Californians Will Vote On Enshrining Abortion Rights In State Constitution

Just days after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the federal abortion protections of Roe v. Wade, California legislators approved a measure that will allow voters to decide whether to codify abortion rights in their state constitution. 

On Monday, the majority-Democrat state legislature passed Senate Constitutional Amendment 10, which  will ask voters in November whether the state’s Constitution should protect the right to abortion as well as access to contraceptives. 

Californians will vote on the amendment on Nov. 8. Polls have shown that large majorities of voters in the state support abortion access. 

“We know from history that abortion bans don’t end abortion ,” state Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, a co-author of the measure, told the Los Angeles Times. “They only outlaw safe abortions. We must preserve the fundamental reproductive rights of women here in California, because they are under attack elsewhere.”

After the leaked draft opinion in May showed the Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) declared that “women will remain protected here .” 

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling Friday striking down federal abortion protections, Newsom signed legislation making California a “safe haven” for those seeking abortions , protecting care providers in California from liability when caring for out-of-state abortion patients.