To: Board of Supervisors
From: Supervisor Mike Wilson
Agenda Section: Initiated by Board Member
SUBJECT:
title
Resolution Support Access to Reproductive Health Services and California Proposition 1 - Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment (2022) (Supervisor Mike Wilson)
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RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Board of Supervisors:
1. Adopt Resolution No. ____ Supporting Access to Reproductive Health Services and California Proposition 1 - Right to Reproduction Freedom Amendment to the California Constitution.
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SOURCE OF FUNDING:
General Fund
DISCUSSION:
On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed 50 years of precedent by overturning Roe v. Wade in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The decision held that there is no constitutional right to abortion and returned the power to define abortion rights and restrictions to the states. Many states have passed, or are set to enact, laws that restrict, prohibit, and even criminalize abortion. The immediate impact of these new laws leaves individuals unable to safely access abortion and other healthcare services in those states, with a disparate impact on women of color and low-income women.
Proposition 1 would amend the California Constitution to establish a right to reproductive freedom, which is defined to include a right to an abortion and to choose or refuse contraceptives.
If passed, the Proposition 1 would add Section 1.1 to Article 1 of the California Constitution with the following text being added: "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. This section is intended to further the constitutional right to privacy guaranteed by Section 1, and the constitutional right to not be denied equal protection guaranteed by Section 7. Nothing herein narrows t...
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