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Cory’s Colorado
How Rep. Cory Gardner’s Policy Positions Hurt Women and Families
By Charles Posner
October 15, 2014
Five years into the economic recovery, most Americans are still struggling to get ahead.
Wages are stagnating, and prices are rising.1 Inequality continues to grow: those at the top
are taking in a bigger and bigger share of the national income,2 while working- and middleclass families fight to make ends meet. In Colorado, the story is similar to that of the rest
of the country. Colorado’s inflation-adjusted median household income—the clearest
indicator of the middle class’s economic well-being—is now lower than it was in 1985.3
In many cases, these economic challenges disproportionately burden women and
their families. Nationwide, nearly two-thirds of mothers are either primary breadwinners or co-breadwinners for their households, making financial decisions and working
hard to balance work and family.4 In Colorado, women lead nearly three times as many
households as men.5 Meanwhile, women have earned an expansion of health rights and
protections—especially with the passage of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA—that
both improves access to health care and strengthens economic security through better
insurance coverage, cost savings, and reproductive choice.
Colorado women face a pivotal choice about who they will elect to represent them in
the U.S. Senate this fall. Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) has policy positions that threaten
Colorado women and their families. As a state legislator and U.S. representative,
Gardner demonstrated that he would dismantle the rights and protections that women
have gained and would oppose policies that strengthen working- and middle-class
women and their families. This brief details how Rep. Gardner’s positions hurt Colorado
women and their families.
Women’s health
Colorado women deserve elected officials who will work hard to give them quality,
affordable health care and fight back against those who seek to defy the Constitution
by eliminating their right to choose. At the same time, health care access and reproductive rights are fundamentally economic concerns for women. Health insurance offers
financial protection even if serious health issues arise, and access to birth control allows
1 Center for American Progress Action Fund | Cory’s Colorado
women to start a family when it makes sense for them. These basic needs should not
cost a fortune. Women know this, and the leaders they elect to represent them should
too. Rep. Cory Gardner is not that leader for Colorado women, and his policies are
harmful for women’s health.
Eliminates health care for thousands of Colorado women
The Affordable Care Act has given Coloradans the peace of mind and economic security
that come with quality, affordable health insurance. According to a Gallup survey, the
rate of those without health insurance in Colorado dropped from 17 percent in 2013
to 11 percent in mid-2014—the fifth-largest drop of any state in the country.6 Women
have especially benefitted from the new law, which requires insurance companies to stop
gender discrimination and provides women with increased protections and cost savings.
Despite these successes, Rep. Gardner has repeatedly voted to repeal, dismantle, or
defund the ACA and, along with it, the benefits that Coloradans now enjoy. Repealing
the Affordable Care Act would affect Colorado women in the following ways:
• Thousands of Colorado women could lose their insurance. As of September,
145,994 Coloradans had health coverage through the state marketplace.7 As of April,
52 percent of those in the marketplace were women.8 In addition, 314,436 Coloradans
had signed up for health coverage through either Medicaid or the Children’s Health
Insurance Program, or CHIP, as of July.9 Repealing the ACA would put these people at
risk of losing their coverage.
• Women could once again be charged more just because of their gender. Before the
ACA, insurers were charging women as much as 150 percent more than men for the
same coverage simply for being women.10 The ACA stopped that practice, but repealing the law would remove those protections.
• 520,000 Colorado women would pay more for preventive services. The ACA
requires private insurers to cover preventative services such as mammograms, pap
smears, and contraception without any co-pay from the patient. An estimated 520,000
Colorado women have received at least one of these expanded benefits since the
ACA passed and would be at risk of paying more if the law were repealed.11 Thanks to
Colorado’s expansion of the Medicaid program, an additional 5,200 Colorado women
have received mammograms and 9,000 Colorado women have received pap smears in
the past year.12
• 696,000 Colorado women would return to facing lifetime limits on care. The ACA
bans insurance companies from imposing lifetime limits on health coverage, and
repealing it would eliminate this protection.13
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Turns the pill—and other forms of contraception—into another bill
Rep. Cory Gardner continues to do whatever he can to restrict birth control access,
while simultaneously trying to run from his record on the issue. Rep. Gardner’s attitudes
toward contraception go far beyond his opposition to the ACA: He has been voting to
block contraceptive access since he was a first-term state legislator in 2006.14 Gardner
also supports the Supreme Court’s recent Hobby Lobby decision, which gives most forprofit employers the ability to deny their employees contraceptive coverage in health
insurance plans on moral or religious grounds.15
In recent weeks, Rep. Gardner has tried to muddy the waters on his position, releasing
an ad in which he states his support for over-the-counter contraception.16 To be sure,
efforts to expand access to birth control, including making some forms available overthe-counter, are good. But coming from a politician with Gardner’s record, it is an empty
gesture that realistically amounts to another tax on women. Here’s why:
• Women saved an estimated $483 million on out-of-pocket costs for birth control in
2013 alone. This is largely due to the ACA provision that requires insurance companies to cover birth control with no co-pay.17 Rep. Gardner would repeal the ACA and
this provision along with it.
