As Roe v. Wade overturned, WA and these two other states pledge to be a ‘safe haven’
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Friday joined California and Oregon in issuing a pledge to protect access to reproductive health care, including abortions and contraceptives, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“The law remains unchanged in Washington state, but the threat to patient access and privacy has never been more dangerous,” Inslee said in a statement.
Inslee noted how state Republicans had introduced roughly 40 bills over the past six years to try to roll back abortion rights and reproductive care access.
“The right of choice should not depend on which party holds the majority, but that’s where we find ourselves,” he said.
The joint response from Inslee, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, all Democrats, promises to make the three states a “safe haven for all people seeking abortions and other reproductive health care services,” according to the news release on the so-called Multi-State Commitment to Reproductive Freedom.
Announcement of the three-state coalition also underscored that each state had made moves in recent years to expand reproductive health care access in the event that Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 court ruling establishing abortion as a constitutional right, was reversed.
Since 2018, Washington has required all health plans that include maternity-care services to cover abortion and contraception; enabled doctors in Catholic-run hospitals to provide medically necessary abortions; and set the stage for abortion clinics to serve anyone who comes into the state, according to the release.
In the Supreme Court’s majority opinion issued Friday, justices said that abortion was not implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” the majority opinion said.
States will be able to outright ban abortion after Friday’s decision.
This story was originally published June 24, 2022 at 10:25 AM with the headline "As Roe v. Wade overturned, WA and these two other states pledge to be a ‘safe haven’."
