Abortion rights leaders gather to map strategy

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Planned Parenthood leaders from 24 states gathered in California’s capital Friday to begin work on a nationwide strategy to protect and strengthen access to abortion, a counteroffensive aimed at pushing back against restrictions that have emerged in more than half of the country after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Their goal is to emulate the success liberals have had in California, where state lawmakers passed some of the most robust abortion protections in the country this year, culminating in a statewide election this fall that would make abortion a constitutional right in the nation’s most populous state.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, speaking to a group of 25 leaders in a hotel conference room in Sacramento, with another 30 watching online, said abortion advocates could channel what he called the “ruthless energy” of anti-abortion advocates — “but not as a way to hurt people.”

“Anti-freedom states have been playing the long game. They have successfully led a ruthless, coordinated siege on reproductive freedom,” Bonta said. “It’s time that we play that game as well.”

But duplicating California’s results in the rest of the country won’t be easy. California’s government is dominated by Democrats who support abortion access and rushed to support new legislation this year after the court overturned the landmark 1973 decision that effectively legalized abortion nationwide.

In Washington, while Democratic President Joe Biden supports abortion rights, Democrats hold narrow majorities in the House and Senate — advantages that could be wiped out after the midterm elections in November.

Even if Democrats retain control of the U.S. Senate, they likely still would not have enough votes to stop Republicans from blocking abortion legislation. Democrats in the House have already voted to pass a bill that would make abortion legal nationwide, but they have been unable to get the bill past an evenly divided Senate.

Abortion rights groups feel an urgency to act, especially with bans and restrictions in place in a majority of states. Just three months after Roe v. Wade fell, abortion access in more than half of U.S. states is considered “restrictive,” according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.

That includes abortion bans in 11 states, two states where abortion is prohibited after six weeks of pregnancy and nine states that limit access in other ways.