• Before the ACA, women paid up to $600 per year on the pill. Getting rid of this
ACA provision would bring the nation back to a time when women spent between
$15 and $50 per month—or up to $600 per year—on oral contraception.18
• Under Rep. Gardner, some of the most effective forms of birth control would be
out of reach. Gardner’s proposal ignores the fact that birth control is not one size fits all;
many women do not use the pill. Some of most effective contraceptive methods cannot
be provided over the counter and therefore still require insurance coverage. These methods would be out of reach for many women without the ACA’s coverage promise.19
Limits women’s reproductive choices
Rep. Cory Gardner has a long history of fighting for unconstitutional legislation called
‘personhood,’ which would give a fertilized egg the same legal protections as an adult
by defining life as beginning at fertilization. Rep. Gardner’s support of these measures
dates back to 2006, when he affirmed his belief that “personhood begins at fertilization.”20 As a Senate candidate, Gardner has backtracked, saying he “can’t support personhood going forward.”21 Despite this change in his rhetoric, however, he remains a
co-sponsor of federal personhood legislation, the Life at Conception Act, as a member
of the U.S. House.22 Given his record, it is clear that Gardner is much more dedicated
to restricting women’s reproductive rights than he is to expanding them. Personhood
would do the following things:
3 Center for American Progress Action Fund | Cory’s Colorado
• Ban abortion completely, even in cases of rape or incest. By giving fertilized eggs
the same rights as an adult, personhood measures outlaw abortion at any stage and no
matter the conditions surrounding the pregnancy. Abortion bans can be life threating
to women, and the risk associated with childbirth is approximately 14 times higher
than that of abortion.23
• Outlaw some forms of birth control. The language of personhood legislation outlaws
certain forms of oral contraceptives; intrauterine devices, or IUDs; and other forms
of FDA-approved hormonal contraceptives. According to the American Congress of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists, these have proven to be “some of the most effective
and reliable” forms of birth control.24
• Defy the Constitution. These laws have already been proven to be unconstitutional by
the Oklahoma Supreme Court and denied appeal by the U.S. Supreme Court.25
Women’s economic security
When women have the opportunity to fulfill their economic potential, their communities prosper. Colorado women have felt the nation’s current economic struggles acutely:
More than one-quarter of all female-headed households in the state live in poverty.26
Policymakers can take action right now to improve this economic outlook for Colorado
women and families by generating real growth that happens from the middle out, not
the top down.
Rep. Cory Gardner has opposed these common-sense policy solutions in each case,
proving that he is out of touch with the women he hopes to represent in the U.S. Senate.
Refuses to give hard-working people a raise
Raising the minimum wage is a must when it comes to improving economic security
for Colorado women and their families. As a state legislator, Cory Gardner opposed
the state’s last minimum-wage increase in 2006 and even voted against implementation
after the voters already approved it.27 Eight years later, Rep. Gardner remains skeptical
of an increase, alleging that “hundreds of thousands of people will lose their jobs—jobs
will be lost—as a result of a minimum wage increase.”28 In fact, multiple studies have
found that the 13 states—including Colorado—that increased their minimum wages in
2014 have experienced faster job growth than the states that have not.29 Rep. Gardner’s
position goes against the 61 percent of Colorado women voters who support a federal
increase to $10.10 per hour.30
4 Center for American Progress Action Fund | Cory’s Colorado
Colorado’s minimum wage now sits at $8.00 per hour, just 75 cents higher than the current federal minimum wage of $7.25. Increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10
per hour would have huge benefits for Coloradans, particularly for Colorado women,
who make up the majority of the state’s minimum-wage workers:
• Wages would increase for 224,000 Colorado women. Among all working women in
Colorado, more than one in five would be directly or indirectly affected by a minimum
wage increase to $10.10 per hour.31
• Women are the majority of those who would benefit from an increase. Of all
Coloradans who would see their wages go up because of minimum-wage increase to
$10.10, 54.9 percent are women.32
• The parents of 217,000 Colorado children would get a raise. Just 15.6 percent of all
minimum-wage earners in Colorado are under age 20. Increasing the minimum wage
to $10.10 puts more money into the pockets of those who are trying to provide for
their families.33
• A higher minimum wage would help lift thousands of women out of poverty.
