Revised
September 05, 2019
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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Concurrent Resolution
No. 110
Introduced by Assembly Members Wicks, Bauer-Kahan, and Limón
(Principal coauthors: Senators Leyva, Mitchell, and Skinner)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Aguiar-Curry, Burke, Chau, Friedman, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Maienschein, Luz Rivas, Rodriguez, Smith, Mark Stone, and Weber) Weber, Arambula, Berman, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Bonta, Calderon, Carrillo, Chiu, Chu, Cooper, Daly, Eggman, Frazier, Gabriel, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gray, Holden, Kamlager-Dove, Levine, Low, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, O’Donnell, Petrie-Norris, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rendon, Reyes, Robert Rivas, Blanca Rubio, Santiago, Ting, and Wood)
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June 27, 2019 |
Relative to reproductive care and abortion services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 110, as introduced, Wicks.
Access to reproductive care and abortion services.
This measure, among other things, would declare that California is a Reproductive Freedom State for All and provide that the Legislature is committed to guaranteeing the constitutionally protected right to an abortion and supporting efforts to increase access to the best available reproductive and pregnancy-related care for women and pregnant individuals.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee:
NO WHEREAS, Roe v. Wade (1973) upholds a constitutional right to privacy, including in health care decisions, and grants the constitutional right to plan one’s own family and future; and
WHEREAS, Roe v. Wade demonstrates quality legal reasoning, is consistent with precedent, is based on sound legal principles first established in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) and Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972), and has been repeatedly affirmed by the United States Supreme Court, including in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) and Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016); and
WHEREAS, The facts that have developed since the Roe v. Wade decision reaffirm that the people of the United States support the right to choose, that abortion is medically safe, and that access to reproductive health care provides women with greater economic opportunities; and
WHEREAS, The rights established in Roe v. Wade have been relied upon in this country for almost 50 years and the constitutional right to abortion allows individuals to exercise reproductive decisionmaking, preserves women’s health, and strengthens families; and
WHEREAS, Seven in 10 Americans support access to abortion care, including a majority within major political parties, and believe abortion should be safe and legal; and
WHEREAS, For more than four decades, California has worked to make reproductive freedom a fundamental right for all Californians by guaranteeing the right to privacy, including the right to control one’s own body, and the right to choose whether or not to end a pregnancy; and
WHEREAS, In 1967, nearly five years before the United States Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, California Governor Ronald Reagan signed the Therapeutic Abortion Act, creating the broadest abortion law in the country at that time, and in 1972 the people of California amended the California Constitution to enshrine a right to privacy; and
WHEREAS, In 2002, California enacted the Reproductive Privacy Act, which protects the fundamental right to choose and obtain an abortion or to choose to bear a child; and
WHEREAS, For nearly 40 years, Medi-Cal has provided funding for abortion care to low-income Californians, and California’s Family Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment (Family PACT) Program has provided funding for comprehensive family planning for more than 20 years; and
WHEREAS, Reproductive health care is both safe and common. More than 90 percent of women have used contraception, one in four women will have an abortion in their lifetime, and more than one-half of women will have a child at some point in their lives; and
WHEREAS, States around the country are passing extreme laws to restrict reproductive health care and a growing number of states have introduced, passed, or signed legislation to ban abortion in some form, ignoring and directly attacking the constitutionally protected right to abortion; and
WHEREAS, The criminalization of abortion exposes women and pregnant individuals to an increased possibility of investigation or prosecution for accessing abortion or experiencing pregnancy loss; and
WHEREAS, Recently, state laws that restrict abortion have become so extreme that patients and physicians could be imprisoned. For example, Alabama’s recent ban on abortion could criminalize pregnancy loss, and physicians could receive a prison term of up to 99 years; and
WHEREAS, Thus far, states that have passed extreme abortion ban laws in 2019 have among the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the country, the United States has the worst maternal mortality rates in the developed world, and banning abortion will only further harm public health; and
WHEREAS, Low-income individuals and people of color are disproportionately impacted by restricting access to abortion care; and
WHEREAS, The Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, issued the California Proclamation on Reproductive Freedom, recognizing that California will continue to uphold equality and liberty by protecting reproductive freedom; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature declares that the State of California is a Reproductive Freedom State for All and is committed to guaranteeing the constitutionally protected right to safe abortion services; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature is committed to ensuring that all women and pregnant individuals have access to the best available evidence-based health care and information and are not criminalized for obtaining an abortion, inducing to end their own pregnancy, or experiencing any pregnancy loss; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature is committed to protecting a woman’s right to medical care and ensuring that providers of reproductive health care are not criminalized for providing safe and medically accurate information; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature is committed to promoting preventive health care services and wellness, and improving and expanding access to reproductive health care regardless of the state in which the person seeking care resides, and ensuring that all individuals have access to comprehensive, affordable insurance coverage that includes pregnancy-related care, such as prenatal care, miscarriage management, abortion care, labor and delivery services, and postnatal care; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
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REVISIONS:
Heading—Lines 5 and 6.
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