Amendment 79 would enshrine a right to unrestricted abortion in our state constitution and endanger the patient population I have cared for throughout my 40-year career in the Denver metropolitan area.

As a pediatrician, as a neonatologist, I specialized in the hospital care of sick or premature babies. As such, I have cared for hundreds of premature babies and witnessed the development of medical care in this area. In contrast, the extremely premature infant (28 weeks of gestation or less, with a full gestation of 40 weeks) usually requires many intensive care interventions to survive. Those born at 28 weeks of gestation (7 to 9 months of pregnancy) often require only monitoring, warmth, and tube feeding to survive, and the vast majority of survivors will live healthy lives without developmental problems or disabilities.

In my opinion, and in the medical literature, there is no doubt that premature babies at 23 or 24 weeks of pregnancy are individual human beings who feel pain, recognize their mother's touch, voice and smell, and have better birth outcomes their mother and father can be with them.

They “treat” themselves to restful sleep and very stable vital functions when held by a parent. Skin-to-skin care (also called kangaroo care, meaning when held on a parent's chest and warmed) is known to improve outcomes. On the other hand, premature babies react with cries and attempts to withdraw or avoid painful procedures, and medical staff make great efforts to alleviate these discomforts in the modern neonatal intensive care unit. Premature babies have an enormous will to live and, with proper care, can overcome many serious and recurring life-threatening events such as infections and surgical procedures.

Currently, it is legal in Colorado to have an abortion for any reason at any point of pregnancy, including the seventh and ninth months, although no public funds are currently allowed to be used for this purpose.

While working in the NICU at the University of Colorado Anschutz, I had the experience of caring for a 32-week gestation infant who was born alive after an attempted abortion, was admitted to our day care center, and required only tube feeding and warmth to survive . He was immediately adopted by a family and then had an uncomplicated hospital stay. Who can say that they won't continue to make significant contributions to their family, their community, or the world at large?