Women disproportionately live in poverty: 13 percent of all Coloradans earn below
the federal poverty line, but the rate is 13.9 percent for Colorado women.34 A single
mother with two children who works 40 hours per week lives below the poverty line
at the current minimum wage but would be above it if she were earning $10.10.35
• Total wages would increase more than $575 million in Colorado. More money in
Coloradans’ pockets means a stronger economy for everyone. Raising the minimum
wage to $10.10 would increase wages $578,138,000 for all affected workers—money
that would circulate through local economies.36
Ignores the persistent gender wage gap
Colorado women deserve equal pay for equal work. That is a common-sense, legal standard, but a wage gap persists nonetheless. Women earn less than men when they get the
same education and they earn less when they have the same type of job. In some cases,
women still earn less than men because of outright discrimination.37
Rep. Cory Gardner’s position on paycheck fairness is in lockstep with his out-of-touch
House Republican colleagues. In 2013, he voted against even considering The Paycheck
Fairness Act, which would ban salary secrecy and require employers to demonstrate that
pay disparities between men and women are related to job performance, not gender.38
But the gender wage gap in Colorado is real, and it hurts Colorado women:
5 Center for American Progress Action Fund | Cory’s Colorado
• A Colorado woman earns 80 cents for every dollar a man earns. According to the
latest data from the Census Bureau, the 2013 median income for women working full
time, year round in Colorado was $40,671, while the 2013 median income for men
was $50,950.39
• Rep. Gardner’s district has the worst wage gap of any district in Colorado. Women
face a particularly acute gender wage gap in Colorado’s fourth district, which Rep.
Gardner represents in Congress: A women earns just 73 cents for every dollar a man
earns—the worst gap in the state and less than the national average of 78 cents.40
• The wage gap for Colorado women shows no signs of improvement. In 2012, the
gender wage gap was the same: women only earned 80 cents for every dollar a man
earned.41
• For women of color, the wage gap is even more extreme. An African American
woman earns just 68 cents for every dollar a typical man earns, and a Hispanic woman
earns just 60 cents for every dollar a man earns.42
Conclusion
Rep. Cory Gardner’s policy positions are the wrong choice for Coloradans, and especially for Colorado women. From repeatedly opposing the affordable health care that
has already helped hundreds of thousands of Colorado women to fighting to take away
constitutionally protected reproductive rights, Rep. Gardner’s positions harm women
and their families. In an economic climate where Colorado’s leaders should be fighting
to expand the middle class, Cory Gardner’s Colorado would squeeze the budgets of
working women even more.
Charles Posner is the State Research Analyst for the ThinkProgress War Room at the Center
for American Progress Action Fund. The author would like to thank Tiffany Germain and Kristen Ellingboe for their assistance.
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Endnotes
1 Chelsey Dulaney, “Apartment Rents Rise as Incomes Stagnate,” The Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2014, available at http://
online.wsj.com/articles/apartment-rents-rise-as-incomesstagnate-1404273662.
2 Annie Lowrey, “The Rich Get Richer Through the Recovery,”
The New York Times, September 10, 2013, available at http://
economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/the-rich-getricher-through-the-recovery/.
3 David Madland and Keith Miller, “The Decline of Colorado’s
Middle Class” (Washington: Center for American Progress
Action Fund, 2013), available at http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/labor/report/2013/12/12/80963/
the-decline-of-colorados-middle-class/.
