Warning of a possible dark future if California fails to enshrine the right to abortion in its constitution, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton traveled to a San Francisco Planned Parenthood on Thursday to show her support for Proposition 1.
Speaking to a room of about 100 hot-pink-clad supporters, legislators and members of the media, Clinton told cautionary tales of repressive reproductive laws she witnessed in other countries during her time as U.S. secretary of state. She implored Californians not to give into apathy in the upcoming midterm elections and stressed the importance of voting for Prop. 1 — even though California is a decidedly blue, pro-choice state with several abortion protections already in place.
“How many women have to die or be terribly mistreated in order to change these laws that are so Draconian?” asked Clinton, who became the first woman to win the presidential nomination from a major U.S. political party in 2016.
Sitting in front of a digital screen projecting a blue-and-pink “Protect abortion rights, Yes on 1” advertisement, Clinton was moderating a panel that included California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California President & CEO Jodi Hicks. Other prominent figures, including San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu; Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco; Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland; and Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, showed their support from the front row.
Prop. 1 is part of the Democratic pushback against the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade earlier this year, undoing 50 years of abortion rights. The move led 13 states to ban the procedure — with more likely to come — though it remains legal in California.
The California constitution already protects the right to privacy — which has been interpreted to cover abortion — and the state’s 2002 Reproductive Privacy Act also guarantee’s a woman’s right to choose. But Prop. 1 asks Californians to declare their support for abortion rights by formally enshrining it in the state constitution.
Supporters of the ballot measure had raised nearly $9.2 million as of the end of September, while opponents had raised just shy of $70,000, according to the California Secretary of State. But Clinton warned it’s not a foregone conclusion that Prop. 1 will pass.
“Will it win? Yeah, most likely, if people open their ballots sitting on their kitchen counters, it will win,” Clinton said. “In California you get delivered a ballot and thank goodness you do, but it does no good if people don’t open it up and actually fill it out. There has to be more energy, more visibility and excitement about the opportunity to vote.”
Only about 45% of Californians even know abortion rights will be on the ballot next month, which is why Clinton’s message is so important, Kounalakis said.
Having a right to privacy in the state constitution is no longer enough — without the federal backstop of Roe v. Wade, abortion rights are at risk, Hicks said.
“We cannot take anything for granted,” she said. “So if we don’t do everything we can, including shoring up our own constitution in our state, then shame on us. Because we are now without that backstop. We are one election away from losing our rights every single time in every election, no matter where you live. You can’t say we’re in California, we’re fine.”
Timmaraju agreed, pointing out that Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has filed a bill that would ban abortions nationwide after 15 weeks.
“If that happens and you haven’t passed Prop. 1, it’s devastation for your state,” she said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislators also have taken steps to protect access to abortion. Newsom signed SB 245 into law, which eliminates out-of-pocket costs for abortion-related services — essentially making the procedure free starting next year for patients with health insurance.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood is expanding staff and services in California to handle a surge of patients from states where abortions have been banned or restricted.
Clinton on Thursday talked about going to other countries while serving as secretary of state under President Barack Obama and seeing “very intrusive” reproductive policies — from the one-child policy in China to Romania’s practice in the 1980s of mandating women to have five children. The government used secret police to follow women and required physical exams at workplaces to determine if a woman was pregnant, she said.
Clinton also referenced the story of Dr. Savita Halappanavar, a woman living in Ireland who died in 2012 from an infection after being denied an abortion during a miscarriage. Her death spurred the call to action that eventually led Irish voters to repeal the country’s abortion ban six years later.
Those types of preventable deaths are the “very sad” future that all of us fear, Clinton said. Eventually, as more women die or suffer injuries after being denied abortions, the backlash will intensify and the pendulum will swing toward abortion rights, she said.
“We’re going to have to get through this really dark period,” Clinton said, “before enough actual cases spark that kind of reaction nationally that is required.”
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