from Foster care. Such a large percent being trafficked in communities where they live exposes the fact that these communities are not receiving adequate antitrafficking education. The children were referred to as “critically missing”. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children defines critically missing as having “elevated risk factors or circumstances that suggest potential harm, such as abduction, exploitation, or involvement in dangerous situations”. For many of us who work with or volunteer with minors who have been trafficked, stories like this leave us conflicted – they bring hope in the rescue and sadness that Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) is so prevalent.
I saw some things in news reports following the sting that I had rarely seen in the news before, “The operation uncovered the gut-wrenching realities of sex trafficking – including several girls who were pregnant”. Another report stated, “some were pregnant”.
The US Department of State defines sex trafficking as “a severe form of trafficking in persons in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under 18 years of age”. In DMST the use of force, fraud or coercion makes consent mute. Plus they lack the mental/emotional maturity to make such critical decisions. Many have experienced Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs) which may result in early interpersonal trauma interfering in brain development, leading to impaired cognitive/emotional development.
I have no doubt all of us would say that rape is horrible. In most cases rape is a one time event, yet it often leaves the victims with emotional scars like Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. When caring for victims/survivors of sex trafficking, especially minors, rape is an ongoing experience. It is important to realize they have been raped (sold) on average 6-10 times a day throughout the trajectory of their trafficking experience. As a result, they may be prone to self-harm or suicidal ideology, PTSD or a more complex form of PTSD referred to as C-PTSD, anxiety depression, Dissociative Disorder, Substance abuse, eating disorders, and others. We can rejoice that the children were rescued. Yet this should cause us to pause and examine our own understanding of human trafficking and consider the severe consequences, especially in minors, many of whom suffer from serious mental/emotional/physical trauma…”and some are pregnant”. Would you be prepared if a victim, especially a minor, were referred to you?
These minors are nameless stats in the news, but they are children, living human beings, who’ve been robbed of their childhood, freedom, identity and humanity. They have little-to-no self-worth. There are protocols that law enforcement, the FBI, victim advocates and forensic nurses follow at the point of rescue that, hopefully, are trauma-informed, child-centered, and legally compliant. But what happens when “some are pregnant”. I am sure that everyone involved would attest to following “best practices” in healthcare, social services and within the legal system. However, when “some are pregnant” who defines best practices? Is it the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a professional organization that has become very political and pro-abortion? When you have a girl, who believes she is just a commodity for someone’s profit or pleasure, that she is expendable, her life has no value …what does the culture say would be the best practice? Facing the chaos and turmoil of the rescue, forensic evaluation, emergency housing and questions surrounding placement, how is her pregnancy addressed? Is she encouraged to abort, reinforcing that life has no value and her baby is also expendable? Or is she counseled on all options? Who supports and stands with the young women who desire to parent? What are her resources?
Forced abortion has been documented and is of growing concern, especially with easy access to the abortion pill. Forced abortion is often used by the trafficker to further abuse, a form of reproductive coercion, another tool for control. On the other hand, the trafficker can exert further control over a victim who has a baby by threatening to sell or abuse the baby if the mother doesn’t make quota or doesn’t obey the trafficker. Due to the very criminal nature of sex trafficking, it is impossible to obtain large datasets that address abortion or pregnancy. In one landmark study from the Annals of Health Law (2014) it was noted from out of 160 survivors of sex trafficking 55% reported having at least one abortion, 30% reported having multiple abortions. In a 2019 joint opinion piece for the American Association of Prolife OB/GYNs and the American College of Pediatrics results of a survey done by survivors for survivors was highlighted, where of 758 respondents:
It is well known that the later the abortion, moving into the second and third trimester, the greater the risk of complications. This is especially true in trafficked minors for multiple reasons: poor healthcare, physical immaturity of anatomy, physical sequelae or complications from sexual violence (e.g. trauma-induced gynecologic injuries), STIs, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Teen mothers are at high risk of complications such as high blood pressure and/or preeclampsia, preterm births, low weight births, anemia, and other complications associated with their trafficking. In addition, the mental health issues noted above often go undiagnosed, or misdiagnosed if not evaluated through a trauma informed lens. At a minimum, she should receive prenatal and obstetric evaluation, that is trauma informed, confidential, and respectful, in a muli-disciplinary team approach. In some situations, best practice might be to include consultation with a high-risk OB/GYN specialist. Local Pregnancy Resource Centers could also play a vital role providing support, parenting classes, information on adoption options, and other child care resources. I have known adult survivors who have told me that their pregnancy saved their lives, gave them courage to escape from their trafficker, or led them to a Pregnancy Resource Center where they were cared for and chose to parent her child.
