This Saturday, January 22, is the 49th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that decriminalized abortion nationally.
Both pro-lifers and pro-aborts recognize that the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs vs. Women’s Health Organization, expected this spring, could effectively strike down Roe vs. Wade. The dismantling of Roe would remove the barrier to state regulation of abortion and allow each state to restrict or ban abortion.
In California, our government is working to increase the number of abortions. Governor Newsom’s office just released his proposed budget for the next year, which includes $20 million to pay off student loans for future abortionists. In December, when his “California Future of Abortion Council” released a list of recommendations, Newsom said that California would be an abortion “sanctuary” if Roe is overturned. The Council recommended, among other things, that the California government pay for travel costs and childcare for women who come from out of state for an abortion – in addition to paying for their abortions.
The Future of Abortion Council’s recommendations are only a wish list for now, but our state legislature is working to make them a reality.
Last year, State Senator Lena Gonzalez introduced SB 245, which would require insurance companies to cover all the costs of abortion without co-pays or deductibles. Medi-Cal already covers abortions and insurance companies are required to cover abortion, but SB 245 erases any remaining out-of-pocket costs.
SB 245 moved out of the state senate last year, but stalled in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Perhaps they dropped it due to the outcry from constituents who saw the bill as strictly pro-abortion, not even pro-choice, since it favors abortion over carrying a child to term.
Abortion advocates in the Legislature resurrected SB 245 this month, in “honor” of Roe vs. Wade, and the Appropriations Committee voted to pass the bill on Thursday, January 20. Please call your assemblymember (you can find your state representatives here) and urge them to vote no on SB 245.
