ROE OVERTURNED
DECISION ENDS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO ABORTION; STATES ARE FREE TO RESTRICT OR OUTLAW PROCEDURE
S.D. LAWMAKERS: Dems push for court reform; Republicans remain mostly silent
San Diego County lawmakers on Friday called for action to guarantee abortion rights and reform the U.S. Supreme Court, after the court announced its decision to overturn the landmark 1973 abortion-rights ruling Roe v. Wade.
The court decision, hinted at in a leaked draft ruling last month, upends federal protections for abortion rights and sends the matter back to states, about half of which have existing or prepared laws ready to restrict or ban abortions.
“I’m furious,” Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-San Diego, said in an interview Friday. “When I first saw the decision, I started shaking with anger. As a young woman, this feels deeply personal that these justices feel they know more about what I should do with my health care than I do. It’s long past time for Congress to act and codify Roe v. Wade into law.”
Her colleague, Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, said he believed the court has become a partisan body and must be reconfigured.
“One of the sad things about all of this is now we have a Supreme Court that is an appendage of the Republican Party,” Vargas said. “I don’t believe it’s an objective umpire calling balls and strikes. That’s really tragic. I think it’s tragic for the nation. I think it’s tragic for history.”
As Americans took stock of the reversal of the nearly 50-year-old ruling, federal lawmakers were considering their next steps in a divided Congress, while California legislators, with a Democratic supermajority, took steps to codify the right to abortion in the California State Constitution.
“I am still concerned
about the courts,” said state Sen. Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, whose law proposing a ballot measure on a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to abortion in California passed the State Senate Monday. “You can’t control future legislators. You can’t control future judges. We want to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution.”
The amendment invokes state constitutional rights to privacy and equal protection, stating: “The state shall not deny or interfere 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.” It’s expected to pass the Assembly and be signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom before going before voters on the November ballot.
In a separate action, the governors of California, Oregon and Washington on Friday issued a “Multi-State Commitment to Reproductive Freedom” including abortion and contraceptives, and to prevent other states from imposing their abortion bans on patients or health care providers in California.
Meanwhile, county officials pledged to defend the right to abortion in San Diego County and extend services to women traveling from states where bans are now in effect.
“The good thing is that abortion remains legal in California, and we need to make sure we understand that San Diegans understand we will continue to fight for them,” San Diego County Supervisor Nora Vargas said. “And anyone
can come to San Diego to have an abortion.”
In a split vote last month, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to study the availability of abortion and other reproductive health care in the county and explore ways to expand those services.
“In the meantime, we are partnering with our local health care providers and abortion providers to make sure we have those resources readily available with our community,” Vargas said.
Other officials said they were fearful of a judicial backlash against other rights, citing Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion urging the court to revisit previous rulings that legalized same-sex marriage, gay relationships and contraception.
“(The Supreme Court) just made a lot of fundamental health issues for women across this country more difficult with a stroke of a pen,” said Steve Padilla, a Chula Vista council member who is running for state Senate. “I think that this inconsistent and convoluted reasoning will be utilized in arguments and future petitions to try to undo family planning, contraception ... and same sex marriage would be potentially on the chopping block. As an LGBT person, and then ultimately a person of color, that’s greatly concerning to me and offensive.”
Vargas agreed those rights are at risk, and said he worried the court could go further to invalidate other hard-won civil rights.
“Here you have women losing enormous amounts of rights over their own bodies,” he said. “And now you have a justice saying we should take away LGBTQ rights. What’s next? Are they going to say you can’t marry someone outside of your
own race?”
Rep. Vargas said Congress should act to level the playing field of a U.S. Supreme Court disproportionately filled with conservative justices.
“I think it’s important for us to take a look at the composition of the court itself,” he said. “The Constitution says there should be a Supreme Court, but doesn’t say how many there should be. I think we should look at adding judges or term limits.”
However, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Bonsall, the sole Republican in San Diego’s delegation, praised the justices for fidelity to the Constitution, arguing they correctly declined to make laws, but only interpreted statutes as written.
“A clear majority of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States appropriately upheld its core purpose in our structure of self-governance: To discharge their duties faithfully and impartially under the Constitution,” Issa said in a statement Friday. “This is always the right way and the best way for the High Court to function.”
Other local Republicans were silent on the matter that has been among the most galvanizing issues for the GOP in recent years. Staff for state Sen. Brian Jones, R-Santee, said his schedule was booked for the day and he couldn’t comment, while the offices of state Sen. Pat Bates, R-Laguna Niguel, and Assemblymember Marie Waldron, REscondido, did not respond to requests for comment. Twitter accounts for each of those legislators focused on gas prices Friday, with no posts about the Supreme Court decision or California’s abortion rights legislation.
Rep. Vargas said he’s hopeful that President Joe
Biden will issue executive orders on abortion access, but said he doubts that a politically polarized Congress could pass legislation guaranteeing rights to the procedure. Such a measure would need at least 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster, and he’s skeptical that many Republicans would support it.
“In Congress, because of the filibuster, that’s not going to happen,” he said.
Jacobs said she believes passage of federal legislation to guarantee abortion rights is possible, and said the U.S. Supreme Court decision could jump-start the process. Earlier this month, she introduced the “My Body, My Data Act” to prevent companies from selling data about women’s health, such as menstrual tracker app entries or Google searches of abortion providers, which could be used against women in states where abortion is illegal.
Moreover, she noted that the House already passed the “Women’s Health Protection Act,” which would prohibit governmental restrictions on abortion services. Jacobs said she’s hopeful that Democratic senators will unite to abolish the filibuster, which would permit the Senate to vote on a federal law guaranteeing abortion rights. The Supreme Court decision could be the catalyst needed to push some abortion rights supporters out of complacency, she said.
“For many people the overturning of Roe v. Wade was a hypothetical that would never happen, and now that it’s here I think it will change some people’s minds,” Jacobs said.