SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) Reproductive justice is a framework created by Black women in 1994 to address the intersectional and multifactored issues that women of color and their families face in society.
(b) Reproductive justice is the human right to control our bodies, sexuality, gender, work, and reproduction. That right can only be achieved when all people, particularly women and girls, have the complete economic, social, and political power and resources to make healthy decisions about their bodies, families, and communities in all areas of their
lives. At the core of reproductive justice is the belief in the right to bodily autonomy, the right to have children, the right to not have children, and the right to parent the children we have with dignity and respect in safe and sustainable communities.
(c) A critical part of realizing reproductive justice for people in California is clarifying that there shall be no civil and criminal penalties for people’s actual, potential, or alleged pregnancy outcomes.
(d) Across the country, people have been criminally prosecuted for having miscarriages or stillbirths or for self-managing an abortion. California has not been exempt. Despite clear law that ending or losing a pregnancy is not a crime, police have investigated and prosecutors have charged people with homicide for
pregnancy losses. For example, the District Attorney in the County of Kings prosecuted two women for murder after they suffered stillbirths.
(e) Also across the country, pregnant people are under threat of civil penalties for their actual, potential, or alleged pregnancy outcomes and civil penalties have been threatened against people who aid or assist pregnant people in exercising their rights.
(f) Pregnancies can end in a range of outcomes. Nationwide, as many as one in five known pregnancies end in miscarriage. In California, as many as 2,365 pregnancies per year end in stillbirth, meaning perinatal loss after 20 weeks gestation. Many pregnancy losses have no known explanation.
(g) People also need to end pregnancies by
abortion, including self-managed abortion, which means ending one’s own pregnancy outside of the medical system.
(h) Every Californian should have the right to feel secure that they can seek medical assistance during pregnancy without fear of civil or criminal liability.
(i) The threat of criminal prosecution of pregnancy outcomes is partly traceable to out-of-date provisions that give coroners a duty to investigate certain abortions and pregnancy losses. Based on these provisions, health care providers and institutions report people to law enforcement for pregnancy losses, leading to harmful investigations and even unlawful prosecutions.
(j) Civil and criminal penalties imposed on pregnant people is a critical
issue for Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, who experience adverse pregnancy outcomes as a result of systemic racial inequities and are more likely to be under scrutiny of state systems like child welfare or immigration.
(k) The threat of criminal prosecutions or civil penalties on pregnant people through child welfare, immigration, housing, or other legal systems has a harmful effect on individual and public health. When a person fears state action being taken against them related to their pregnancy, they are less likely to seek medical care when they need it. If they do seek care, punishing them for actual, potential, or alleged pregnancy outcomes interferes with professional care and endangers the relationship between providers and patients. Existing law prohibits a positive toxicology screen at the time of delivery of an
infant from being, in and of itself, a sufficient basis for reporting child abuse or neglect.
(l) That is why major medical groups like the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Public Health Association oppose civil and criminal penalties for actual, potential, or alleged pregnancy outcomes.