DeGette Statement on Supreme Court Denial of Cases Challenging Hill v. Colorado

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Diana DeGette (CO-01) released the following statement after the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari for challenges to Hill v. Colorado. 

“Back when I was in the Colorado State Legislature, I fought to pass the nation’s first ‘bubble bill’ to protect Coloradoans from harassment when trying to enter health care clinics. I was told it would be unconstitutional, until the Supreme Court upheld it. I was told it would never survive its second legal challenge, until it was upheld again. After multiple defeated attempts, over several decades, to overrule the law in Colorado and nationwide, it stands as settled law that our Constitution protects the right to access health care, free from discrimination or harassment. 

"Anti-abortion extremists tried again to undermine this constitutional right, this time by attacking similar ordinances in Illinois and New Jersey. Again, they failed. Today’s dismissal from the Supreme Court is a win for reproductive freedom and shows that even this deeply conservative court knows anyone trying to block Americans from receiving health care has no case.”

Rep. DeGette authored the country’s first “bubble bill” during her time in the Colorado State Legislature. The legislation was written to create a safe, harassment-free zone around health care clinics, and was later unsuccessfully challenged in the Colorado Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court.  

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