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California, explained
In summary
Proposition 1 is on the November ballot to shore up the rights we’re losing at the federal level and to reaffirm the idea that basic decisions about reproductive health care should lie with individuals, not government officials.
Cary Franklin, a constitutional lawyer, is the McDonald/Wright Chair of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the faculty director at the Center on Reproductive Health, Law and Policy.
The quest by anti-abortion lawmakers to strip pregnant people and their families of the power to make reproductive decisions and to give that power to the government leaves us all vulnerable—especially since the June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court threatens not only abortion rights, but all rights protected under the right to privacy.
It’s important for California to shore up the rights we’re losing at the federal level and to reaffirm the idea that basic decisions about reproductive health care should lie with individuals, not government officials.
That is why Proposition 1 is on the November ballot.
Prop. 1 will explicitly enshrine protections for abortion and contraception in the California Constitution. Protecting these rights by name will ensure that even in the face of any future political shifts in the state Legislature or state courts, a person’s fundamental right to abortion and to use or refuse contraception will be protected in California.
Let’s set the record straight on what the proposition does or doesn’t do. Prop. 1:
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After Prop. 1 passes, doctors will still be subject to the same medical licensing and professional ethics standards. The state Legislature will still be able to legislate where abortion and contraception are concerned.
We want to live in a state where pregnant people can safely access the health care they need, where doctors are able to practice medicine and help their patients without fear, and where individuals and not the government are entitled to make the most basic and fundamental decisions about our reproductive lives. That is what Prop. 1 secures for future generations.
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