In swift reaction to the United States Supreme Court’s decision last Friday to end federal protection for abortion through Roe V. WadeAnd Casey, and return the power to the states, the California state Assembly pushed through legislation Monday to place the issue before voters in November’s midterms.
Sacramento Bee
The state Assembly on Monday voted 58-16 to approve Senate Constitutional Amendment 10, which would give Californians the “fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives.”
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Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood), urged lawmakers to include abortion rights into the California constitution. This move is needed to make sure future judges and leaders don’t throw them out.
“Colleagues, I stand here today and appeal to your reason, your compassion and your sense of justice,” Rendon said. “I stand here to ask that all Californians have the opportunity to vote on this critical right, and to vote it into our constitution and to show once again that we speak with an independent voice.”
On June 20, the Senate approved the amended. Each house had to approve the amendment by June 30 in order to ensure it appears on November’s general election ballot.
Bee quotes one Republican Assembly lawmaker who voted in opposition to the measure.
Republican Assembly Leader James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, said he couldn’t support the amendment because of its lack of provisions for fetal rights. Gallagher claimed that his wife had complications when she was pregnant, which led to premature births of their twin boys.
“They were alive and they are a person,” Gallagher said. “They’re people. Our law must recognize this. That’s why I can’t support this constitutional amendment today — because of what’s missing from it. It says nothing about their rights.”
The Bee also states that the Golden State amendment was not an abrupt decision. Rendon, Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), after the Court’s draft opinion leaked.
As RedState reported earlier on Monday, Newsom will begin running political ads in the state of Florida in July — perhaps as a preview for the next presidential election.
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