California’s largest city is touting a recent research that suggests women will travel to the country to seek abortions if indeed the Supreme Court restricts access to the procedure later this year, according to reports.
Nury Martinez, the president of the Los Angeles City Council, filed a motion Friday calling on the city to take action in anticipation of the potential that the Supreme Court could roll it back abortion rights next summer.
With the motion, which was seconded be Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, it is being requested that the City Attorney of Los Angeles write an amicus brief in favour of the Jackson Women’s Health Clinic’s legal challenge to a Mississippi statute that prohibits abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
It would also instruct the Chief Legislative Officer to work with Los Angeles County agencies of Health Care services & Public Health to coordinate the city’s response if the motion is approved by the council.
Depending on the court’s decision, the analyst would determine how the city could react to a probable increase in demand of abortions in Los Angeles. This is important since other parts of the country may outlaw abortion or impose more stringent measures against them.
In the next three years, California is expected to see a 3,000 percent increase in the number of women at reproductive age who do have their nearest abortion provider in the state, from 46,000 over 1.4 million.
The right of a woman to get an abortion is critical in our struggle for equality in the United States. The right to the a safe surgical condition cannot be taken away from women, nor can we expect them to put their lives in danger. “I stand in women, California is with women, and our city has confirmed on Friday that Los Angeles is a place that supports and empowers women.”
A decision in the Mississippi issue Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is scheduled to be issued by the Supreme Court sometime in the summer of this year.
Mississippi approved a bill banning abortions in 2018, in violation of the Supreme Court decisions Roe v. Wade and Family Planning v. Casey. According to the Supreme Court’s decision in the case, Roe v. Wilson, which protects abortion rights all through the United States until the foetus is viable, which is normally between 22 – 24 weeks of pregnancy, might be overturned.
Women of the United States had struggled for authority over their reproduction rights for decades, and they continue to fight for it now. Those freedoms are currently under attack all across the United States. I show solidarity with women all around our country that deserve access to adequate medical care as well as the ability to make their own decisions about their own bodies and reproductive options.
Per the Washington Post, Mississippi’s abortion law was based on a tactic by pro groups to outlaw the practice after they claimed that foetuses suffer pain during the surgery. According to the newspaper, the majority of research indicates that foetuses do not sense pain until 29 to 30 weeks into to the pregnancy.
