California Senate Bill SJR19 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: SJR 19AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE JANUARY 6, 2016 INTRODUCED BY Senator Jackson (Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Atkins and Cristina Garcia) AUGUST 26, 2015 Relative to  Planned Parenthood.   women's reproductive health.  LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SJR 19, as amended, Jackson.  Planned Parenthood: funding.   Women's reproductive health.  This measure would request the President and the Congress of the United States to express their support for access to comprehensive reproductive health care  , including the services  provided by Planned  Parenthood and   Parenthood, and to  oppose efforts to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Fiscal committee: no.  WHEREAS, January 22, 2016, marks the anniversary of the United States Supreme Court's landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, which held that every woman has a fundamental right to control her own reproductive decisions and decide whether to end or continue a pregnancy, and is an occasion that deserves recognition; and   WHEREAS, The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, making access to abortion safe and legal, has greatly improved the health of women and families; and   WHEREAS, Roe v. Wade has been the cornerstone of women's remarkable strides toward equality in the past four decades, and reproductive freedom is critical to a woman's ability to participate fully in the social, political, and economic life of the community; and   WHEREAS, California is committed to protecting the public health and welfare of all its residents, and recognizes that access to reproductive health services, including family planning and prenatal care, supports individuals and their families by ensuring that babies are planned, wanted, and healthy; and  WHEREAS,  California recognizes the importance of  Planned Parenthood  is   as  one of California's largest providers of women's  preventive and reproductive  health care  and reproductive health care  services, operating 115 community-based health centers across the state, which  service over   provide more than  1.6 million patient visits a year; and WHEREAS, Planned Parenthood provides comprehensive health care services to  men and women, including well-woman exams,   women and men, which may include well-woman examinations,  birth control, testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections and HIV, pregnancy tests, life-saving cancer screenings,  prenatal care,  sex education,  prenatal care,  primary care  services in some locations,   services,  and abortion services; and WHEREAS, Nationwide, during 4.6 million health center visits in 2013, Planned Parenthood provided services, including nearly 400,000 Pap smear tests,  nearly  500,000 breast examinations,  nearly  1.1 million pregnancy tests,  nearly  3.6 million provisions of birth control information and services, and  nearly  4.5 million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted illnesses (including HIV), to approximately 2.7 million patients,  nearly   almost  80 percent of whom were living with incomes at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level; and WHEREAS, By providing millions of women with access to contraceptive services, public funding of Planned Parenthood helps women to avoid an estimated 516,000 unplanned pregnancies each year nationwide; and WHEREAS, A sudden defunding of Planned Parenthood's  publicly funded clinics   health centers  by federal or state governments would put patients across California, particularly members of underserved communities, at a significant disadvantage relating to their general health care  given that   because  Planned Parenthood is often the only source of health care services for so many Californians; and  WHEREAS, Violence against abortion providers and laws that create barriers to abortion endanger the lives of both men and women; and   WHEREAS, Reports have found that threats of harassment, intimidation, and violence against women's health clinics have doubled since 2010, and as recently as November 27, 2015, a Planned Parenthood clinic was the target of a heinous act of domestic terrorism which resulted in the deaths of three people and nonfatal injuries to nine others; and  WHEREAS, The State of California stands in strong  opposition to recent attacks on Planned Parenthood and other health care providers that offer reproductive health care services;   support of Roe v. Wade and the work of Planned Parenthood, and of women's reproductive health, and upholds each woman's fundamental right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy;  now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the President of the United States and Congress to express their support for access to comprehensive reproductive health  care   care, including the services  provided by Planned Parenthood and  a woman's fundamenta   l right to control her own reproductive decisions, and to strongly  oppose efforts to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood; and be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.