California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is vowing to take steps to protect access to abortion after a leaked document appeared to show that the Supreme Court is poised to strike down Roe v. Wade.
In a series of tweets Monday night, Newsom wrote, “Our daughters, sisters, mothers, and grandmothers will not be silenced. The world is about to hear their fury.”
“California will not sit back. We are going to fight like hell,” he continued.
Our daughters, sisters, mothers, and grandmothers will not be silenced.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) May 3, 2022
The world is about to hear their fury.
California will not sit back. We are going to fight like hell. https://t.co/EhwSWXiZhx
Later, the governor wrote, “We are proposing an amendment to enshrine the right to choose in the California constitution. We can’t trust SCOTUS to protect the right to abortion, so we’ll do it ourselves. Women will remain protected here.”
NEW: We are proposing an amendment to enshrine the right to choose in the California constitution.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) May 3, 2022
We can’t trust SCOTUS to protect the right to abortion, so we’ll do it ourselves.
Women will remain protected here. https://t.co/WTUpfymLS0
Newsom also shared an announcement that California Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon joined.
“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. We will fight. California is proposing an amendment to enshrine the right to choose in our state constitution so that there is no doubt as to the right of abortion in this state,” the statement read.
It added, “We know we can’t trust the Supreme Court to protect reproductive rights, so California will build a firewall around this right in our state constitution. Women will remain protected here.”
Newsom’s comments come after Politico published a story based on a reportedly leaked decision from the Supreme Court that indicated it would overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the draft opinion that was leaked.
It reads, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.”
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito wrote. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
Underscoring the unprecedented nature of the leak, Politico noted, “No draft decision in the modern history of the court has been disclosed publicly while a case was still pending.”
According to the outlet, justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett voted with Alito.
Meanwhile, justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan dissented.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) reacted to the report in a statement Monday night.
“If the report is accurate, the Supreme Court is poised to inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past fifty years – not just on women but on all Americans. The Republican-appointed Justices’ reported votes to overturn Roe v. Wade would go down as an abomination, one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history,” their statement reads.
It continued, “Several of these conservative Justices, who are in no way accountable to the American people, have lied to the U.S. Senate, ripped up the Constitution and defiled both precedent and the Supreme Court’s reputation.”
“The party of Lincoln and Eisenhower has now completely devolved into the party of Trump. Every Republican Senator who supported Senator McConnell and voted for Trump Justices pretending that this day would never come will now have to explain themselves to the American people,” the Democratic leaders added.