Catholic and pro-life leaders lamented Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ final approval of three strongly pro-abortion bills on Friday, objecting that they prioritize abortion “at the cost of countless children’s lives.”

The new laws ban abortion-pill reversal treatments, greatly restrict advertising for pro-life pregnancy resource centers, require insurance providers to pay for abortions, and remove parental notification for minors seeking an abortion, among other measures.

Bella Health and Wellness, a pro-life, Catholic-founded health care clinic that provides abortion pill reversal, quickly filed a legal challenge to the abortion pill reversal ban, with the backing of the religious liberty legal group Becket. If it continues to offer and advertise progesterone for abortion pill reversal, the clinic faces up to $20,000 in fines per violation and the loss of providers’ medical licenses.

The new laws also forbid medical facilities and insurance provider networks from terminating or excluding medical professionals who perform abortions or provide “gender-affirming care,” with some exceptions for religious organizations opposed to these practices.

In an April 14 letter, the Catholic bishops of Colorado said there was “a strong outcry” against the three bills. They said the laws are out of step with the 63% of Coloradans who do not support unrestricted abortion. Most residents do not want to pay for abortion in their health insurance and do not want to penalize health care providers who object to abortion and “gender-affirming care.”

Democratic Gov. Polis and the “near-veto-proof majority of pro-abortion lawmakers” in the Legislature, the bishops said, are “telling Coloradans that they prioritize abortion over life-affirming reproductive health care decisions for women, at the expense of the mother’s health and, even more grave, at the cost of countless children’s lives.”

They lamented that some Catholic legislators had voted for the bills and asked them to refrain from holy Communion until they show public repentance and receive absolution in sacramental confession.

“The tears of God fell on Denver today as our governor signed three extreme abortion bills into law, choosing a culture of death over a culture of life,” Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver said on Twitter April 14. “Let us continue to pray for the conversion of hearts and minds and the courage to defend the dignity of life….”

Full story at Catholic News Agency.