23 minute read
California and America
After California and the Nation Roe v. Wade
IMANI RUPERT-GORDON: In the case of Dobbs v. Jackson, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and held that the Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion. This is the first time that the court has reversed itself to take away rights as opposed to expanding individual rights, which is certainly concerning.
We’re here today to discuss the impact on us here in California, and what Californians can be doing in this both historic and troubling moment. So we’re going to jump right in. Gilda, what was your reaction to this decision? GILDA GONZALES: A rolling thunder of different things. I think we are clear that as a result of the November 2016 presidential election, that this was the trajectory. One would say that we probably had four years to prepare ourselves. And then of course we had the leak [of the draft Dobbs decision] in May 2022, but nothing really prepares you for the actual moment.
There was some emotion. My husband gave me a hug and then I had to go to work. By
AFTER THE U.S. SUPREME COURT
struck down Roe v. Wade, a panel of experts discussed what’s next. From the June 28, 2022, program “The Future of Abortion Rights in California: A Gathering of Voices.” Produced in partnership with Women’s March San Francisco and funded by a grant from The California Wellness Foundation (Cal Wellness). SYLVIA GHAZARIAN, Executive Director, Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project GILDA GONZALES, CEO, Planned Parenthood Northern California BUFFY WICKS, California State Assemblymember (District 15) IMANI RUPERT-GORDON, Executive Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights—Moderator
Left to right: Imani Rupert-Gordon, Sylvia Ghazarian and Buffy Wicks (on-screen), and Gilda Gonzales.
7:20 a.m., we were on the phone. We had a script, we had a run of show. We had a prepared messaging of bad case scenario and worst case scenario. And we executed the worst case scenario plan. RUPERT-GORDON: I want to ask you if you could give us a brief overview about what this decision is going to mean for Planned Parenthood and the people that you serve in the Bay Area. GONZALES: So Planned Parenthood Northern California covers 20 counties. We’re based here in San Francisco, and we go all the way up to the Oregon border. We have 17 health centers throughout that footprint. We provide medication abortions at all of our health centers and select sites that have the in-clinic abortion offerings. So for us, what this means is we keep our doors open and if anything, we swing them even wider because we’re prepared to not only serve northern Californians, but anybody coming to us.
We already started seeing out-of-state patients after Texas’s SB 8 went into effect last September. [See sidebar.] We’ve already seen upwards of 80 patients, and we’ve never seen those kinds of numbers ever before from out-of-state patients. Most of them are from Texas, so we already kind of had the trial run of what this looks like. RUPERT-GORDON: What do you think the future holds for abortion rights here in California? I wanted to talk specifically about people from multiple underrepresented identities—people of color, low-income folks, LGBTQ folks, folks with disabilities. How are you thinking about that? GONZALES: I am so grateful for our sisters in the reproductive justice movement that started decades ago, who really called out the need for looking at reproductive freedom and rights in a holistic manner. The point of view of giving me the right to determine whether or not I want to bear a child, but I also have to be concerned about having housing. Do I have access to fresh fruits and vegetables? Do I have a sustainable living wage? That’s how we need to look at this movement—it’s multi-layered. For the patients that we serve, they have a lot of complexities going on.
What we see more than anything is behavioral health and mental health challenges, because we’ve all been through it and it’s been exacerbated. The strain and the stress of people, and specifically people with low incomes
What is Texas SB 8?
