Activism

California Nov Ballot ’22: Prop 1 Aims to Amend State Constitution to Protect Abortion Rights

“When we talk about maternal mortality, we aren’t even talking about the 50,000 near misses, [the women of all races who had] serious pregnancy-related complications, like a hemorrhage, an infection, a C-section wound coming apart,” McLemore continued. “We’re not talking about people like Serena Williams and Beyonce who live but had trauma. Black women are less likely to be believed by their health care providers, and they are undertreated and under-diagnosed.”

Published

2 years ago

November 6, 2022

Oakland Post

Prop 1 is on the November 8, 2022, General Election Ballot.

By Edward Henderson | California Black Media

California voters are being asked to decide on whether or not language in the California Constitution should be changed to explicitly ensure the right to reproductive health.

Proposition 1, proposed by Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), amends the California Constitution to prohibit the state from interfering with one’s right to choose to have an abortion or refuse contraceptives.

The Reproductive Privacy Act passed in 2002 guarantees these protections, however Prop 1 supporters are concerned that the act could be interpreted in a way that would put them at risk of misinterpretation and new limitations could be placed on reproductive freedom.

If Prop 1 fails to pass, the Constitution won’t change and the Reproductive Privacy Act would continue to guarantee one’s right to an abortion up to the point of viability.

According to Akins, “[Proposition 1] would make it undeniably clear that in California, abortion and contraception are health care and are a private matter between a patient and their medical provider.

Before the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 22, Akins said: “We are on the precipice of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that could topple Roe v. Wade and erode the right to abortion that was secured nearly 50 years ago — altering reproductive freedom in America as we know it.

“I have seen what is at stake when people don’t have access to abortion—the real lives and real families that are at risk. In California, we are resolute in our determination to protect women and families, no matter who happens to be wielding power at the federal level,” she continued.

Current state law places some restrictions on abortions. California courts have interpreted the right to privacy so that the state can only restrict abortions when needed to meet certain state interests such as public health and safety. For example, California law requires abortion providers to be licensed.

Abortions can only be performed on a viable fetus if the pregnancy puts the health or life of the person who is pregnant at risk. Under state law, a fetus is considered viable if the fetus likely would be able to survive outside the uterus.

Failure to expand Constitutional language could shift the grounds for physicians to deny reproductive freedom affecting Black Women, some experts say.

Monica McLemore, an associate professor at the University of California San Francisco School of Nursing, told Bloomberg.com about the distrust and negative experiences Black women have when it comes to medical professionals.

“The health system we have in the U.S. isn’t functioning well for Black and Brown communities. But it’s a more nuanced discussion; there are a whole lot of other things that can go wrong than just death,” she said.

Opponents of Prop 1 believe that it is unnecessary and written so broadly that it could face years of protracted court battles to clear up the language, costing the state millions of dollars in legal fees. They raise particular concern that the measure would override state regulations that now limit abortions after the point when a fetus is viable on its own outside of the womb, at about 24 weeks of pregnancy. These late-term abortions are currently only legal if the health or life of the mother is threatened.

Catherine Hadro, media relations director for the No on Proposition 1 Campaign, spoke with California Black Media about the cost that could come from it.

“Everyone knows that abortion is and will remain legal in the state of California. The California Legislature has already set aside $220 million to expand abortion access in the state of California. Twenty million of (those dollars) is specifically to pay for women coming from out of state into California to get abortions.

“The California Legislature has said they expect it’s going to cost an additional $100 million within the next five years to pay for women coming into California for abortion. This is only going to increase and cost California taxpayers even more if abortion is legalized up till the point of birth … This is just another example of politicians throwing money at another problem that does not exist.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom has begun airing ads supporting Prop 1 using least $2 million of his own campaign funds to pay for them.

“Fundamental freedoms are vanishing. Women are under attack. This November, we say NOT here. Prop 1 will enshrine reproductive rights in the CA constitution,” Newsom says in the ad.

Prop 1 is on the November 8, 2022, General Election Ballot.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

OP-ED: Sheng Thao, the Leader Oakland Needs as its Next Mayor

Don't Miss

NAACP Convention in L.A. Addresses Racial Scandal Consuming Host City

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

‘Respect Our Vote’ Mass Meeting Rejects Oakland, Alameda County Recalls

The mass meeting, attended mostly by members of local Asian American communities, was held in a large banquet room in a Chinese restaurant in Alameda. The Respect Our Vote (ROV) coalition, consisting of concerned community members and groups, is organizing meetings in Oakland and around Alameda County leading up to the November election.

