Somerville Roe Act Resolution — File 210740

A RESOLUTION AFFIRMING SUPPORT FOR ACCESS TO SAFE AND LEGAL ABORTION IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS AND ACROSS THE UNITED STATES WHEREAS, On January 22, 1973, in a historic and landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that the U.S. Constitution safeguards a woman's ability to make her own personal medical decisions about when or whether to have children, as grounded in "the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which protects against state action the right to privacy, including a woman's qualified right to terminate her pregnancy;" and WHEREAS, This right has been affirmed in subsequent Supreme Court cases such as Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) and Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016); and WHEREAS, The Trump-Pence administration’s repeated attacks on, and stated desire to restrict access to, abortion and other reproductive health care have given states across the United States a green light to pass unconstitutional barriers to safe and legal abortion; and WHEREAS, Many states including Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, and Missouri have, in direct conflict with Supreme Court precedent, recently passed laws that ban or restrict access to legal and safe abortions, and similar measures have been proposed in several more states; and WHEREAS, With the appointment last year of Justice Brett Kavanaugh tipping the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of restricting abortion, these state laws are additionally intended to serve as test cases for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade and effectively restrict or eliminate access to legal and safe abortions across the United States; and WHEREAS, Reproductive health, including abortion, is a vital component of overall health, and health care is recognized as a fundamental human right; and WHEREAS, An individual’s freedom to make reproductive decisions is vital to their safety, well-being, economic opportunity, and ability to participate equally in society; and WHEREAS, The Massachusetts Legislature is currently considering S.1209 and H.3320, also known as the “ROE Act”, which would remove medically unnecessary abortion restrictions and inflammatory language from Massachusetts law, ensure that a pregnant person can access abortion care after 24 weeks of pregnancy in the case

of a fatal fetal diagnosis, and improve a young person’s ability to receive trained support and safely access abortion care; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED That the City Council of Somerville hereby states its commitment to the protection of abortion rights, access to reproductive health care, and an individual’s right to make reproductive decisions about their own body; AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED That the City Council of Somerville does hereby support the immediate passage of the ROE Act, Massachusetts Senate Bill S.1209 and House Bill H.3320.”