In September 2021, Texas lawmakers passed Senate Bill 8, which bans abortions as soon as embryonic cardiac activity can be detected, usually six weeks after a person’s last menstrual period. Most people don’t know they’re pregnant by this stage, so the law effectively bans most abortions, with no exceptions for pregnancies that result from rape, sexual abuse, incest or for pregnancies involving a fetal defect incompatible with life after birth. The bill also threatens punishment for anyone who knowingly “aids or abets” a person’s access to the procedure, including parents, partners, and primary care providers.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists called the move a clear attack on the practice of medicine. They said in a statement condemning the law, “By allowing third-party lawsuits against clinicians, by virtually banning all abortions, and by curtailing the sharing of information and support related to access to vital women’s health care, Texas’s new law creates a coercive environment for patients and clinicians across the spectrum of care and from all corners of the state.” —Corey Rose
—SYLVIA GHAZARIAN
—BUFFY WICKS
and people who already face disparities due to the economic and health-care disparities and the system that we’re all born into. RUPERT-GORDON: [There are] folks from other states where abortion is no longer legal and will be severely limited. How do you see this impacting your work? And what will it take for you to be able to welcome with open arms all the women and people that will need to come to California? GONZALES: The Planned Parenthood network is made up of 49 different affiliates across the country. We are very tight network. We have regular communication. I have seen firsthand one CEO’s look in the camera as we were all on Zoom, and it was unbelievable, the pain. The CEO could hardly talk about what was happening and turning patients away that morning and talking about how his staff worked until 11:59 and got in the last abortion until midnight. Our mission is to serve, and when we can’t do our mission it is painful, because we know people’s lives depend on us fulfilling our mission.
It’s bad and we’re seeing the real impact from other states and we’re leaning into our allyship and our strong federation and how we’re going to serve patients is with the assistance of abortion funds and other people stepping up and helping us care for these people who are coming to us and fleeing their home states to get care. RUPERT-GORDON: Assemblymember, we are going to turn to you. What was your reaction to that decision? Who were you immediately concerned for and why? BUFFY WICKS: I come to this as a [California State] Assemblymember. But more important, I come to this issue as a woman and as a mom of two young girls. That was my immediate gut reaction. I had an abortion when I was 25. I spoke about this yesterday on the floor of the Assembly, that I walked into a Planned Parenthood clinic in San Francisco and they welcomed me with open arms, information, respect, and love. And they helped me make a very important decision in my life. And it’s because of that decision that led me to the path that I’m on now, with two beautiful girls who are my everything with my husband. And I’m now a legislator, and it’s because I got to make that decision on my own on my own terms.
That’s what this is really about, our ability for body autonomy and the ability to make that decision. So I thought about the fact that that decision for between 33 to 36 million women and birthing people is now going to be robbed from them in this country. I thought about the fact that in September, I had a miscarriage and I needed an emergency C-procedure which would legally be allowed in many states, but in actuality there is a significant chilling effect on providers and others. RUPERT-GORDON: What do you think the future holds for abortion rights in California and how do you see a path forward? WICKS: We are fortunate to have the leadership of people like Gavin Newsom, our Senate pro-tem, our speaker, our legislature here in California, where we are making it very clear to the world that abortion is safe and legal in California, period, full stop. And we are putting a ballot measure on the ballot this year that every citizen can vote on and to say essentially the same thing.
We’re fortunate that we have that ability. But for many people, they’re not going to have that. I think about the fact that when I had a miscarriage, I got care and had the procedure within 12 hours. But if I lived in a state like Texas or somewhere else, am I going to get on an airplane when I was doubled over in pain and bleeding profusely? Am I going to drive 12 hours?
We have the ability here to send a message to the rest of the world, and we’re doing a number of things legislatively and constitutionally to ensure that our rights are protected here. RUPERT-GORDON: What can California government do to protect abortion rights
in California? How do you think we can provide an example and show some leadership that could work nationally? What are those specific policy and legislative solutions that you’re thinking [about]? WICKS: Last year, the Future of Abortion Council, which is a group of about I think 40 organizations or so [were] going out together and said, “OK, this thing’s coming. We have to expect Roe v. Wade to get overturned. What are we doing as a state to ensure that we are the reproductive freedom state for all?”
They issued a series of recommendations to lawmakers, and we distilled that into about 15 different bills that are currently going through the legislature as we speak. We expect all of them to pass and we expect all of them to be signed by the governor. There’s a bucket of legal protections, and I’m doing a bill, for instance, to ensure that pregnancy loss of any kind cannot be criminalized in California, whether you’re from here or you’re from another state.
Legal protections are important. There’s another bill that’s being run by one of my colleagues to ensure that privacy is protected if you’re coming from another state. So whether it’s a state authority or law enforcement, that privacy is protected here.
