When Women Vote, They Change the Conversation! By Sue Miller
AAUW CA Public Policy News
AAUW California supports the passage of Propositions 1 and 28 on the November ballot in California.
Proposition 1. The decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn Roe v. Wade dealt a serious blow to the rights of women to make their own decision about their bodies. This spurred many state legislatures to act to ban abortion, some with no exceptions for rape, incest, or endangering the life of the mother. Abortion bans in other states have already taken effect. Yet polls in many states show a majority in support of protecting the rights of women to choose to have abortions. Currently, women are coming from other states to obtain abortions in California. An Abortion Access website is being formed in our state to enable and assist out-of-state women with travel arrangements, housing, medical appointments and other matters.
California legislators, recognizing the remote possibility that at some future time state legislation could ban abortions, took timely action in June to pass SCR 10. This put Proposition 1, the Constitutional Right to Reproductive Freedom, on the November ballot. Passage of Prop 1 will amend the California Constitution, stating “Section 1.1 is added to Article I thereof, to read: SEC. 1.1. 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. This section is intended to further the constitutional right to privacy guaranteed by Section 1, and the constitutional right to not be denied equal protection guaranteed by Section 7. Nothing herein narrows or limits the right to privacy or equal protection.”
AAUW CA has begun a social media campaign to educate and encourage voters to support Proposition 1. Weekly messages contain important facts. If you don’t use social media, we urge you to email the messages to others who do!
Proposition 28. In the context of AAUW CA’s Public Policy Priorities in support of Education, AAUW CA supports Proposition 28, The Arts and Music in Schools – Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act. Studies on educational achievement prove that arts and music education improve student learning. Music education has been shown to improve cognitive development and spatial reasoning while the dramatic arts improve reading comprehension. Arts and music education has also been shown to improve school attendance and individual self-confidence and motivation to learn, particularly among poor and other at-risk students. Yet these programs are usually the first cut when school budgets are reduced. Prop 28 would provide a minimum source of annual funding coming from the state General Fund to K-12 public schools to supplement arts education programs. School districts would be held accountable to use the funds for hiring certificated employees and purchasing supplies and materials. Read the full propositions on the Secretary of State website, www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-measures
Become informed, and Vote on November 8, 2022!!
PLEASE NOTE: There was an error in the AAUW California September Newsletter article. The article provided a link to National’s Get Out the Vote Toolkit, however the link was to their old site. The site has been updated and the new and correct link is: https://www.aauw.org/resources/policy/advocacy-toolkit/ .