Nicholas Goldberg: Karen Bass says she’ll protect Angelenos’ abortion rights. But can the mayor of L.A. really do that? What do we do on behalf of our cities?
And this is FRESH AIR.
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NICHOLAS GOLDBERG: Now, to tell the story of the battle for the right to choose, I’m joined again by Karen Bass, the former mayor of Los Angeles.
But before we get to that, let’s set this discussion up.
As you’ve heard in both previous interviews, the governor of California and the lieutenant governor of California are out to stop legal abortions in that state. They want to pass this draconian law.
They’re going to try to overturn a very important and landmark decision by Judge Vaughn Walker who handed down the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, which says the government has no right to stop women from getting abortions at any stage of pregnancy, including during the very earliest conception stage.
Now in your recent interview with FRESH AIR, you said, and I think correctly, that the governor and lieutenant governor are targeting this Roe v. Wade decision. What is their motivation, and what is the motivation for the city of Los Angeles?
KAIRAN BASS: Well, you know, it’s — it is a pretty dramatic story. When Gov. Brown signed SB277, and then issued a statement about it just a few months ago, we knew they were in the process of trying to change the abortion laws that had been in place since 1976.
So we knew they were in the process of trying to change what the constitution already says that the state of California cannot, cannot impose any restriction of the rights that are provided by the Constitution and federal statute in regard to women’s right to make decisions about their body and their lives. And this is something that the people of California voted for.
That’s why the governor