We have to prepare for data that says around 1.4 million people may be coming here to seek abortion care. Right now we do about 46,000 abortions in California, so we’re potentially going to have a 3,000 percent increase in folks seeking that care. And it not just impacts folks here in the states who need access to abortion care, but also those who need basic reproductive care as well.
So there’s a number of things we’re doing as a state. And fortunately, we have strong leadership here in Sacramento to really put our money where our mouth is and really stand for these values here in California. RUPERT-GORDON: California is a sanctuary state for abortion. Can you share what that means for those that don’t know? And then also because we’re a sanctuary state, what is California supposed to do in this particular moment? WICKS: I think we can be a model to the rest of the country. I know other states are following some of the work that we’re doing here. I think Vermont is doing a similar constitutional amendment that would go on the ballot. I know other legislatures across the country are considering other bills. And so while we have a group of states that have already banned abortion—12 to date, I believe, and I think we expect about 26—there’s a group of other states like ours who are saying, “If you need care, we are here for you.”
The role of your state legislature has never been more important than it is today. Especially ladies, if you’re ready to run for office, now is the time, because these state legislatures are the ones that are determining your life. That’s a message that needs to get out there in places like Ohio and Oklahoma and Texas, in a lot of these places. We need a revolution in these state legislatures, and we need it now. RUPERT-GORDON: What legislation is a top priority to pass right now? And why? WICKS: Most important is the constitutional amendment. We passed it off the floor of the Assembly yesterday with two thirds of the vote. It’s going to go to the ballot in November. You all have the opportunity to speak your values. I would encourage you to get involved in that effort to support and vote for that amendment when it hits the ballot in November.
It’s the strongest thing we can do to really enshrine this in the Constitution, and it [addresses] both access to safe and legal abortion and also access to contraception. I am very concerned [that] this is just the beginning for these right wing justices. This is just the beginning for the right wing in this country. We have to protect contraception and a whole bevy of other rights that are critical. SYLVIA GHAZARIAN: We continue to have deep concern for the communities and individuals affected by this concern about clinics, staff and doctors, as well as just anger, tears, sadness and disappointment.
Immediately, when the decision was read, the founder and president of WRRAP [Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project], Joyce Schorr, and myself were on the phone and we shed tears, because we had to at that time and it’s still pretty emotional, because the impact that we know this is having on so many. However, this decision has not stopped us and we always channel our energy to be sure we are taking care of those who need us most.
As reproductive justice leaders, we constantly adapt to devastating situations, and we always are making sure patients are safely navigated and funded through the clinics, hospitals and doctors that WRRAP works with. We are amplifying our work by continuing to engage communities, as well as with legislators in our ongoing fight for reproductive freedom. RUPERT-GORDON: Can you talk more about what your organization does, and how you think your work is going to be impacted by this Supreme Court decision? GHAZARIAN: The Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project is the largest national independent abortion fund, and we’ve been around for 31 years. Funny enough, we used to be able to say we were able to provide funding in all 50 states and DC. Well, obviously that has now changed. Our model is different from other abortion funds since we work directly with clinics, doctors and hospitals almost daily through our hotline to secure funding for the patients that they have at their clinics.
We have an amazing group of volunteers, and we return calls from clinics on a daily basis so that no patient ever has to wait to find out if they are going to be funded. We have a robust network of over 700-plus clinics, doctors and hospitals, including funding for Planned Parenthood, which I’m delighted is here on this panel today.
Our mission has always been to provide abortion funding and emergency contraception. I guess the biggest impact the Supreme Court decision will have, which continues to weigh heavily on us, is funding. We fundraise every day since we continue to prepare for the increased need to fund at higher amounts. And when I say that, you know, abortions that may have cost $500 could now cost $1,000 or $1,500.
