Bill Text: CA SR63 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Enrolled

California Senate Resolution 63 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Relative to women’s reproductive health.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-01-20 - Read. Adopted. (Ayes 26. Noes 5. Page 2787.) [SR63 Detail]

Download: California-2021-SR63-Enrolled.html

Enrolled January 20, 2022

Passed IN Senate January 20, 2022

Amended IN Senate January 13, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Resolution

No. 63

Introduced by Senators Skinner, Atkins, Caballero, Durazo, Eggman, Gonzalez, Hurtado, Kamlager, Leyva, Limón, and Rubio

January 03, 2022

Relative to women’s reproductive health.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SR 63, Skinner.

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 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. 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 is at risk of being overturned or severely eroded due to the appointment of new 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 million women and even more people who could become pregnant; and

WHEREAS, A recent Guttmacher institute 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, Last year was the worst year for abortion access in recent 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 Senate of the State of California, That the Senate urges the President of the United States and the United States Congress to express their support for safe and legal access to abortion for all who need or choose it as well as their support for access to comprehensive reproductive health care; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate 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.