DATE: MAY 24, 2022
DEPARTMENT: CITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
FROM: CHRISTOPHER A. CALLIHAN, CITY ATTORNEY
TITLE: RESOLUTION AFFIRMING SUPPORT OF REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM RECOMMENDED MOTION:
A motion to approve a Resolution affirming the City of Salinas’s support of reproductive freedom.
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the City Council consider the Resolution.
BACKGROUND:
The proposed Resolution is brought forward to the City Council at the request of Council member González with the support of several other Council members, including Council members Rocha and Barrera.
On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court announced its decision in Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 959), a constitutional challenge to a Texas statute that criminalized the termination of a pregnancy unless a woman’s life was at stake. The case had been filed by “Jane Roe,” an unmarried woman who wanted to end her pregnancy safely and legally. Finding that Ms. Roe’s constitutional rights has been violated, the Court struck down the Texas law. In its decision, the Court recognized the constitutional right to privacy “…is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” (Roe v. Wade (1973) 410 U.S. 113, 153.) Roe v. Wade has come to be known as the case that affirmed the constitutional right across the country for a woman to choose an abortion and have control over her own body. At the time the decision was handed down, may states outlawed abortion. This decision rendered those laws unconstitutional, making abortion services safer and more accessible to women across the country.
On September 9, 2021, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit to prevent the State of Texas from enforcing Senate Bill 8, which went into effect on September 1, 2021. Senate Bill 8 is unusual in its structure and the manner in which it operates as a restriction on the right of a woman to determine whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. Instead of criminalizing an abortion after six-weeks, Senate Bill 8 deputizes private citizens to sue anyone who “aids or abets” the provision of such an abortion, with successful plaintiffs receiving a minimum of $10,000. The complaint seeks a declaratory judgment that Senate Bill 8 is invalid under the Supremacy Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment, is preempted by federal law, and violates the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity. The Department of Justice also seeks an order, preliminary or permanently, prohibiting the State of Texas, including its officers, employees, and agents, as well as private parties who would bring suit under the law, from implementing or enforcing Senate Bill 8. More states are expected to following Texas and restrict abortion access, forcing those with means to travel to states where abortion remains legal and forcing those without means to travel to make less safe decisions regarding the termination of their pregnancies.
The United States Supreme Court developed a draft majority opinion in this case that was leaked to the public in May 2022 and which spelled out an explicit intent to overturn Roe v. Wade and a related case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which would make abortion federally illegal.
CEQA CONSIDERATION:
Not a Project. The City of Salinas has determined that the proposed action is not a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (CEQA Guidelines Section 15378).
STRATEGIC PLAN INITIATIVE:
This item relates to the City Council’s Strategic Goal of providing effective and culturally responsive government.
DEPARTMENTAL COORDINATION:
The City Attorney’s Office coordinated with Council member González on this Report and Resolution.
FISCAL AND SUSTAINABILITY IMPACT:
There are no fiscal impacts associated with the proposed Resolution.
ATTACHMENTS:
Resolution
RESOLUTION NO. (N.C.S.)
A RESOLUTION AFFIRMING THE CITY OF SALINAS’S SUPPORT OF REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM WHEREAS, in 1972, the people of California amended Article I §1 of the California Constitution to make the right of privacy inalienable; and WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court acknowledged in its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that the ability to make a private medical decision impacting one’s own reproductive health is a constitutionally protected right; and WHEREAS, prior to 1973, women faced significant obstacles to safe reproductive health services, resulting in widespread loss of life and serious illness; and WHEREAS, the legalization of abortion in the United States led to safer practices and drastically reduced the incidences of material deaths and hospitalizations related to abortion; Roe v. Wade recognized women’s freedom of reproductive choice as essential to the lives, rights, health, and equality of women; and WHEREAS, in 2002, California enacted the Reproductive Privacy Act, which prevents the State from interfering with the right to choose between carrying a pregnancy to term; and WHEREAS, in 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom issued the California Proclamation on Reproductive Freedom to educate Californians on their reproductive rights under the state constitution and laws an affirm California’s commitment to reproductive freedom; and WHEREAS, in August 2021 the United States Supreme Court failed to uphold the precedent set in Roe v. Wade and allowed Texas to enact Senate Bill 8 which operates to restrict women’s reproductive rights; and WHEREAS, the right to safe, legal, and accessible abortion continues to be undermined by other states that have signaled they are going to enact similar laws threatening the health and safety of women’s lives, including the most marginalized women and women of color; and WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court developed a draft majority opinion in support of Texas’s law that was leaked to the public in May 2022 which spelled out an explicit intent to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which would make abortion federally illegal; and WHEREAS, prohibitions on the right to freely exercise reproductive freedoms are harmful to public health and safety and are contrary to the values of the people of Salinas; and WHEREAS, such restrictions on the rights of women to make their own reproductive choices will force those with means to travel to states where abortion remains legal and will force those without means to travel to make less safe decisions regarding the termination of their pregnancies; and WHEREAS, logistical barriers including, for example, travel costs and distance to clinics, lodging needs and costs, limited access to translation services, lost waged, and lack of paid time off for health care appointments can all delay or prohibit abortion care; and WHEREAS, passage of these laws disproportionately impacts women, undocumented people, young people, those living in rural areas where hospitals have closed, Black, Latinx, indigenous, and other people of color.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF SALINAS that the Salinas City Council affirms its commitment to the human rights afforded to all women under Roe v. Wade, regardless of socioeconomic, ethnic, racial, cultural, or religious background, age or sexual orientation, and to opposing any laws or regulations that pose a threat to reproductive freedom, reproductive rights, sexual freedom, and/or self-determination.
PASSED AND APPROVED this 24th day of May 2022, by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
APPROVED:
_______________________
Kimbley Craig, Mayor
ATTEST:
_________________________
Patricia M. Barajas, City Clerk
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