With the current legislation that’s now out there with the fall of Roe, a lot of these individuals will be forced to have their pregnancy continue because of how this legislation has been written. We’re lucky that as an abortion fund we can work collectively with other abortion funds together to be sure that we take care of the immediate needs of patients through our outreach within our network so that no patient is left behind in terms of funding. RUPERT-GORDON: There’s going to be a need, obviously, for people to travel to California now for abortion services, and it has just increased exponentially. Will your fund cover travel costs needed for folks to travel to states when they’re coming from places that are now having restricted access to abortion? And then what can people do that need resources, that live in states where abortion is no longer possible? GHAZARIAN: WRRAP only provides funding for abortions and emergency contraceptives. However, we work with organizations within our network that provide that practical support for travel, gas, money, childcare, etc. So by working with the clin-
ics, we take care of that abortion funding, but also know that the clinic is reaching out to those individuals that may need to travel and have those expenses paid for.
Already this year, WRRAP has had to double its total funding for those seeking abortions to meet the needs, because the recipient’s costs, as I mentioned, have increased so much due to extra travel. We were up 24 percent last year in travel after SB 8 and were close to 35 to 40 percent now going through May. And that travel increase and the delays in accessing abortion all across the board increases the cost.
Since COVID first started, we started investing in funding patients through virtual clinics, for example, because the whole
country was on lockdown, and that’s an aspect of things that I want to highlight. We’re not going away. We’re going to continue funding and we’re going to find ways to do it. And we’ve also invested in providers offering the abortion pill by mail, and we pay for the pills, the provider, as well as shipping of those pills. We will continue to offer services as we can in terms of funding.
Our website is a great tool for those who have access to the Internet. It’s great also because people can communicate directly with us in the language they choose, and we can provide information back in that language. I’ll give you an example. Recently, in the last couple of weeks, we have had some patients reach out to us via email on our website asking us to help them and their funding at a specific clinic; and when our volunteers and I were looking at those clinics, we were saying to ourselves, I’ve never heard of this clinic, who is this?
And so on our website, too, we list fake clinics, meaning you can look up crisis pregnancy centers, which are fake clinics, and know that you are not going to a legitimate clinic that will provide you with the abortion care that you’re looking for. So we have helped in that process as well.
We look at people who don’t have Internet service or who can’t access through the computer or other means and know that since we started 31 years ago, we are in every community all the time.
We work with clinics and doctors and advocates, and we divvy out information on our abortion funding in all sorts of ways to reach as many people as possible, because we want them to know that we are here and we are here to fund, and we won’t stop doing
what we’re doing. RUPERT-GORDON: In the [Dobbs] decision, Justice Thomas offered a concurring opinion where he explicitly expressed that the court had a duty to correct some errors established in previous precedents. Specifically, he was talking about Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell, and that is the right to contraception, the right to private, intimate relationships and marriage equality. I want to ask you, why do you believe that the fight for reproductive justice has to be an inclusive and intersectional one? GHAZARIAN: Reproductive justice is deeply intersectional and heavily multi-issued with the ongoing issues of contraception, gun control, gender violence, marriage equality, immigrant and race issues. And I can go on and on and we could be here for hours. These issues are all intertwined, with oppression based on race, class and gender.
We all must keep in mind that the core components of reproductive justice include equal access to safe abortion, affordable contraceptives, and comprehensive sex education, as well as freedom from sexual violence. Specific to reproductive oppression, we see that criminalization of people who use drugs while pregnant, stillbirths, or even taking the abortion pill. RUPERT-GORDON: We’re starting to think about a national strategy. Why do you think that we are here in this moment? What did it take for us to get here? And what’s it going to take to get us out of it? GHAZARIAN: I gave all the credit to Ms. magazine, [which] yesterday put out an excellent article that really articulates why we are in this moment and five actions that people can take.
So the first one is declare a public health emergency, since abortion access is a public health emergency. The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate, more than any other developed country. No one should be forced or controlled to carry an unwanted or nonviable pregnancy that has detrimental effects not only on that person’s physical and mental health, but the huge repercussions economically that this individual will have to deal with.
