Bill Text: CA AR10 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relative to women’s reproductive health.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 54-0)
Status: (Passed) 2021-01-25 - Read. Adopted. (Page 201.). [AR10 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AR10-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION
House Resolution
No. 10
| Introduced by Assembly Member Calderon |
January 15, 2021 |
Relative to women’s reproductive health.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
HR 10, as introduced, Calderon.
Digest Key
Bill Text
WHEREAS, January 22, 2021, marks the 48th 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 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 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 prior to 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 believed to be in serious jeopardy of being overturned or further eroded due to President Donald J. Trump’s appointment of new justices to the United States Supreme Court who have a record of being hostile to a woman’s constitutional right to choose; and
WHEREAS, States are passing legislation that creates barriers to abortion 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 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 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 their own reproductive decisions, as well as their support for access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including the services provided by Planned Parenthood; 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.
