PD Endorsement: Prop. 1 safeguards the right to choose

As soon as the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, legislators in at least a dozen states scrambled to restrict — and even rescind — women’s reproductive rights.

California lawmakers, in contrast, took steps to enshrine a right to an abortion and contraception in the state constitution. Voters can ratify the reproductive rights amendment by approving Proposition 1 on the Nov. 8 ballot.

There isn’t a lot of doubt about the outcome. In a poll before the Supreme Court ruling, 77% of California adults supported abortion rights. In a poll conducted after the ruling, 71% of voters said they would vote for Proposition 1.

Because of California’s existing laws, some may see Proposition 1 as mostly symbolic.

However, approval would ensure that only the voters — not judges or politicians — could alter abortion and contraception rights in California.

There is no immediate threat to reproductive freedom in California, a state that legalized abortion in 1967, six years before the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Constitution protected the right to terminate a pregnancy.

But the court’s reversal, engineered by justices who had professed respect for established precedent and described Roe as settled law during their Senate confirmation hearings, is an invitation for politicians to insert themselves in decisions that should be made by individuals and their health care providers.

From Boise to Tallahassee, politicians are doing just that. This week, Sen. Lindsey Graham proposed a national ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Meanwhile, many employers have started paying for travel or offering other assistance for employees in states that restrict reproductive freedom.

A pro-choice vote in deep blue California won’t surprise anyone, but combined with a lopsided vote last month in reliably red Kansas it will reinforce the fact that most Americans — men and women, Democrats and Republicans — favor abortion rights.

They believe, as we do, that abortion ought to be safe, legal and rare.

Abortion opponents would have you believe that the number of abortions has skyrocketed since Roe. Not true. They also imply that abortions are routinely performed in the final stages of pregnancy — doctors, as Donald Trump put it during a 2016 debate, “rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby.” Again, not true.

The number of abortions in the United States peaked at 1.5 million in 1991 and declined steadily to 860,000 in 2017, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research group that supports abortion rights.

In 2020, the most recent year for which data is available, the number climbed to 930,000. Yet the abortion rate in 2020 — 14.4 per 1,000 women of childbearing age — was still lower than it was in 1973, the year Roe was decided (16.3).

Two-thirds of abortions take place during the first eight weeks of pregnancy and 88% in the first 12 weeks. Just 1.3% occur after 20 weeks. Roe didn’t protect late-term abortions, and most states, including California, prohibit them except to protect the life or health of the mother.

Opponents of Proposition 1, including anti-abortion and faith-based groups, contend that it is unnecessary and could override existing law, including the ban on late-term abortions. Proponents say it will not affect the current law or handcuff legislators — a stance that aligns with other constitutional amendments.

Proposition 1 is on the Nov. 8 ballot because the Supreme Court created uncertainty about fundamental rights that the vast majority of Californians value. The Press Democrat recommends a yes vote.

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