Bill Text: CA AR69 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Resolution 69 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Relative to reproductive health.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 54-0)

Status: (Passed) 2020-01-21 - Read. Adopted. (Ayes 55. Noes 14. Page 3847.). [AR69 Detail]

Download: California-2019-AR69-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

House Resolution

No. 69

Introduced by Assembly Member Limón

January 08, 2020

Relative to reproductive health.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

HR 69, as introduced, Limón.

WHEREAS, January 22, 2020, marks the 47th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Roe v. Wade (1973) 410 U.S. 113, which affirmed that every woman has a fundamental right to control her 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 women’s ability to control their reproductive lives, allowing every woman in the United States the right to decide when, if, and with whom to have children, and how many children to have, and has helped facilitate women’s economic and societal participation in the United States; and

WHEREAS, In the years before the Roe v. Wade decision, illegal abortion accounted for approximately 17 percent of all reported deaths attributable to pregnancy and childbirth, and many women were severely injured as a result of “back alley” abortion procedures; and

WHEREAS, Interference with a woman’s right to choose causes women to be forced into illegal and dangerous abortions, as they often were in the United States before the Roe v. Wade decision. Many women are forced to make these decisions today in countries where abortion is illegal and where the unsafe methods of illegal abortion lead to 13 percent of global maternal deaths annually, or eight maternal deaths every hour; and

WHEREAS, Roe v. Wade continues to protect the health and freedom of women throughout the United States. 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 is in serious jeopardy of being overturned or further eroded due to President Donald J. Trump’s proposed and approved federal regulations, executive orders, and judicial appointments; and

WHEREAS, States are passing legislation that creates barriers to abortion and there are more than a dozen cases limiting abortion rights that could be considered by the Supreme Court of the United States; 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 doubled, and incidents of clinic obstruction tripled nationally from 2016 to 2017 alone; and

WHEREAS, The State of California stands in strong support of every woman’s fundamental right, as confirmed in Roe v. Wade, to make decisions regarding pregnancy and commits to boldly advance 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 a woman’s fundamental right to control her own reproductive decisions, 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.