2022 CA Proposition One: It’s About More Than Abortion

This measure 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. 

The worst thing Californians who support a women’s right to choose can do is to assume that there is some sort of political and/or legal firewall protecting us from those who would impose forced birthing. 

If there is nothing else on the general election ballot motivating you to vote, marking “yes” on Proposition One amounts to a powerful statement against the “semi” fascist theocrats busily undermining the rights of Americans.

Voting yes in a big way  –just as the people of Kansas did a few weeks back– shows the weakness of antiabortion politics and contributes to an understanding of just how extreme those people are. Unfortunately, the rightward shift of (in particular) broadcast media gives equal weight to senseless drivel in the name of “both sides.”  

The questioning of women’s reproductive healthcare policies and practices has nothing to do with the sanctity of life. After all, there’s plenty of empirical evidence that reducing unwanted pregnancies is best achieved through access to sex education and birth control. 

It’s about control. It’s about repression. It’s about oppression. Voting Yes on Prop 1 is about sending a message to women in Mississippi and other bastions of reaction that they are not alone. That there is hope. That good can triumph over evil.

Yes on Prop. 1, Protect Abortion Rights
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
Media: Yes on Prop 1. Even in progressive California, abortion rights need constitutional protection

California Together, No on Proposition 1
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
Media: No on California Proposition 1: Encourage our leaders to find real solutions to abortion

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Like the dog who chased a car and caught up with it, right wingers got their way when the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade. Now they’re running around in circles, barking madly and eager to strut their stuff. 

Ostensibly the court said that abortion was a matter best left to the states. You didn’t have to be a psychic to understand this decision was about much more than a medical procedure.

Via Jordan Zakarin and Natalie Meltzer at Substack’s Progress Report:

• The audacity is shocking, but not surprising. When the Supreme Court’s hyper-reactionary majority overturned Roe v. Wade in June, the far-right majority insisted that it was sending the matter of bodily autonomy back to the states. This was clearly bullshit.

• If those judges had recorded audio of Samuel Alito reading his majority decision in the court chamber, his whine would have been so regularly overpowered by the noise of the other conservative justices licking their lips like cackling cartoon hyenas that it’d be virtually unintelligible.

• They knew that Republicans would try to enact a nationwide abortion ban, and less than three months later, GOP senators have introduced a bill to do just that. The “Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn children from Late-Term Abortions Act” is a work of profound cynicism, extreme stupidity, and obvious desperation.

In the weeks since the court’s ruling, there has been a game of one-upmanship on the right to see who could come up with the most extreme policies.  State-level politicians have reveled in their attempts to come up with the most cruel applications of abortion bans, including forcing an 14 year old incest victim to cross state lines to end a pregnancy and trying to insist a Louisiana woman give birth to a fetus without a skull.

Bans on contraception are in the works, ranging from bans on Plan B meds and IUDs to eliminating funding for family planning clinics that make birth control available to lower income women.

Even though polling shows that Republicans generally are vulnerable since the high court ruling, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s is promising a proposal to ban abortions nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy will be enacted if Democrats lose control of the legislative branch in the midterm elections.

The details of this proposal are shocking, starting with a federal ban negating Blue state policies. It would force many patients with high-risk pregnancies and severe fetal defects to flee the United States in search of legal termination. Sexual assault victims, including children, may be required to bear their rapist’s child due to procedural roadblocks. 

States with stricter laws, such as banning the procedure after six weeks or even outright; prohibiting people from crossing state lines to obtain an abortion; obtaining abortifacients through the mail; or even criminalizing the procedure itself against the pregnant person or those who assist them, will continue to be enforced.   

Nearly all abortions performed after 15 weeks will be outlawed, and the rare exceptions allowed require onerous reporting and proof requirements upon physicians and others.

From Slate: 

• Republicans have sought to cast a 15-week limit as the moderate alternative to an absolute federal prohibition, though it would leave stricter state-level bans in place. It would also federalize some of the most extreme and unpopular aspects of these existing bans. Like those laws, the Graham bill allows abortions only when “necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman,” rejecting a broader exception for maternal health. It includes no exception for fetal anomalies, no matter how grave.

• Unfortunately, many genetic and physical defects can only be detected after the 15th week of pregnancy. As The 19th reported in August, the earliest point when doctors can detect anomalies is between 15 and 22 weeks, when scans show fetal organ structures. Certain abnormalities detected at this stage, like Trisomy 18 and anencephaly, render fetuses “incompatible with life,” meaning they will die during birth or shortly thereafter. At most, if carried to term, these children will live just for hours or days in immense pain. And continuing the pregnancy often puts the patient at heightened risk of medical complications.

California politicians and activists believe that passage of Prop 1 will send a message of vital importance. Via Politico:

• Yes on Proposition 1 co-chairs Senate President pro Tem Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California President and CEO Jodi Hicks said Graham’s ban is “despicable” but comes as no surprise.

• “Now more than ever, we must show the rest of the country that we cannot go backward, that we must affirm abortion rights and we must protect the most vulnerable among us,” the pair said in a statement.

State government is going beyond advocacy for Prop 1 with a message for women in other states.

• Speaking of interstate commerce — Just after news of Graham’s ban dropped, California launched abortion.ca.gov, a one-stop-shop for people seeking abortion and reproductive health care in California. Gov. Gavin Newsom released a short on-camera spot touting the website, which includes information on abortion rights and what to do if you’re traveling to California from another state that has restricted reproductive healthcare. “We have your back,” Newsom said.

There is polling in California pointing to a substantial majority of the population supporting Prop 1, and that is a good thing. A poll from UC Berkeley shows 71% of voters saying they support it and just 18% opposed. The numbers are similar to those from other recent surveys, reinforcing just how popular abortion rights are and pointing the way for other states to take similar action.

It may be too late for saving Roe, but Democrats need to jump at this clear-cut opportunity to identify as the party that will defend the right to an abortion.

Republicans will argle-gargle about inflation, crime, and Hunter Biden. Good on them. They are failing to see the increases in voter registration among younger people and women nationwide since the Supreme Court’s decision. With a little bit of luck and some dedicated canvassing, 2022 could be a turning point for the nation.

Next Up - Props 26 & 27: The Online Gambling Sweepstakes

Previous voter guides:
(More coming soon)

California State Officials
California’s DC Delegation
State Senate races
State Assembly Races
SD County Supervisors
County Sheriff, Assessor, and Treasurer Races
SD Measure B: Cash Meets Trash 
SD Measure C: Reach for the Sky! Or Else?
SD Measure D: Righting a Wrong to Build a Future
SD Measure H: It’s for the Children (And Their Parents)

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Boards of Education Contests:
Analysis by Thomas Ultican

2022 School Board Contests, Part 1
The County Board, San Diego Unified, Sweetwater Union, Poway Unified
2022 School Board Contests, Part 2
Chula Vista, San Marcos, Vista, Grossmont
2022 School Board Contests, Part 3
Oceanside, Escondido, San Dieguito

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Email me at WritetoDougPorter@Gmail.com