California voters to weigh constitutional right to abortion

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California voters will decide in November whether to guarantee the right to an abortion in their state constitution, a question sure to boost turnout on both sides of the debate during a pivotal midterm election year as Democrats try to keep control of Congress after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

The court's ruling on Friday lets states decide for themselves whether to allow abortion. California is controlled by Democrats who support abortion rights, so access to the procedure won't be threatened anytime soon.

But the legal right to an abortion in California is based upon the “right to privacy” in the state constitution. The Supreme Court's ruling declared that a right to privacy does not guarantee the right to an abortion. California Democrats fear this ruling could leave the state's abortion laws vulnerable to challenge in state courts.

To fix that, California lawmakers on Monday agreed to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot this year that would leave no doubt about the status of abortion in California.

The amendment would declare that the state “shall not deny or interfere with an individual's reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives.”

California joins Vermont in trying to protect abortion in its state constitution. The Vermont proposal, also on the ballot this November, does not include the word “abortion” but would protect “personal reproductive autonomy” — although there is an exception “justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means.”

Meanwhile, four conservative states — Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee and West Virginia — have...