BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SJR 19
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 3, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Jim Wood, Chair
SJR
19 (Jackson) - As Amended January 12, 2016
SENATE VOTE: 25-12
SUBJECT: Women's reproductive health.
SUMMARY: 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 make her
own reproductive decisions, and to strongly oppose efforts to
eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Specifically,
this resolution:
1)Makes various statements relating to the importance of the
Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade and women's reproductive
health, including, among other things, that:
a) January 22, 2016, marks the anniversary of the U.S.
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
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deserves recognition;
b) 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
c) 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.
2)Makes various statements relating to the importance of the
services provided by Planned Parenthood to Californians,
including, among other things, that:
a) California recognizes the importance of Planned
Parenthood as one of this State'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;
b) 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,
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c) 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 many
Californians.
3)States that violence against abortion providers and laws that
create barriers to abortion endanger the lives of both men and
women and would set forth statistics on the rise in threats of
harassment, intimidation, and violence against women's health
clinics, including a specific reference to a recent attack on
a Planned Parenthood clinic on November 27, 2015.
4)States that the State of California stands in strong support
of Roe v. Wade and the work of Planned Parenthood, of women's
reproductive health, and respects the principle that each
woman has a fundamental right to make decisions regarding her
pregnancy.
5)Urges the President 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.
EXISTING STATE LAW establishes the California Reproductive
Privacy Act, which prohibits the state from denying or
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interfering with a women's right to choose or obtain an abortion
prior to viability of the fetus, or when the abortion is
necessary to protect the life or health of the woman, and makes
legislative findings and declarations that every individual
possesses a fundamental right of privacy with respect to
personal reproductive decisions, and that every woman has the
fundamental right to choose to bear a child or to choose and to
obtain an abortion, as specified.
EXISTING FEDERAL LAW prohibits federal Medicaid (Medi-Cal in
California) dollars from being spent on abortion services except
in extraordinary circumstances, such as when the woman's life is
in danger, or in cases of rape or incest.
FISCAL EFFECT: None.
COMMENTS:
1)PURPOSE OF THIS RESOLUTION. According to the author, this
resolution reaffirms that 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.
2)BACKGROUND.
a) Roe v. Wade. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), is a
landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the
issue of abortion. Decided simultaneously with a companion
case, Doe v. Bolton, the Court ruled seven to two that a
right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th
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Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an
abortion, but that right must be balanced against the
state's two legitimate interests in regulating abortions:
protecting prenatal life and protecting women's health.
Arguing that these state interests became stronger over the
course of a pregnancy, the Court resolved this balancing
test by tying state regulation of abortion to the trimester
of pregnancy. This Legislature has on numerous occasions
adopted resolutions urging the President and Congress to
reaffirm the intent and substance of that decision.
b) Planned Parenthood in the news. Starting in July of
last year, Planned Parenthood, a non-profit organization
that provides reproductive health care services throughout
the U.S. through a network of affiliated clinics, was
prominently featured in the national news cycle after the
release of controversial videos purporting to show that
Planned Parenthood illegally sold fetal tissue for profit.
Planned Parenthood has denied those accusations and several
state investigations have turned up no wrongdoing on the
part of the organization.
In the fall of 2015, news outlets reported that a Planned
Parenthood facility in Thousand Oaks, California suffered
an arson attack after a window was smashed and gasoline was
splashed inside and ignited. On November 27, 2015,
according to reports, a man armed with an assault-style
rifle gun opened fire at a Planned Parenthood center in
Colorado Springs, Colorado, ultimately killing three
people, including a police officer and two civilians, and
wounding nine others before he finally surrendered five
hours later.
c) Medicaid funding. Ten states have taken action or
recently passed legislation to cut off Medicaid funding to
Planned Parenthood: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida,
Louisiana, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and
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Wisconsin. On April 19, 2016, the Obama Administration
warned officials in all 50 states that actions to end
Medicaid funding of Planned Parenthood may be out of
compliance with federal law. A letter from the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services is being sent to all state
Medicaid offices to clarify that terminating certain
providers from Medicaid is only justifiable if those
providers are unable to perform covered medical services or
can't bill for those services. The guidance emphasizes
that states cannot target providers for impermissible
reasons and are required to treat similar types of provider
equitably.
3)SUPPORT. Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California (PPAC)
is the sponsor of this resolution and states that the ruling
in Roe v. Wade cemented the right for women to control their
own reproductive lives and eliminated the need for women to
receive unsafe, illegal abortion procedures. PPAC notes
Planned Parenthood health centers play a substantial role in
delivering reproductive health care services to over a million
Californians each year, as well as an array of services
including well-woman exams, birth control, testing and
treatment of sexually transmitted infections and HIV,
pregnancy tests, life-saving cancer screenings, prenatal care,
sex education, primary care services, and in some locations,
abortion services.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME) states it stands firmly in support of all who utilize
PPAC's health care services, and that for many low-income
Americans, Planned Parenthood is their only choice; they rely
on receiving the safe and nonjudgmental health care services
provided by Planned Parenthood for their overall well-being
and health. AFSCME concludes it will always defend the rights
of women, regardless of age, income, or life choices, to have
access to these services.
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4)OPPOSITION. The California Right to Life Committee (CRLC),
Inc., opposes this resolution stating that most Planned
Parenthood centers are located in communities of color where
low income women live and which would appear to be for
racially connected purposes. CRLC contends that abortion
services are a major portion of Planned Parenthood
reproductive services in the United States and that 323,999
abortions were done in 2014, half of which could have been
female babies. CRLC concludes that tax payers should demand
that no more monies go to further the horror story of the
dismemberment and torture of pre-born babies.
5)PREVIOUS LEGISLATION.
a) SR 55 (Jackson) adopted by the California State Senate
on June 14, 2013, made various statements relating to
women's reproductive health and the recent U.S. Supreme
Court decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, Inc. (2014). This
measure declared the Senate's recognition of the critical
importance of a continued commitment to reproductive health
care and access and urged the U.S. Senate to reconsider and
approve Senate Bill 2578, referred to as the "Not My Boss's
Business Act," which would prevent employers from denying
coverage of contraceptives regardless of their religious
views. SR 55 also declared that the California State
Senate reaffirms the decision of Roe v. Wade (1973).
b) SR 10 (Jackson) adopted by the California State Senate
on April 8, 2013 memorialized that on the 40th anniversary
of the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade, the
California State Senate recognizes the critical importance
of continued access to safe and legal abortion, and urges
Congress and the President to protect and uphold the intent
and substance of that decision. SR 10 also made various
statements regarding the effect of Roe v. Wade on women's
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ability to exercise their full rights under federal and
state law.
c) SJR 19 (Alquist, Figueroa, Kehoe) of 2005 was a similar
resolution to SR 10; it was referred to the Senate
Judiciary Committee but not set for hearing.
d) AJR 3 (Cohn and Karnette), Resolution Chapter 83,
Statutes of 2005, was almost identical to SJR 19.
e) AJR 57 (Jackson) Resolution. Chapter 50, Statutes of
2004 was almost identical to AJR 3.
f) AJR 2 (Jackson), Resolution Chapter 63, Statutes of
2003, was almost identical to AJR 57.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California (sponsor)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO
Community Action Fund of Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood Action Fund of the Pacific Southwest
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Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Santa Barbara, Ventura & San
Luis Obispo counties
Planned Parenthood Advocacy Project Los Angeles County
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte
Opposition
California Right to Life Committee, Inc.
Analysis Prepared by:Lara Flynn / HEALTH / (916)
319-2097