Bill Text: CA AR78 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relative to reproductive health care.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 48-0)
Status: (Passed) 2022-01-20 - Read. Adopted. (Page 3344.). [AR78 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AR78-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION
House Resolution
No. 78
| Introduced by Assembly Members Bauer-Kahan, Aguiar-Curry, Boerner Horvath, Mia Bonta, Burke, Calderon, Cervantes, Friedman, Cristina Garcia, Irwin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Akilah Weber, and Wicks |
January 05, 2022 |
Relative to reproductive health care.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
HR 78, as introduced, Bauer-Kahan.
Digest Key
Bill Text
WHEREAS, January 22, 2022, marks the 49th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Roe v. Wade (1973) 410 U.S. 113, which affirmed that everyone has a fundamental right to control their own reproductive decisions and to decide whether to continue a pregnancy or obtain an abortion, and is an occasion deserving of acknowledgment; and
WHEREAS, Roe v. Wade has been the cornerstone of an individual’s ability to control their reproductive lives, allowing anyone who can become pregnant in the United States the right to decide when, if, and with whom to have children, how many children to have, and how to parent the children they have in safe and sustainable communities; and
WHEREAS, Roe v. Wade continues to protect the health and freedom of people throughout the United States, and national peer-reviewed studies show abortion is a safe medical procedure, increasingly provided through outpatient medication, that nearly one in four women in the United States will access; and
WHEREAS, Roe v. Wade has helped facilitate economic and societal participation in the United States for all; and
WHEREAS, In 1965, prior to the Roe v. Wade decision, lack of access to safe and legal abortions cost pregnant people their health and their lives, accounting for approximately 17 percent of all reported deaths attributable to pregnancy and childbirth, and many were severely injured as a result of unsafe abortion procedures; and
WHEREAS, Interference with access to a safe and legal abortion can lead to the rise of criminalization of pregnancy outcomes and a rise in incarceration of pregnant people; and
WHEREAS, Roe v. Wade is currently being challenged in the United States Supreme Court and at risk of being overturned or severely eroded due to the appointment of conservative justices to the United States Supreme Court who have a record of being hostile to a person’s constitutional right to an abortion; and
WHEREAS, Twenty-six states are poised to ban abortion access in the event that Roe v. Wade is overturned or gutted, impacting 36,000,000 women and even more people who could become pregnant; and
WHEREAS, A recent Guttmacher Report shows there could be a 2,923-percent increase in out-of-state women of reproductive age who would find their nearest abortion provider in California if Roe v. Wade is overturned; and
WHEREAS, The year of 2021 has been the worst year for abortion access in history, with more than 106 abortion restrictions being enacted in 19 states, including 12 abortion bans; and
WHEREAS, Providers of sexual and reproductive health care are still under serious, unrelenting attack for providing essential information and services, such as abortion, as evidenced by bomb threats, arson, and vandalism in California and the fact that death threats against abortion providers nearly doubled, incidents of clinic invasion doubled, and bomb threats were nearly tripled, nationally from 2018 to 2019 alone; and
WHEREAS, The State of California stands in strong support of every individual’s fundamental right, as confirmed in Roe v. Wade, to make decisions regarding pregnancy and commits to boldly advancing access to sexual and reproductive health care within our state; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the Assembly urges the President of the United States and the United States Congress to express their support for abortion, as well as their support for access to comprehensive reproductive health care; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the author for appropriate distribution.
