The Inland Empire will absorb Arizonan abortion seekers if the Supreme Court changes the point at which abortions are constitutionally protected, Planned Parenthood of Orange & San Bernardino Counties says. The healthcare provider is ramping up its capacity to manage the influx without slowing down abortion services for local residents.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Mississippi case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Dec. 1. The Mississippi law under review prohibits abortions after 15 weeks, although the Supreme Court has said since the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that abortions become unconstitutional after 24 weeks of pregnancy. The court in 1973 limited constitutionality at 24 weeks because the fetus has the capability of living outside the womb at that point of gestation.
If the Supreme Court changes the point at which abortions are constitutional, states can individually change their laws to limit abortion past that point or not.
Instead of voicing a possible change in the state’s abortion laws following the Supreme Court decision, California legislatures are signaling that the state will become a sanctuary for abortion seekers across the nation.
More visitors
The Inland Empire will see more abortion seekers from out of state, according to Nichole Ramirez, Planned Parenthood of Orange & San Bernardino Counties senior vice president of communications and donor relations.
Although those with money are likely to fly into Los Angeles, others may drive from Arizona into the Inland Empire, said Ramirez.
Planned Parenthood has been ramping up operations and hiring staff at its three San Bernardino clinics in anticipation of the increase, said Ramirez.
“Residents of California and other states that are expected to preserve abortion access may also face long distances to obtain timely care, due to overcrowding at their local clinics,” a brief from the California Women’s Law Center read.
Neighbors
Twenty-six states have considered restricting abortions already, said Ramirez, affecting 36 million people at reproductive range.
Ramirez expects 2,000 more patients each year at the clinics, mostly from Arizona.
Currently, 7,000 out-of-state abortion seekers come to California, said Ramirez.
“It’s scary, it’s upsetting, and we want the community to know we’re going to be there for them and fight for their rights,” Ramirez said.
Arizona has a ban on abortion already in place; the penalty on paper for providing abortions is two to five years in prison. It has not been enforced since Roe v. Wade. In April, an Arizonan legislator tried to make abortions a Class 3 felony if performed after the fetus has an audible heartbeat, by gutting a bill about license-plate design and replacing the text, but the bill went nowhere after her changes.
Arizona would send at most 1.3 million women to obtain abortions in California, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
San Bernardino County’s other neighbor, Nevada, enshrined abortion rights up to 24 weeks in a 1994 ballot proposition. Nevadans can get abortions until 24 weeks of pregnancy, and past that if their health is at risk. To change the law, voters and the Nevada legislature would both have to vote to repeal the law.
An amicus curiae brief filed by California and other states claims the court’s decision would change the decisions by the tens of thousands of college-aged Californians who attend schools in other states.
California response
Fifty California state legislatures signed an amicus curiae brief requesting Roe be upheld, and state leaders are working with Planned Parenthood to generate policy recommendations.
A council convened by Gov. Gavin Newsom and steered by the office of Senate President Toni Atkins, among others, recommended in a December report that California increase investment in abortion funds and infrastructure, create a scholarship corps for people who will provide abortions, make Medi-Cal more accessible to abortion care, and strengthen legal protections for abortion patients and providers. It specifically recommended California enhance privacy protections for medical records related to abortion and pregnancy loss and that California repeal a law that required parental consent for minors seeking abortions, which was found unconstitutional and hasn’t been enforced since 1997.
Arguments
In oral argument, Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart said the Roe decision has no basis in the Constitution, and that the gains of privacy and autonomy granted by Roe did not outweigh taking a life.
Julie Rikelman argued on behalf of the Jackson Women’s Health Organization. She said the law was unconstitutional under decades of precedent, that the state’s demanding a woman go through pregnancy is a fundamental deprivation of her liberty, and that the law would hurt women’s liberty and equality.
