California Democrats are ignoring questions about a state ballot measure that pro-life leaders say will legalize aborting unborn babies for any reason up to birth.
The state constitutional amendment, or Proposition 1, will be on the November ballot. Democrat lawmakers argued California needs to establish a “right” to abortion in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June.
But the lawmakers who championed the amendment have not been clear about exactly what it would do. Likely, the reason is because polls currently show support for the amendment and, if voters find out it would legalize abortions without limits up to birth, they would reject it.
As NPR reported this week, “… what exactly Californians are voting for isn’t totally clear. Some lawmakers say the amendment would merely enshrine abortion rights in the state, while others say the amendment would expand abortion[s].”
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The Democrat lawmakers who voted for the amendment are not answering questions about it either.
Here’s more from the report:
There were several awkward moments when Democrats were stumped by this question from Republicans — most notably when Assembly member Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) posed the question point-blank before the final Assembly vote in June.
“California law generally bars the performance of an abortion past the point of fetal viability,” Kiley said. “Would this constitutional amendment change that?”
The floor went quiet. For a full 30 seconds, no one said anything.
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon whispered with Democratic colleagues, asked to have the question repeated, and then promised to answer later.
He never did.
Voters deserve answers. A Rasmussen poll in August found only 13 percent of California voters think abortions should be legal for any reason up to birth. Significantly, the same poll found Californians support stronger restrictions on abortion than what the state currently has, with a full 65 percent saying abortions should be limited, at most, to the first three months of pregnancy.
National polls also consistently show strong public opposition to abortions in the third trimester.
Yet, because the amendment is unclear, polls show Californians supporting it. According to NPR, a recent UC Berkeley poll found 71 percent plan to vote for Proposition 1.
California currently allows abortions for any reason up to viability, about 24 weeks. But pro-life advocates – as well as some legal experts and abortion activists – say the amendment could allow abortions throughout pregnancy.
Mary Ziegler, law professor at the University of California-Davis, described the amendment as a kind of “blank slate” in an interview with the news outlet.
“It at least opens the door” to allowing abortions through all nine months of pregnancy, Ziegler confirmed.
California abortionist Pratima Gupta, who helped write the amendment, told NPR that they left out the word “viability” on purpose. Gupta asserted that abortions should be allowed whenever an abortion practitioner deems it necessary, including for financial reasons.
Meanwhile, pro-life leaders in California are working hard to warn voters about just how extreme the amendment is.
If it passes, pro-life leaders say California will become like North Korea and China where late-term abortions are legal even when the mother’s health is not in danger and the baby is viable and healthy.
“Proposition 1 is an extreme and costly proposal that does nothing to advance women’s health,” the California Family Council explains on its website. “Instead, it destroys precious human lives and wreaks havoc on families. It also punishes taxpayers and eliminates all limits on late-term abortions in defiance of what most voters want.”
The California Catholic Conference also is urging voters to reject Proposition 1, describing it as “the most egregious expansion of abortion this country has ever seen.”
“The sad reality is that California already has some of the most accommodating abortion laws and services in the nation,” the state Catholic bishops said in a statement. “And by providing extensive funding for abortion services without any corresponding equitable funding for pregnant women and mothers, the state exercises a destructive, coercive power in favor of ending innocent lives.”
Proposition 1 would add the following language to the California Constitution: “The state shall not deny or interfere with an individual’s reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives.”
California has the largest number of abortion facilities in the country at 168; New York is second with 89, according to a new ANSIRH study. A new law slated to go into effect next year will force all public colleges and universities to provide abortions on campus. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrat lawmakers also are working closely with the abortion industry to expand abortions in other ways.
State abortion facilities reported 132,680 abortions in 2017, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
