SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California Democrats have stepped up a plan to turn the nation’s most populous asylum for women seeking abortion, prompted by the publication this week of a preliminary draft Supreme Court ruling that sparked a spike in activism among the extensive network of suppliers and advocacy groups of the state.
The project – which could change when a final decision is issued, likely next month – will end nearly 50 years of federal protection against abortion. Hours after the leak was released, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state top lawmakers said they would seek voter approval to make abortion a constitutional right in California, a move designed to protect the state from future lawsuits and potential federal abortion. a ban if Republicans gain control of Congress.
On Thursday, Democrats in the state legislature stepped up a bill that would block other states’ laws from imposing civil or criminal sanctions on people who provide or support abortions in California, creating another likely long-running legal battle for state sovereignty.
The California Legislative Assembly of Women has asked News for $ 20 million to help pay for women from other states where abortion will be banned to come to California for the procedure – an amount the governor can announce in his revised budget proposal next week.
Just 48 hours after the draft became public, the only nonprofit organization in California that helps women travel to and from the state to have abortions raised $ 25,000 – a quarter of normal annual expenses – while receiving a stream of calls from people, volunteers to give free walks or a place to stay for women who want to terminate their pregnancies.
For Madeline Hoffman, California’s preparations are comforting. The 22-year-old mother of two terminated her pregnancy in December at an abortion clinic in the state’s Central Valley.
When she returned to another clinic later for birth control, she said a protester followed her to her car. This experience, combined with the draft court decision, led her to look for volunteer opportunities in clinics.
“It’s really sad to think that women have to fight for their bodies,” she said. “It must be just automatic law.”
California’s legislative efforts are the starting point in the next phase of the battle for abortion rights, which will take place among state governments that remain to create and enforce their own rules if federal protections are removed. Already Republican-led states such as Oklahoma and Idaho have passed more restrictive abortion laws pending a court ruling.
Meanwhile, Democrat-led states such as California are passing laws to expand access to abortion.
Democrats, who control all the levers of power in the state government, have written 13 bills that will authorize more health care providers to perform abortions, create scholarships for reproductive care physicians, block other states’ access to certain medical records in California, and set up a taxpayer money fund to help pay for women in states where abortion is illegal to come to California to receive the procedure. A measure has already been signed that makes abortions cheaper by banning co-payments and deductions.
Meanwhile, abortion providers are busy hiring more doctors and adding space to get a projected jump in patients. Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, the nation’s largest affiliate of Planned Parenthood, is renovating and building new facilities in Auckland, San Jose, Fresno, Visalia and Reno, Nevada. When completed, this will increase their capacity from 200 to 500 patients per week.
“We’ve been preparing for this for more than a year – and frankly since November 2016,” when Republican Donald Trump was elected president, said Andrew Adams, chief of staff at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte and head of strategic communications.
Proponents of abortion are also preparing by strengthening staff and support at crisis pregnancy centers. These centers, which are often located near abortion clinics and are religiously affiliated, seek to persuade women to give up abortion for adoption or other options.
Some of these centers in the conservative states receive tens of millions of dollars in public money. California is hostile to these centers, passing a law requiring them to notify clients about abortion services. The US Supreme Court overturned this law in 2018.
“We believe this is the way believers and the community for life can really help put our money where our mouths are,” said Jonathan Keller, president and CEO of the California Family Council, who opposes abortions. “No woman should ever think that abortion is the best option for her.
Although abortion is legal in every country, it is not readily available everywhere, especially for people living in poor or rural areas. There are nearly 100 abortion funds across the country to help these women pay for things like travel, housing and childcare they need to arrange appointments.
As of Monday, the national digital fundraising platform for these groups has raised about $ 1 million, according to Sierra Harris, deputy director of network strategy for the National Network of Abortion Funds.
California has a state abortion fund known as Access Reproductive Justice. The group helps about 500 women each year, about a third of whom come from other states, according to CEO Jessica Pinkney. Each woman receives an average of $ 300 to $ 400 in assistance.
It doesn’t pay for everything. To fill the gaps, the group relies on a set of 50 key volunteers who are willing to provide rides, places to stay and extra money. These volunteers include Harris, who lives in Auckland.
After the pandemic, most of Harris’s aid was in cash. A mother of two, Harris remembers a time when she intervened to buy another woman a plane ticket so she could travel to have an abortion. The woman was also a mother, and later sent Harris a card calling her an “angel.”
The woman said her help made it possible for her to “be the parent of the child I have,” Harris said. “I think about it all the time.”
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