Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom: Fundraiser w/Guest Speaker Karen Middleton of Cobalt, 3/15!

06 Mar Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom: Fundraiser w/Guest Speaker Karen Middleton of Cobalt, 3/15!

On Friday, March 15, 6:30 – 8 p.m., Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom is hosting a fundraiser at a private home in Telluride. Join for an evening of discussion about protecting access to abortion in Colorado’s constitution and what’s at stake in the upcoming election. Funds raised at the event will go directly to supporting proposed initiative #89, a change to the Colorado constitution that would recognize the right to an abortion. Executive Director of Cobalt Advocates, formerly NARAL, Karen Middleton, is guest speaker.

Donation Levels
Host – $2,500 Cohost – $1,000 Sponsor – $500
Benefactor – $250 Individual – $100

Go here to donate or RSVP.

Abortion was not always the divisive, politicizing issue it has become. At least not until 1976. That was when Republicans adopted an anti-abortion stance in their party platform and the GOP became a political vehicle for a movement with an increasingly loud and all-too-clear Christian right its center stage.

And then when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the federal constitutional protection for abortion, the Dobbs decision opened the floodgates to state efforts to ban abortion. Since then over 13 states currently ban or have nearly banned abortion with narrow exceptions, with some bans imposing criminal penalties for health professionals who provide abortion care. Access to medical abortion is under threat nationwide, even in states where the right to abortion is protected.

In recent months, research studies and media reports have made clear the decision’s impact on people’s lives, health, and well-being. So the issue is not political; it is personal. Or should be…

To support the personal over the political, a group of Telluride locals have banned together to host a fundraiser in support of initiative #89, a constitutional amendment designed to ensure the right to abortion is protected from government interference in our state.

The amendment, which will also serve as a buffer against future attempts by politicians to limit abortion access in Colorado, is being promoted and supported by Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, (CPRF), a group determined to serve as a buffer against future attempts by politicians to limit abortion in any and all ways.

Also of note: there is currently a ban on health insurance coverage for abortion for thousands of Colorado state and local public employees and for those enrolled in state health insurance programs. CPRF’s initiative will lift that ban.

At the Telluride event, the guest speaker is Karen Middleton, a recognized leader with expertise in women’s issues, candidates and electing women, reproductive rights, political strategy, and Colorado politics.

As online sources explain, Middleton serves as the President of Cobalt (formerly NARAL CO), working to advance abortion access and reproductive rights. Cobalt is a statewide member-driven political organization and a key partner in the reproductive rights movement in Colorado.

Previously Middleton was the president of Emerge America, a national political organization that trains Democratic women to run for elected office. In that role she expanded Emerge from 9 to 14 states, including Colorado.

As a former elected official, Middleton served in the Colorado State House from 2008 through 2010, where she was in a leadership position as Majority Caucus Chair and a member of the Education and Business Affairs and Labor Committees.

In addition to six years as an elected official, Middleton’s work includes teaching political science, serving as a trainer, and creating the Colorado Legislative Women’s Caucus.

She also worked for the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), eCollege, and as Assistant Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver.

Middleton holds a B.A. degree from Mount Holyoke College in Women’s Studies and Politics; an MA in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Denver; and an MA in Higher Education Governance from the University of Denver.

Middleton is interviewed regularly by the Denver media market TV and radio; and has been published in Rewire, Huffpost, The Denver Post, The Durango Herald, and interviewed in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Politico, Allure and Slate.