A New "Do Not Abort" Medical Directive? What HB26-1085 Means for Coloradans.

The Bottom Line

If you are pregnant and suddenly incapacitated, who decides what happens to your pregnancy? This bill requires healthcare providers to offer you a specific "Do Not Abort" form to lock in your medical wishes ahead of time, working much like a living will for expectant parents.

What This Bill Actually Does

Advance directives—like a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order or a living will—are standard tools in healthcare, designed to speak for you when you cannot. But what happens if a pregnant person is in a catastrophic accident, ends up in a coma, and complex medical decisions need to be made? Currently, those life-or-death decisions usually fall to a medical proxy, spouse, or next of kin. HB26-1085 introduces a specific "Do Not Abort" form to Colorado's healthcare system to remove ambiguity in those absolute worst-case scenarios.

Under this proposed legislation, which would add section 25-3-135 to the Colorado Revised Statutes, any health-care provider treating a pregnant patient is legally required to offer them this document. The form allows the patient to explicitly state their wish not to receive an abortion if they become incapacitated or incapable of communicating. It acts as a preemptive, legally recognized voice for the patient when they literally cannot speak for themselves.

Here is how the workflow is designed to operate in practice under the bill:

• The Mandated Offer: The legal requirement falls strictly on the healthcare provider, who must present the form as an option to the patient.
• The Voluntary Choice: The patient has zero obligation to sign it. It is an entirely optional tool offered for the patient's peace of mind.
• The Medical Record: If the patient does choose to sign it, the provider is legally obligated to input the completed form into the patient's official medical record, ensuring the directive travels with their charts to emergency rooms or specialists.

What It Means for You

For expectant parents in Colorado, this legislation adds a new layer to your birth plan and prenatal care checklist. Much like choosing a pediatrician or deciding on a birth setting, this form asks you to make a heavy but potentially vital decision up front. It is designed to protect your agency and outline your precise wishes in severe medical emergencies, such as:

• Unexpected physical trauma, like a severe auto accident.
• Sudden neurological events, such as a stroke or traumatic brain injury.
• Medically induced comas where life-saving measures rely on a proxy decision-maker.

Because the bill makes offering this form a strict requirement for medical professionals, you will likely encounter it very early in your pregnancy journey. You might see it bundled into your standard intake clipboard during your first prenatal visit with an OB-GYN or midwife. Remember, the legal pressure is entirely on the provider to offer it, not on you to sign it. You can decline it, take it home to discuss with your partner, or sign it on the spot. If enacted, the effective date is set for August 12, 2026, meaning anyone navigating a pregnancy past that late-summer mark will start seeing this paperwork integrated into their standard medical care.

If you already have a medical power of attorney or an advance directive in place, you should review how those existing documents interact with this specific new form. A general living will usually covers life-sustaining treatments for yourself, but a "Do Not Abort" directive specifically walls off the termination of a pregnancy. Having both clearly documented in your chart ensures there is zero ambiguity for emergency medical teams or your family members when every single second counts.

What It Means for Your Business

If you manage a healthcare facility, run a private OB-GYN practice, operate an emergency room, or handle medical compliance, HB26-1085 introduces a very specific new requirement to your patient intake workflow. The bill explicitly mandates that a pregnant person's health-care provider "shall offer" the option to fill out the form. You will need to update your standard protocols to ensure this document is consistently presented to every pregnant patient, every time.

The operational lift here involves a few distinct administrative updates that your clinic will need to finalize before the August 2026 effective date:

• Updating Intake Packets: You will need to source the state-compliant form and integrate it into your standard new-OB physical or digital paperwork.
• Reconfiguring EMR Systems: If a patient signs the form, you are legally required to input it into their medical record. You must work with your IT vendors (whether that is Epic, Cerner, or Athenahealth) to ensure this directive is highly visible to ER trauma surgeons who might need it during an emergency.
• Staff Training: Front desk coordinators, medical assistants, and nursing staff need to be trained on the legal requirement to offer the form neutrally, without inappropriately pressuring the patient.

While state agencies will conduct some basic outreach to inform the medical community about the rule change, the burden of actual implementation falls squarely on your clinic's administrative team. You should consult with your legal counsel or medical malpractice insurer to determine exactly who in your practice is responsible for formally offering the form. Getting your standard operating procedures dialed in early will keep your practice compliant and insulate your providers from potential liability regarding patient consent and advance medical directives.

Follow the Money

From a taxpayer perspective, HB26-1085 is about as inexpensive as state legislation gets. The nonpartisan fiscal note projects exactly $0 in state revenue changes and $0 in required appropriations for the upcoming budget cycles. The primary state-level action involves the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) and the Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) doing a bit of routine outreach to notify medical professionals about the new rule, which they can easily handle within their existing operational budgets and current staff levels.

Interestingly, the state's fiscal analysts did explore whether this form would financially impact Colorado's Medicaid budget. If the directive prevents abortions that might have otherwise occurred during severe medical emergencies, the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing could theoretically see a shift—decreased costs for abortion services and increased costs for labor, delivery, and ongoing pediatric care. However, state economists assume that most pregnant individuals already communicate these deeply personal decisions with their doctors and families ahead of time. Because the form largely formalizes what is already being decided in households, the net financial impact on the state's Medicaid system is expected to be minimal to zero.

Where This Bill Stands

HB26-1085 is currently Dead. The latest official action came on 02/25/2026: House Committee on Health & Human Services Postpone Indefinitely.

That means the bill is no longer advancing this session. In practice, measures that are postponed indefinitely or otherwise declared lost generally stay dead unless they are reintroduced in a future session.