4 Heather Boushey, Ann O’Leary, and Sarah Jane Glynn, “Our
Working Nation in 2013” (Washington: Center for American
Progress, 2013), available at http://www.americanprogress.
org/issues/labor/report/2013/02/05/51720/our-workingnation-in-2013/.
5 Amy Stephens, “Guest Commentary: Women will lead Colorado’s economic recovery,” The Denver Post, June 24, 2012,
available at http://www.denverpost.com/ci_20910168/
guest-commentary-women-will-lead-colorados-economicrecovery.
6 Dan Witters, “Arkansas, Kentucky Report Sharpest Drops in
Uninsured Rate,” Gallup, August 5, 2014, available at http://
www.gallup.com/poll/174290/arkansas-kentucky-reportsharpest-drops-uninsured-rate.aspx.
7 Connect for Health Colorado, “Marketplace Dashboard,”
available at http://connectforhealthco.com/wp-content/
uploads/2014/09/Marketplace-Dashboard-09-01-2014.pdf
(last accessed September 2014).
8 Connect for Health Colorado, “By The Numbers: the
First Open Enrollment of Connect for Health Colorado,”
available at http://connectforhealthco.com/wp-content/
uploads/2014/04/FINAL-data-open-enrollment-report-4-14-144.pdf (last accessed September 2014).
9 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, “How the
Health Care Law is Making a Difference for the People of
Colorado,” available at http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/
facts/bystate/co.html (last accessed September 2014).
10 Jessica Arons and Lindsay Rosenthal, “The Health Insurance
Compensation Gap” (Washington: Center for American
Progress, 2012), available at http://www.americanprogress.
org/issues/women/report/2012/04/16/11429/the-healthinsurance-compensation-gap/.
11 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, “How the
Health Care Law is Making a Difference for the People of
Colorado.”
12 Council of Economic Advisors, Missed Opportunities: The
Consequences Of State Decisions Not To Expand Medicaid
(Executive Office of the President, 2014), pg. 15, available
at http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/
missed_opportunities_medicaid.pdf.
13 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, “How the
Health Care Law is Making a Difference for the People of
Colorado.”
14 Mark P. Couch, “Legislature 2006 House gives OK to budget:
$16.5 billion plan advances after marathon debate on
amendments,” The Denver Post, March 31, 2006, available at
http://www.lexisnexis.com/new/results/docview/docview.
do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T20619225033&format=G
NBFI&sort=DATE,A,H&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_
T20619221964&cisb=22_T20619221963&treeMax=true&tre
eWidth=0&csi=144565&docNo=29.
15 Roll Call Vote No. 498, “Making continuing appropriations
for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes,” H.J. Res 59,
September 29, 2013, available at http://clerk.house.gov/
evs/2013/roll498.xml.
16 Cory Gardner for Senate, “For You,” September 2, 2012, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdStz3wFObQ
(last accessed September 2014).
17 Planned Parenthood Action Fund, “How Much Did Women
Save On Birth Control Costs In 2013?”, May 6, 2014, available
at http://www.plannedparenthoodadvocate.org/2014/05/
how-much-did-women-save-on-birth-control-costsin-2013.html.
18 Planned Parenthood, “On ACA Anniversary, Planned
Parenthood Celebrates Health and Economic Benefits of the
Law’s Birth Control Benefit,” Press release, March 22, 2014,
available at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/
newsroom/press-releases/aca-anniversary-planned-parenthood-celebrates-health-economic-benefits-laws-birthcontrol-benef.
19 Gail Sullivan, “How Colorado’s teen birthrate dropped
40% in four years,” The Washington Post, August 12, 2014,
available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/12/how-colorados-teen-birthratedropped-40-in-four-years/?tid=hp_mm.
20 Colorado Right to Life, “2006 Colorado Right to Life Voter
Guide” (2006), available at http://archive.9news.com/assetpool/documents/140305081017_2006%20Right%20to%20
Life%20Candidate%20Survey.pdf.
21 Lynn Bartels, “Cory Gardner changes position on personhood issue,” The Denver Post, March 21, 2014, available at
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_25395470/senatebombshell-cory-gardner-says-cant-support-personhood.
