The Somerville City Council passed a resolution expressing support for the 1973 Supreme Court protections for a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose whether or not to have an abortion.

By Jim Clark

At the latest regular meeting of the Somerville City Council, a resolution was put forward reaffirming support for the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision which affirmed that access to safe and legal abortion is a constitutional right.

Speaking in favor of the resolution, Council President and Ward 7 Councilor Katjana Ballantyne told those in attendance, “I’m happy to be co-sponsoring this with my colleagues, Hirsch and Rossetti. Women deserve full access to comprehensive health care, including complete family planning.”

Ballantyne said that the recent Alabama vote to ban abortion has outraged the community. “This resolution affirms the correct understanding that safe and legal abortion is a constitutional right,” Ballantyne said.

The resolution reads as follows:

“WHEREAS: Whereas this City Council wishes to reaffirm the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case which affirmed that access to safe and legal abortion is a constitutional right; and

WHEREAS: Norma Leah Nelson McCorvey (September 22, 1947 – February 18, 2017), better known by the legal pseudonym “Jane Roe”, was the plaintiff in the landmark American lawsuit Roe v. Wade in 1973; and

WHEREAS: Roe v. Wade was a landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a woman’s legal right to an abortion; and

WHEREAS: In its ruling, the court recognized for the first time that the constitutional right to privacy “is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy” (Roe v. Wade, 1973). Roe has come to be known as the case that legalized abortion nationwide; and

WHEREAS: The Court ruled, in a 7-2 decision, that a woman’s right to choose an abortion was protected by the privacy rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and

WHEREAS: Since 2010, states have quietly passed more than 400 restrictions on abortion care; and

WHEREAS: Six states have passed bills to ban abortion this year; and

WHEREAS: Access to comprehensive reproductive health services is an essential need; and

WHEREAS: Reproductive justice and economic justice cannot exist separately, particularly for people of color; and

WHEREAS: Banning abortions will not stop abortions, it will end access to safe abortions; and

WHEREAS: Abortion bans will have a disproportionate effect on low income people. 75 % of abortion recipients in 2014 were economically disadvantaged; and

WHEREAS: Reproductive justice and economic justice cannot exist separately, particularly for people of color; and

WHEREAS: Abortion is healthcare. Roe v. Wade solidified the notion that all people should have access to healthcare, including reproductive healthcare; and

WHEREAS: The ability to choose when to have a child is a crucial issue of economic justice, and restricting access to abortion will have a disproportionate effect on those already relying on lower incomes; and

WHEREAS: These bans as well as restrictions on legal abortions in many states- including Massachusetts- serve to stigmatize the choices made in order for many families to have economic security; THEREFORE BE IT

RESOLVED: We affirm the importance of high quality and comprehensive health care for all people, including reproductive, ob/gyn, and pediatric care that results in long-term well-being and positive outcomes for people of all backgrounds, regions of our country, and financial means; AND BE IT FURTHER

RESOLVED: That Somerville’s City Council, in session assembled, hereby adopts this Resolution to support Roe vs. Wade with a copy forwarded to Congresswoman, Ayanna Pressley, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey.”

The resolution was passed unanimously.