[Filed with Secretary of State June 1, 2016.]
SJR 19, Jackson. Women’s reproductive health.
This measure would request the President and the Congress of the United States to express their support for access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including the services provided by Planned Parenthood, and to oppose efforts to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
WHEREAS, January 22, 2016, marks the anniversary of the United States Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, which acknowledged 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
WHEREAS, The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, making access to abortion safe and legal, has greatly improved the health of women and families; and
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
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
WHEREAS, California recognizes the importance of Planned Parenthood as one of California’s largest providers of women’s preventive and reproductive health care services, operating 115 community-based health centers across the state, which provide more than 1.6 million patient visits a year; and
WHEREAS, Planned Parenthood provides comprehensive health care services to women and men, which may include well-woman examinations, birth control, testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections and HIV, pregnancy tests, life-saving cancer screenings, sex education, prenatal care, primary care services, 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, 500,000 breast examinations, 1.1 million pregnancy tests, 3.6 million provisions of birth control information and services, and 4.5 million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted illnesses (including HIV), to approximately 2.7 million patients, almost 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 health centers 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 because Planned Parenthood is often the only source of health care services for so many Californians; and
WHEREAS, Violence against abortion providers and laws that create barriers to abortion endanger the lives of both men and women; and
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
WHEREAS, The State of California stands in strong support of Roe v. Wade and the work of Planned Parenthood, and of women’s reproductive health, and respects the principle that each woman has a fundamental right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy; 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 care, including the services provided by Planned Parenthood and a woman’s fundamental right to control her own reproductive decisions, and to strongly 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.
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