22 The Library of Congress, “H.R. 374,” available at http://
thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:HR00374:@@@P
(last accessed September 2014); Congress.gov, “H.R.1091 –
Life at Conception Act,” available at https://beta.congress.
gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/1091/cosponsors (last
accessed September 2014)
23 Elizabeth G. Raymond and David A. Grimes, “The Comparative Safety of Legal Induced Abortion and Childbirth in the
United States,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 119 (2) (2012):
215–219, available at http://journals.lww.com/greenjournal/
Abstract/2012/02000/The_Comparative_Safety_of_Legal_Induced_Abortion.3.aspx.
24 American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,
“ACOG Statement on ‘Personhood’ Measures,” Press release,
February 10, 2012, available at https://www.acog.org/
About_ACOG/News_Room/News_Releases/2012/Personhood_Measures.
25 Warren Richey, “Supreme Court turns away case on Oklahoma ‘personhood’ amendment,” The Christian Science Monitor,
October 29, 2012, available at http://www.csmonitor.com/
USA/Justice/2012/1029/Supreme-Court-turns-away-caseon-Oklahoma-personhood-amendment.
26 National Partnership for Women and Families, “Colorado
Women and the Wage Gap” (2014), available at http://
www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/workplacefairness/fair-pay/2014-co-wage-gap.pdf.
27 Colorado Pols, “Minimum Wage Increase Gives Udall Strong
Contrast with Gardner,” April 30, 2014, available at http://
coloradopols.com/diary/57442/minimum-wage-increasegives-udall-strong-contrast-with-gardner#sthash.0Cp5SStq.
dpuf.
28 KOA 850 AM, “Ross Kaminsky Show,” February 22, 2014,
available at http://bigmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/CLIPCoryGardnerRossKaminsky2.22.14.mp3.
29 Bryce Covert, “States That Raised Their Minimum Wages
Are Experiencing Faster Job Growth,” ThinkProgress, July
3, 2014, available at http://www.thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/07/03/3456393/minimum-wage-state-increaseemployment/.
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30 Public Policy Polling, “Colorado Survey Results” (2014),
available at http://cdn.americanprogressaction.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/10/ColoradoWomenResults.pdf.
31 David Cooper, “Raising the Federal Minimum Wage to
$10.10 Would Lift Wages for Millions and Provide a Modest
Economic Boost: Supplementary data” (Washington: Economic Policy Institute, 2013), available at http://s2.epi.org/
files/2013/minimum-wage-state-tables.pdf.
38 Laura Bassett, “Paycheck Fairness Act Vote Blocked By House
GOP,” Huffington Post, April 11, 2013, available at http://
www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/11/paycheck-fairnessact_n_3063804.html; Roll Call Vote No. 97, “Preventing
Greater Uncertainty in Labor-Management Relations Act,”
H.R. 1120, April 11, 2013, available at http://clerk.house.gov/
evs/2013/roll097.xml (last accessed September 2014).
32 Ibid.
39 American Association of University Women, “The Gender
Pay Gap: Colorado” (2014), available at http://www.aauw.
org/files/2014/09/Colorado-Pay-Gap-2014.pdf.
33 Ibid.
40 Ibid.
34 TalkPoverty.org, “Poverty Data By State: Colorado,” available
at http://talkpoverty.org/state-year-report/colorado2014-report/ (last accessed September 2014).
41 Anna Chu and Charles Posner, “The State of Women in
America: A 50-State Analysis of How Women Are Faring
Across the Nation” (Washington: Center for American
Progress, 2013), available at http://www.americanprogress.
org/issues/women/report/2013/09/25/74836/the-state-ofwomen-in-america/.
35 Bureau of the Census, Poverty thresholds by Size of Family
and Number of Children (U.S. Department of Commerce,
2013), available at https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/
poverty/data/threshld/.
36 Cooper, “Raising the Federal Minimum Wage to $10.10
Would Lift Wages for Millions and Provide a Modest Economic Boost.”
37 Bryce Covert, “Here’s Why We Know The Gender Wage Gap
Really Does Exist,” ThinkProgress, April 8, 2014, available at
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/04/08/3424043/
gender-wage-gap-myth/.
42 Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis based
on Bureau of the Census, American Community Survey (U.S.
Department of Commerce, 2013), Tables B20017B and
B20017I. Wage gap based on median earnings of full-time,
year-round workers, age 16 and older.
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