Caring for victims/survivors of sex trafficking requires a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach. Those who are pregnant add to the complexity, recognizing there are two very vulnerable lives at stake.
Resources for anti-trafficking educational programs designed specifically for healthcare providers:
(and Keeping Other States from Becoming Radically Pro-Abortion) By Catherine Wheeler, MD Co-chair of AAPLOG CO I moved to Colorado six years ago, the next year joining with the prolife community to attempt to restrict abortion after fetal viability. I
Initially, Wendy, Tom and I sought to develop a state chapter to increase our validity under the umbrella of AAPLOG, the preeminent medical voice defending both of our patients. We had been thwarted continuously at the Colorado legislature, and the
July 2024 marks one year since we proposed making Colorado the first-in-the-nation state chapter of the American Association of Pro-life OB/GYNs (AAPLOG). Though the chapter officially launched following the March for Life in Denver, in April 2024, a lot work
While Amendment 79 passed in 2024, our focus is now on exposing the predicted consequences and harms, with a goal to remove the constitutional amendment. The two most important thing we can right now, every day, is
Extremism; Malito, Rastrelli and Pasterz https://www.gjsentinel.com/opinion/columns/a-right-to-abortion-embeds-extremism-in-our-state-constitution/article_10afc50e-8ccb-11ef-a27e-eb5072418272.html
We, the undersigned healthcare professionals, wish to warn Coloradoans about the hazards of Amendment 79.
Amendment 79 would become the only medical intervention that is protected in the Colorado Constitution Bill of Rights. It would ensure unrestricted, unregulated, taxpayer funded access to abortion.
If adopted, Amendment 79 eliminates parental notification prior to a minor daughter’s abortion which is currently law in Colorado. This undermines the critical relationship between a teen, her parents, and their healthcare professional. It may leave a teen feeling isolated and alone as she makes one of the most important decisions of her young life and faces potential physical and emotional complications of an abortion by herself. A girl who is pregnant after sexual abuse or violence would be able to be coerced or forced to have an abortion, with no knowledge of the parent, protecting the perpetrators and harming the girls.
Amendment 79 would prevent Coloradoans and their elected representatives in the legislature from enacting any restrictions on abortion late in pregnancy after the fetus could survive independently from her mother if born prematurely. Some of us care for babies born at the same gestational age as these aborted fetuses and can attest to their humanity – their ability to feel pain and respond to their mother’s caress, voice, and scent. We know that approximately 500 fetuses are aborted each year in Colorado after the limit of viability. Most of these abortions are performed on healthy women carrying healthy babies. This is a tragedy that will only get worse if we pass Amendment 79.
We lament the fact that hundreds of healthy women in Colorado currently undergo abortions each year on healthy fetuses late in pregnancy because they feel they have no other options. As healthcare professionals, we believe there are more compassionate ways to address the financial and social needs of these women.
We are saddened by the abortion techniques that are deployed late in pregnancy that frequently involve the systematic dismemberment of a pain-capable fetus or the fetal poisoning that can result in hours of anguishing discomfort before death. Amendment 79 would strip the fetus of all legal value and protections and prevent professional medical organizations or state government from regulating abortion methods and prohibiting especially cruel abortion procedures.
We are appalled that second and third trimester abortion clinics are not licensed, regulated or inspected in Colorado despite the high-risk late abortion procedures that they perform. We know that Colorado already provides oversight of thousands of healthcare facilities including birth centers, community clinics, rural health clinics, rehab centers, ambulatory surgical centers, free standing emergency departments, dialysis centers, acute care facilities, nursing homes, assisted living centers, mental health centers, portable X-ray services, and physical/occupational/speech therapy services. If Amendment 79 passes, the state will be unable to establish or enforce prudent health and safety standards pertaining to second and third trimester abortion clinics. Our patients’ health and lives will continue to be jeopardized.
By creating a new constitutional right to abortion, the conscience rights of physicians, nurse practitioners, and nurses will be compromised. If Amendment 79 passes, they may be threatened with termination of their employment if they don’t refer women for abortions or participate in abortions – even if it is contrary to their core beliefs and values.
As healthcare professionals who care deeply for our patients, we feel it is our moral obligation to tell the truth about Amendment 79 and its impact on our community.
We want to hear from you!