California Dems To Introduce Bill Enshrining Abortion, Contraception Rights Into State Constitution

On Wednesday, Democratic lawmakers in California are set to introduce legislation that would enshrine the right to abortion and contraception in the state’s constitution.

Senate Constitutional Amendment 10 would not change the abortion laws in the state, but Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) said that pro-life moves in other states convinced her that additional protections might be necessary, reported the Los Angeles Times.

“California is going to double down,” Atkins said. “We’re going to make sure we have this right solidified and we’re going go [sic] further than that and strengthen our foundation to provide services to Californians. We already know that women are coming here from other places to get abortions. We need to make sure that we can address the needs of Californians as well as anyone else who might come here.”

The bill would need to get two-thirds of the vote in both the state Senate and the Assembly before the June 30 deadline for statewide ballot placement in November. Then constituents would vote on the proposal. According to the Times, the Democrats have enough seats in both chambers to get the amendment through with no Republicans on board.

“This is a healthcare decision,” Atkins said. “And we should look at it as such. … You don’t always think about needing this until you need it. And that’s maybe the privilege we’ve had for 50 years, but now a whole generation of women are going to have to think about it and particularly those that don’t live in California or states like California.”

According to the Times, a short description of SCA 10 says it “would amend the California Constitution to prohibit the state from denying or interfering with an individual’s reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives.”

Notably, the legislation does not need the signature of Governor Gavin Newsom to be included on the ballot — only the California Legislature needs to approve it, although Newsom has shown his support for such an amendment in the recent past.

In May, the Supreme Court’s draft majority opinion of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization indicated that the Justices would likely overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, returning the issue of abortion to the states. After the document was leaked, Newsom and other lawmakers said in a written statement they would take the question of enshrining the right to abortion in the constitution to the public in November.

“California will not stand idly by as women across America are stripped of their rights and the progress so many have fought for gets erased,” Newsom wrote in the statement, co-signed by Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood). “We will fight.”