Action Alert, August 30, 2002

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STATE ACTION ALERT—Contact the Governor:

August 30, 2002

The “bill” season at the California Legislature ends on August 31, and it is time to let 
Governor Gray Davis know how you feel about the most anti-life agenda we’ve ever seen in 
Sacramento, as it hits his desk for signatures.  

Call, write, FAX or e-mail Governor Davis to ask him to veto the five bills listed below.  
Please send a separate communication for each bill.  If you use e-mail, state your opposition in 
the subject line—e.g. "Please Veto SB 1301—non-physician abortions will jeopardize women’s 
lives," and follow-up your e-mail up with a phone call or a letter.    

Here is the contact information for Governor Gray Davis: 

Governor Gray Davis                             graydavis@governor.ca.gov
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814 

Sacramento office (preferred)            Phone: 916-445-2841              FAX: 916-445-4633                                                                       

Fresno                        Phone:  559-445-5295            FAX:  559-445-5328
Los Angeles               Phone:  213-897-0322            FAX:  213-897-0319
Riverside                    Phone:  909-680-6860            FAX:  909-680-6863
San Diego                   Phone:  619-525-4641            FAX:  619-525-4640
San Francisco            Phone:  415-703-2218            FAX:  415-703-2803

SB 1301:  The Reproductive Privacy Act by Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica):

SB 1301 will replace the 1967 Therapeutic Abortion Act with the “Reproductive Privacy Act.”  
The most dangerous policy change is the removal of the 35 year-old requirement that only physicians may 
do abortions in California, and authorization for nurse midwives, nurse practitioners and physician assistants
 to do drug-induced abortions, such as RU 486. 
            If abortion clinics are successful in marketing RU 486, we will surely see more women die.  Nurse 
practitioners will be doing RU 486 abortions on our minor daughters without parental involvement—and the
re is nothing to prevent these services from being provided in a school health clinic setting.

               The Reproductive Privacy Act declares that “[t]he state may not deny or interfere with a woman's
 fundamental right to choose to bear a child or to choose to obtain an abortion prior to viability of the fetus, 
or when the abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.”

               The Reproductive Privacy Act removes several provisions of the law which had been declared 
unconstitutional in People v. Barksdale, a 1972 California Supreme Court decision.  Barksdale, however, 
had left in tact provisions that required physician-only abortions and the limit on abortions after 20 weeks.  

SB 993:  Allows nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners in “solo” practice to prescribe medications—by Senator Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont):

            Current law makes a distinction between those working in physicians’ offices, who do have authorization to prescribe medications “under the supervision of a physician,” and those in solo practice, who do not.  SB 993 removes the restriction on those in solo practice.  It is also important to note that even in current law, “under the supervision of a physician,” is so loosely defined that the physician need 
only be available by telephone. 

SB 1230:  Requires the death of every human embryo who is created through cloning, by Senator Dede Alpert (D-Coronado):

            SB 1230 extends indefinitely California’s 5-year moratorium on so-called “human reproductive cloning,” which expires at the end of this year.  This is not a true ban on human cloning—it is merely a ban on cloning “that could result in the birth of a human being.”  In other words you can clone human embryos for research and destruction—so- called “therapeutic cloning”—but the emphasis is on the destruction.  Every cloned human embryo must die. 

SB 253—Sanctions the use of human embryos for research and destruction and encourages the cloning of human embryos for research, by Senator Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento):

            SB 253 (used to be SB 1272) specifically permits research involving “the derivation and use of human embryonic stem cells, human embryonic germ cells, and human adult stem cells . . .,” including the use of cloned human embryos.  It is unconscionable that human beings will be created for the mere purpose of research and destruction.  It also requires that patients of in vitro fertilization clinics who elect to discard their “excess” embryos, be offered “the option of donating the remaining embryos for research.”  California ProLife Council believes that human life in all of its stages is entitled to the protection of the law, and that so-called “excess” embryos should be adopted and called by name, not exploited for research.   

SB 2194—Requiring the training of more abortionists, by Assemblywoman Hannah Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara):

            SB 2194 is intended to require all residency programs in obstetrics and gynecology to include training in the performance of an abortion by incorporating into state law the requirements of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.  This places state law on abortion training in the hands of an independent organization—obviously not good policy. 

Current California law protects health care professionals and students from being involved in abortions if they file a letter expressing their objections with their employer or the school.  Federal law prevents any medical training programs receiving federal funds (virtually all of them) from requiring training in abortion, and protects institutions from being required to refer students for abortion training.  Perhaps this is just one more pro-abortion bill they wanted to hand to Governor Davis for bragging rights on the Planned Parenthood agenda.

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