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Earlier this year, we celebrated 49 years of safe, legal abortions with the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Unfortunately, we knew that as the Supreme Court was debating a case heard last fall – Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – it was likely to be the last anniversary of the landmark case. The outcome of Dobbs has resulted in desperation, as people across the country search for dire medical attention that in many states, they could be persecuted for obtaining.
As a physician, I see how the patchwork access to abortion we’re experiencing has led to confusion and hopelessness for many – which is exactly why we need to act in California.
We have always known that abortion bans and restrictions on certain types of health care marginalize the most vulnerable patients, and further create a divide between who can and cannot access life-saving health care.
But in California, where lawmakers have committed to expanding access to reproductive health care, including abortion and contraception, voters have the chance to be heard on this fall’s ballot.
California has put a stake in the ground to protect access to abortion and contraception with Proposition 1, a ballot initiative that will enshrine the right to an abortion directly into the State Constitution, so that a person’s fundamental right to abortion and contraception will be protected in California for generations to come.
At its core, Prop 1 secures the right for Californians to decide when and how they have a family, keeping intimate medical choices where they should stay– between people and their medical team.
Abortion is health care, and just like any other health care decision, these discussions should be grounded in science, not political agendas. As a family physician, I work with people of all ages, providing the care each person needs for their individual circumstances. Abortion – along with whether to use or refuse contraception – should stay in this lane, not be something that governments are deciding.
Proposition 1 will take existing California State law and add it directly to the California State Constitution, giving the right to an abortion the highest protections the state can afford, requiring the courts to weigh any laws interfering with the right to abortion and contraception to the highest scrutiny if that right should be challenged in the future.
The ballot specifically says that Prop 1 will “amend the California Constitution to expressly include an individual’s right to reproductive freedom, which includes the fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and the fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives. This amendment does not narrow or limit the existing rights to privacy and equal protection under the California Constitution.”
It’s important to dispel the notion that Prop 1 would supersede existing law – it would not. What Proposition 1 would do however is guarantee the right to an abortion, the regulation of which would be left to the legislature, just as any constitutional right. Opponents will claim that without specific limitations on abortion, it could be allowed until the end of pregnancy and that is simply not the case.
We often hear the word “viability” as a term related to abortion restriction. However, “viability” is so much more than just gestational age and as a medical classification with a fluid definition, it does not belong in the State Constitution. The term includes multiple factors including gestational age but also incorporates genetic factors and medical determinations that are best left to a medical provider and their patient.
A recent poll shows that more than two thirds of voters did not want to see Roe overturned, yet despite that overwhelming public opinion, the Supreme Court did just that. All too often we hear that “abortion is safe and protected in California,” but if we have learned anything in recent months, it’s that we cannot be complacent with access to reproductive health care and that is exactly why we need Prop 1.
Shannon Connolly, MD is a practicing family physician in Orange County. She is the Associate Medical Director of primary care at Melody Health, the primary care arm of Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties.
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