The second thing they talked about was to combat disinformation and the stigma around abortion care, taking actions to provide accurate information about medical and surgical abortions. This is something that we in this movement have always talked about. We need to say the word abortion. We need to talk about abortions. We need to talk about our experiences, and we need to continue to share accurate information out there.
The third is ensuring that coverage of abortion care under Medicaid and private insur-
—GILDA GONZALEZ
“Justice Thomas . . . explicitly expressed that the court had a duty to correct some errors established in previous precedents. Specifically, he was talking about Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell, and that is the right to contraception, the right to private, intimate relationships and marriage equality.”
—IMANI RUPERT-GORDON
ance is done to the fullest extent allowed; and the fourth thing is to ensure that Medicaid is not further marginalizing abortion care and providers by restricting federal funds.
The final thing that they talk about—and each of these they’ve talked about in detail that I think that people can read on their own—but the final was providing resources to individuals seeking care as well as the provider and others. As pregnant people are forced to travel longer distances and funding allocations are needed to support these individuals’ abortion care funds, providers and others will be handling this influx in budget. So this is critical for us to continue on. WICKS: My hope coming out of this is this is going to be a big awakening for this nation and an awakening for people all across this country to say enough is enough, and body autonomy is important to us.
The silver lining will be people running for office all across the country with strong progressive values around protecting body autonomy and a progressive agenda across this country on a number of different issues. I do believe we can change this country. As Gilda said, it’s going to take one foot in front of the other. RUPERT-GORDON: Is there a plan to expand the number of Planned Parenthood clinics in Northern California? How do you anticipate the banning of abortions in some states? How do you anticipate the impact that’s going to have on young women under 18 years old? GONZALES: We were very fortunate to have launched a local campaign to build a new health center here in San Francisco, and we just opened that new health center last year in March 2022. It doubled our size and it will triple our capacity to see patients. It is a true investment that we have made for this moment, and we are expanding a footprint also in Napa, and we’re prepared to expand ours in some of our other locations here in the Inner Bay area. RUPERT-GORDON: Any thoughts about how this might affect young women and folks that are pregnant that are under 18? WICKS: I don’t know if you listened to “The Daily” [podcast] today, but they interviewed folks at four different clinics in different states [that] had already put forth a ban. They asked a woman who was a receptionist at one of the clinics to recount the most compelling story that you heard today, because she had to call 60 different patients to tell them they couldn’t perform abortions.
She said one call was of a grandmother who had a 14-year-old granddaughter who had been raped and they had to cancel her abortion. And when you think about the horror of that for younger people in particular and what this means and some of the situations that they find themselves in and the fact that in many parts of this country, they don’t have access to care that they so desperately need. At such a young age, it is truly infuriating. It’s absolutely infuriating. It makes the work that we’re doing here all the more important.
Many young people will be impacted severely, and also young people of color in particular, who will disproportionately be impacted. If you’re in one of these states, if you’re white, chances are you make more money because of the inequities in our economic system that we have in this country and you can get on an airplane. Disproportionately, people of color are going to have a more challenging time there. So the racial inequities, I think, are severe with this, as well as the fact that for a lot of these young people, it’s going to be very difficult. RUPERT-GORDON: We have just a few minutes left, and I wanted to make sure that we get a chance for you all to share a final word. GONZALES: Abortionfinder.org. WICKS: I think it’s a crime. Get mad and then fight like hell. Our nation depends on it. And women and birthing people across this country depend on our action. GHAZARIAN: I’d like to sort of end with testimonials that we have recently received from an individual, a patient from a clinic that kind of encompasses everything that we’ve talked about today. And this individual said:
I have been extremely sick beyond morning sickness. I have not been able to hold down food or water. I have been sick day and night through all that I have been going through.
I have no choice but to work. I told my employer about my situation. Instead of them being understanding, they treated me as if I was lazy and terminated me. I have no support in any shape or form. Well, until now, thank you so much. I was absolutely completely blown away by your donation.
And this is somebody who had no financial means. Eighty-three percent of those individuals that we fund, their partner has abandoned them, and 74 percent have one or two children already. We were grateful enough to have the funding donations that we needed to support this person in full.