Published

1 week ago

September 28, 2024

Oakland Post

Some of the leaders who spoke at the Respect Our Vote – No Recalls!” mass meeting were (left to right): Elaine Peng, Mariano Contreras, Pastor Servant B.K. Woodson, and Stewart Chen. Photo by Ken Epstein.

By Ken Epstein

A recently organized coalition, “Respect Our Vote – No Recalls!,” held a standing-room only mass meeting on Sept. 14, urging residents to vote ‘No’ on the two East Bay recalls funded by conservative billionaires and millionaires with the help of corporate media and instead to support the campaign to protect residents’ democratic right to choose their representatives.

The mass meeting, attended mostly by members of local Asian American communities, was held in a large banquet room in a Chinese restaurant in Alameda.

The Respect Our Vote (ROV) coalition, consisting of concerned community members and groups, is organizing meetings in Oakland and around Alameda County leading up to the November election.

Speaking at the meeting, prominent East Bay leader Stewart Chen said that local leaders, like Alameda County D.A. Pamela Price and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, worked hard to get elected, and our system says they get four years to carry out their policies and campaign promises. But rich people have “broken” that system.

Within two months after they took office, they were facing recalls paid for by billionaires, he said. “(Billionaires’) candidate did not get elected, so they want to change the system.”

“(Our elected leaders) were elected through the process, and the people spoke,” said Chen. “It’s the entire system that the billionaires are trying to (overturn).”

“If a candidate does something wrong or enacts a policy that we do not like, we let it play out, and in four years, we do not have to vote for them.

“The democratic system that we have had in place for a couple of hundred years, it needs our help,” said Chen.

Pastor Servant B.K. Woodson, a leader of the coalition, emphasized the diversity and solidarity needed to defend democracy. “We need each other’s wisdom to make our nation great, to make it safe. We are deliberately African American, English-speaking, Latino American, Spanish-speaking, and all the wonderful dialects in the Asian communities. We want to be together, grow together, and have a good world together.”

Mariano Contreras of the Latino Task Force said that people need to understand what is at stake now.

The recall leaders are connected to conservative forces that will undermine public education, and bilingual education, he said. “The people behind (the recalls) are being used by outside dark money,” he said. The spokespeople of these recalls are themselves conservatives “who are wearing a mask that says they are progressives.”

In 2017, Oakland passed an ordinance that gave teeth to its “Sanctuary City” policy, which was brought to the City Council and passed because it was supported by progressive members on the council.

“That would not be possible anymore if the progressive alliance – Sheng Thao, Nikki Fortunato Bas, and Carroll Fife – if they are pushed out,” he said.

Elaine Peng, president of Asian Americans for Progressive America, said, “I strongly oppose the recalls of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price.”

Citing statistics, she said Alameda County’s murder rate was higher when Alameda County D.A. Nancy O’Malley was in office, before Pamela Price was elected to that position.

“The recall campaign has been misleading the public,” said Peng.

She said Oakland is making progress under Thao. “Crime rates are falling in Oakland,” and the City is building more affordable housing than ever before and is creating more jobs.

Attorney Victor Ochoa said, this recall is “not by accident in Oakland – it is a political strategy.”

“There is a strategy that has been launched nationwide. What we’re seeing is oligarchs, (such as Phillip Dreyfuss from Piedmont), right wingers, conservatives, who can write a check for $400,000 like some of us can write a check for $10.”

“They aligned themselves with so-called moderate forces, but they’re not moderates. They align themselves with the money, and that’s what we have seen in Oakland.”

Ochoa continued, “You got to put up signs, you’ve got to talk to your neighbors, volunteer whatever hours you can, have a house meeting. That’s the way progressives win.”

Pecolia Manigo of Oakland Rising Action spoke about what it will take to defeat the recalls. “This is the time when you are not only deputized to go out and do outreach, we need to make sure that people actually vote.

“We need everyone to vote not just for the president, but all the way down the ballot to where these questions will be. Remind people to fill out their ballot, and mail it back.”

Former Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who had herself faced a recall attempt, said, “In this recall, they used a lot of money, had paid signature gatherers, and they moved very fast. I talked to many of the people gathering signatures. They didn’t know what was going on. Many of them didn’t live in Oakland. It was just money for them.”

“Sam Singer, the guy who is their spokesperson, is a paid PR guy. He has media ties, so they’ve swamped the media against Sheng,” Quan said.

‘Oakland is… a city that implemented some of the first rent control protections in the country. So, developers and big apartment owners would love to get rid of rent control,” said Quan.

“We also established ranked-choice voting, which allows people with less money to coalesce and win elections,” she said. “That’s too democratic for people with big money. They would rather have elections the way they were.”