Amended in Senate January 6, 2016

Senate Joint Resolution No. 19

Introduced by Senator Jackson

(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Atkins and Cristina Garcia)

August 26, 2015

Senate Joint Resolution No. 19—Relative to begin delete Planned Parenthood. end delete begin insert women’s reproductive health. end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SJR 19, as amended, Jackson. begin delete Planned Parenthood: funding. end delete begin insert Women’s reproductive health. end insert

This measure would request the President and the Congress of the United States to express their support for access to comprehensive reproductive health care begin insert , including the services end insert provided by Planned begin delete Parenthood and end delete begin insert Parenthood, and to end insert oppose efforts to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

Fiscal committee: no.

begin insert

WHEREAS, January 22, 2016, marks the anniversary of the
United States Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Roe v. Wade,
which held that every woman has a fundamental right to control
her own reproductive decisions and decide whether to end or
continue a pregnancy, and is an occasion that deserves
recognition; and

end insert begin insert

WHEREAS, The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, making access to
abortion safe and legal, has greatly improved the health of women
and families; and

end insert begin insert

WHEREAS, Roe v. Wade has been the cornerstone of women’s
remarkable strides toward equality in the past four decades, and
reproductive freedom is critical to a woman’s ability to participate
fully in the social, political, and economic life of the community;
and

end insert begin insert

WHEREAS, California is committed to protecting the public
health and welfare of all its residents, and recognizes that access
to reproductive health services, including family planning and
prenatal care, supports individuals and their families by ensuring
that babies are planned, wanted, and healthy; and

end insert

WHEREAS, begin insert California recognizes the importance of end insert Planned
Parenthood begin delete is end delete begin insert as end insert one of California’s largest providers of women’s
begin insert preventive and reproductive end insert health care begin delete and reproductive health
care end delete services, operating 115 community-based health centers across
the state, which begin delete service over end delete begin insert provide more than end insert 1.6 million patient
visits a year; and

WHEREAS, Planned Parenthood provides comprehensive health
care services to begin delete men and women, including well-woman exams, end delete
begin insert women and men, which may include well-woman examinations, end insert
birth control, testing and treatment of sexually transmitted
infections and HIV, pregnancy tests, life-saving cancer screenings,
begin delete prenatal care, end delete sex education, begin insert prenatal care, end insert primary care begin delete services
in some locations, end delete begin insert services, end insert and abortion services; and

WHEREAS, Nationwide, during 4.6 million health center visits
in 2013, Planned Parenthood provided services, including nearly
400,000 Pap smear tests, begin delete nearly end delete 500,000 breast examinations,
begin delete nearly end delete 1.1 million pregnancy tests, begin delete nearly end delete 3.6 million provisions
of birth control information and services, and begin delete nearly end delete 4.5 million
tests and treatments for sexually transmitted illnesses (including
HIV), to approximately 2.7 million patients, begin delete nearly end delete begin insert almost end insert 80
percent of whom were living with incomes at or below 150 percent
of the federal poverty level; and

WHEREAS, By providing millions of women with access to
contraceptive services, public funding of Planned Parenthood helps
women to avoid an estimated 516,000 unplanned pregnancies each
year nationwide; and

WHEREAS, A sudden defunding of Planned Parenthood’s
begin delete publicly funded clinics end delete begin insert health centers end insert by federal or state
governments would put patients across California, particularly
members of underserved communities, at a significant disadvantage
relating to their general health care begin delete given that end delete begin insert because end insert Planned
Parenthood is often the only source of health care services for so
many Californians; and

begin insert

WHEREAS, Violence against abortion providers and laws that
create barriers to abortion endanger the lives of both men and
women; and

end insert begin insert

WHEREAS, Reports have found that threats of harassment,
intimidation, and violence against women’s health clinics have
doubled since 2010, and as recently as November 27, 2015, a
Planned Parenthood clinic was the target of a heinous act of
domestic terrorism which resulted in the deaths of three people
and nonfatal injuries to nine others; and

end insert

WHEREAS, The State of California stands in strong begin delete opposition
to recent attacks on Planned Parenthood and other health care
providers that offer reproductive health care services; end delete begin insert support of
Roe v. Wade and the work of Planned Parenthood, and of women’s
reproductive health, and upholds each woman’s fundamental right
to make decisions regarding her pregnancy; end insert now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the President of the
United States and Congress to express their support for access to
comprehensive reproductive health begin delete care end delete begin insert care, including the services end insert
provided by Planned Parenthood and begin insert a woman’s fundamental right
to control her own reproductive decisions, and to strongly end insert oppose
efforts to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood; and
be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the United
States.