California Planned Parenthood affiliates launched an alert to members of the state legislature, urging lawmakers to kill all pro-life measures, including amendments that would ban sex-selective abortions. The memo, dated June 12, stated that the Golden State is a “pro-choice state,” and amendments to restrict abortion would greatly threaten abortion access.
In the memo, affiliates said restrictions like sex-selective abortion bans, required ultrasounds, or regulations on abortion providers and drugs, “do not improve women’s health,” but limit access to reproductive care. Additional restrictions on abortion are meant to block women seeking “safe, legal abortions,” the memo said.
The alert was sent on behalf of over 110 Planned Parenthood locations in the state, and threatened lawmakers that any vote for pro-life legislation would be included on the PPAC Legislative Scorecard.
In May, the California Assembly Health Committee rejected a measure that would have eliminated the practice of “gender-cide” in the state. AB 2336, sponsored by Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, was voted down 13-6 on party lines. Although the number of pro-life citizen advocates outnumbered pro-choice proponents, Democrat committee members said eliminating the practice of sex-selective abortions would impose “too much of a burden to abortion access.”
“Despite how blue a state California has become in recent years, this vote was jaw-dropping to me and other pro-life advocates in California,” said Johnathan Keller of the California Family Council. “Our efforts to stop the push towards abortion-at-all-costs have been thwarted by the consistent mantra of needing to protect women.”
