Planned Parenthood unveils sponsored bill package + Bill shields mothers from criminal charges

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PLANNED PARENTHOOD UNVEILS PACKAGE OF SPONSORED BILLS

The Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California on Monday released a package of bills it is sponsoring in this year’s legislative session.

The eight bills are intended to provide legal protections — both civil and criminal — for patients and providers in California, set up a fund to provide financial and logistical support for abortion access, create a state-supported website on how to obtain abortion services and increase the abortion services workforce, according to a statement from the group.

“It is imperative California policymakers take swift and significant action throughout the 2022 legislative session to protect and expand access to abortion services, and sexual and reproductive health care more broadly,” said Jodi Hicks, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, in a statement. “California must continue to take bold action to increase protections and preserve timely access to abortion services for Californians, and for those who will seek care here from out-of-state because it’s the right thing to do.”

One of the bills, SB 107 by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, provides protections for transgender youths, their families and their medical providers who come to California seeking gender-affirming medical treatment from states that have passed restrictions on such services for young people.

“This package of legislation, coupled with the broader package supported by the California Future of Abortion Council, can serve as a blueprint for other states looking to take action and must be considered and enacted as swiftly as possible,” Hicks said. “People being forced out of their home state to seek essential health care, like gender-affirming care or abortion services, are already counting on California, among a handful of other states that are doing the right thing to deal with these crises. We must step up.”

COULD THE LEGISLATURE REALLY LEGALIZE INFANTICIDE?

Let’s talk about one of those bills sponsored by Planned Parenthood.

AB 2223, by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, is intended to ensure that no Californian will be investigated, prosecuted or incarcerated for ending a pregnancy or experiencing a pregnancy loss.

That’s not a hypothetical. The Kings County District Attorney’s Office has prosecuted two different women over stillbirths. While charges were later dismissed in one case, one woman, Adora Perez, spent time in prison as a result of a conviction for voluntary manslaughter, though that conviction was later overturned and she is now in county jail awaiting a court hearing on whether the original murder charge still applies.

However, while AB 2223 is intended to protect those who obtain an abortion or experience a miscarriage from civil or criminal liability, opponents of the bill say it goes further than that. Groups like the conservative California Family Council argue that the bill would legalize infanticide in the Golden State.

That’s a jaw-dropping claim that needs some explaining.

The language of the bill states that a person shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability with respect to their pregnancy or actual, potential or alleged pregnancy outcome, including miscarriage, stillbirth, abortion or perinatal death.

It’s the “perinatal death” part that critics are focusing on. While the bill doesn’t define “perinatal,” the term generally applies to the period from approximately past 22 or 28 completed weeks of pregnancy up to seven completed days of life, according to an Assembly Judiciary Committee analysis of the bill.

The California Family Council argues that the bill would protect people who kill their infants post-birth.

“As currently in print, it may not be sufficiently clear that ‘perinatal death’ is intended to be the consequence of a pregnancy complication. Thus, the bill could be interpreted to immunize a pregnant person from all criminal penalties for all pregnancy outcomes, including the death of a newborn for any reason during the ‘perinatal’ period afterbirth, including a cause of death which is not attributable to pregnancy complications, which clearly is not the author’s intent,” according to the Assembly Judiciary Committee bill analysis.

Capitol Alert reached out to Wicks’ office and learned that the assemblywoman filed an amendment to the bill Monday, changing the wording to “perinatal death due to a pregnancy-related cause.”

Wicks also issued the following statement in response to the bill’s critics.

“Anti-abortion activists are peddling an absurd and disingenuous argument that this bill is about killing newborns, when ironically, the part of the bill they’re pointing to is about protecting and supporting parents experiencing the grief of pregnancy loss,” Wicks said. “No person should face prison time for a tragic pregnancy outcome, and this bill will ensure that prosecutions and investigations have no place in reproductive health care.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I just voted to advance Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s #SCOTUS nomination to the floor of the Senate. I’m honored to support Judge Jackson as she makes history.”

- Sen. Alex Padilla, who rushed to DC to make this vote, via Twitter.

Best of The Bee:

• California has toughest U.S. gun laws. After Sacramento shooting, what else can lawmakers do? Via Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler.

• Gun violence groups call for action after mass shooting in downtown Sacramento, via Darrell Smith.

• Gavin Newsom condemns “horrendous act of gun violence” in response to Sacramento shooting, via Andrew Sheeler.

This story was originally published April 5, 2022 at 4:55 AM.