SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Regional elected leaders announced Monday efforts to protect and expand access to abortion care regionally, statewide, and at the federal level.
Vice Chair Nora Vargas, San Diego County Board of Supervisors, brought together regional elected leaders to demonstrate unity and solidarity with people who are in despair across the nation, due to the decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“Let’s be clear, this decision by the Supreme Court will only create an environment, where abortions take place in unsafe conditions, putting people’s health at risk,” said Vice Chair Vargas. “Our San Diego region stands united and ready to support access to reproductive health and we will continue to fight to ensure abortion is safe and legal across the nation.”
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria emphasized that this is a fight for fundamental rights in this country.
“The decision the Supreme Court handed down on Friday was chilling in its scope and what it portends for the future of America – a rollback of the precedents that have established and expanded our freedoms over the past several decades. Here in California, and in San Diego, we promise to fortify your freedoms so they cannot be eroded by justices catering to right-wing extremists. But we will also continue to fight for the fundamental rights of all people in all states. None of us is free unless all of us are free.”
On Friday, June 24, the conservative-majority Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to overturn Roe. v. Wade, effectively ending abortion constitutional protections that had been in place for nearly 50 years.
State Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), introduced a constitutional amendment earlier this month that would ask voters to enshrine California’s abortion protections in the state Constitution.
Senate Constitutional Amendment 10 would prohibit the state from denying or interfering with a person’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,” according to the amendment.
The proposal must pass both houses with two-thirds approval before the June 30 deadline in order to place a measure on the November statewide ballot. The state assembly is expected to vote on the amendment Monday.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Friday vowing to shield patients and medical professionals from being pursued by authorities in states where the procedure becomes outlawed after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. On the West Coast, the Democratic governors of California, Washington and Oregon issued a joint “multi-state commitment,” saying they will work together to defend patients and care providers.