SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In a swift response to news that the U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to overturn the nation's landmark abortion rights protections, Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders announced Monday night they will ask voters in November to place permanent protections for the procedure in the California Constitution.
"California will not stand idly by as women across America are stripped of their rights and the progress so many have fought for gets erased," Newsom said in a written statement, co-signed by Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood). "We will fight."
An amendment to the state Constitution would require voter approval. Few details on the effort were immediately available, though the process requires little more than a supermajority vote in both legislative houses to get on the Nov. 8 statewide ballot. Democrats hold enough seats in the state Senate and Assembly to send the issue to voters without Republican support — although the issue could easily become a focal point of statewide and legislative campaigns this year.
