republic-os/legislation/us/states/co/2021a/sb-21-142.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health Care Access In Cases Of Rape Or Incest"
description: "Under current law, public funds cannot be used to pay for an abortion, except in cases of life endangerment and in cases of rape or incest for medicaid-eligible women. If every reasonable effort is made to preserve the life of the pregnant woman and unborn child, then public funds may be used for medically necessary services. The medically necessary services must be performed only in a licensed health care facility and only by a licensed physician. The act removes these requirements and allows medically necessary services to be performed by a provider who is licensed by the state and acting within the scope of the provider's license and in accordance with applicable federal regulations.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2021A"
identifier: "SB 21-142"
citation: "Colorado SB 21-142 (2021A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brittany Pettersen", "Julie McCluskie", "Kerry Donovan", "Yadira Caraveo"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 12
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-03-01T07:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2021-05-21T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f634edd8-fd09-40e0-b677-4c825fe52a80"
source_url: "http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb21-142"
source_hash: "03109291331c1b22619095e560bee911eca40b299f3e18cdfbe51ce66f7e0360"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-co"]
---

# Colorado SB 21-142 (2021A) — Health Care Access In Cases Of Rape Or Incest

Under current law, public funds cannot be used to pay for an abortion, except in cases of life endangerment and in cases of rape or incest for medicaid-eligible women. If every reasonable effort is made to preserve the life of the pregnant woman and unborn child, then public funds may be used for medically necessary services. The medically necessary services must be performed only in a licensed health care facility and only by a licensed physician. The act removes these requirements and allows medically necessary services to be performed by a provider who is licensed by the state and acting within the scope of the provider's license and in accordance with applicable federal regulations.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Committee Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2021a_sb142_h_hi_001.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (03/29/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_142_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (05/13/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_142_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (03/01/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_142_01.pdf)
5. **PA1 (03/25/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_142shhs_01.pdf)
6. **Reengrossed (03/30/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_142_ren.pdf)
7. **Rerevised (05/11/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_142_rer.pdf)
8. **Revised (05/10/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_142_rev.pdf)
9. **Signed Act (05/21/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2021a_142_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- BILL — **19–15** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **39–24** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Brittany Pettersen — primary (person)
- Julie McCluskie — primary (person)
- Kerry Donovan — primary (person)
- Yadira Caraveo — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-05-21T06:00:00+00:00** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2021-05-13T06:00:00+00:00** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-05-13T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the Speaker of the House
- **2021-05-13T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2021-05-11T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-05-10T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Passed - No Amendments `reading-2`
- **2021-05-05T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Health & Insurance Refer Unamended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-01T06:00:00+00:00** Introduced In House - Assigned to Health & Insurance `introduction`
- **2021-03-30T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-29T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Committee `reading-2`
- **2021-03-24T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Health & Human Services Refer Amended to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-01T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Health & Human Services `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f634edd8-fd09-40e0-b677-4c825fe52a80`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).