Family · Statewide · CO · October 1, 2026
Colorado Ballot Measure Would Mandate Life Sentences for Child Sex Trafficking
Colorado voters will decide in November on Proposition 133, which would require a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole for anyone convicted of child sex trafficking, according to The Colorado Sun. Currently judges may impose 8 to 48 years plus mandatory parole. The measure also expands the legal definition of trafficking to include buying sexual activity with a minor in exchange for anything of monetary value. The initiative was placed on the ballot by Protect Kids Colorado, a volunteer-driven group active in all 64 counties, after a similar bill by Rep. Scott Bottoms failed in a Democrat-controlled House committee. Colorado's Catholic bishops helped organize signature drives supporting the measure. Opponents, including the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault and abortion-rights group Cobalt Advocates, argue the measure could remove judicial discretion for trafficking victims coerced into helping abusers, and warn the expanded trafficking definition could be used against those who transport minors for abortions. Nonpartisan fiscal analysts project added prison costs beginning around 2041.
Source: The Colorado Sun
Why Bible-Believing Christians Should Care
Scripture treats the exploitation of children as among the gravest of sins, and this ballot measure directly addresses the sanctity of innocent life and the protection of the vulnerable — core biblical concerns regardless of politics. Christians should note that a grassroots coalition, supported by Catholic bishops organizing signature drives, succeeded in forcing a public vote after state legislators declined to act. This is a clear example of citizens using the civic process — the Mountain of Government — to press for justice when elected officials would not. Believers should weigh the measure on its actual text and effects, including the legitimate concern raised about coerced victims, rather than reflexively trusting either side's framing.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. — Matthew 18:6
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From the book
Strategically, the family is the transmission belt of civilization. It is where identity forms, where the Imago Dei, the image of God in every person, is first encountered, and where the values of the Kingdom are modeled in daily life. Which makes the family the single greatest obstacle to any totalitarian or radical ideology. A child who learns his worth from a loving father and mother is difficult for the state to indoctrinate. A family that is spiritually and economically self-reliant is difficult for the market to manipulate.
— Chapter 18
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