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California Gov. Gavin Newsom fired in all directions Wednesday during a speech addressing the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Newsom criticized politicians, commentators and organizations across the aisle for allowing or pushing for the reversal of the landmark case. In addition to expected targets of scorn in the Republican Party, Newsom questioned the resolve of his own party.
“Where is the Democratic Party?” Newsom asked. “Where’s the party? Why aren’t we standing up more firmly, more resolutely? Why aren’t we calling this out? This is a coordinated, concerted effort. And yes, they’re winning. They are. They have been. Let’s acknowledge that. We need to stand up, where’s the counteroffensive?”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom talks at a news conference on Wednesday, May 4, 2022, at a Planned Parenthood office near downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Michael R. Blood)
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Newsom gave the speech at a Planned Parenthood Los Angeles facility.
“We will affirm the … constitutionally protected rights of women and girls and their reproductive rights and freedoms in California,” the governor said, flanked by women wearing pink Planned Parenthood T-shirts.
The Democratic governor’s comments come just days after Politico published a leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion that would effectively overturn the landmark 1973 case Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion.
While the draft merely represents an opinion – and Supreme Court opinions are prone to change ahead of a final decision – the news has sparked nationwide protests, pitting advocates on either side of the issue against one another ahead of the November midterms.
Newsom expressed that the Supreme Court situation should not be a surprise to anyone paying attention to U.S. politics.
“Anyone paying attention to what that guy – what is it? DeSantis? DeSantos? – is doing in Florida? The attacks on the LGBTQ community? I mean they’re now going after social-emotional learning, I mean, CRT – just completely made up after whole cloth,” Newsom asked.
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Newsom also slammed Californians exiting the state for better economic conditions in other regions of the U.S.
“All those businesses, ideally you’re moving your companies to states, and then you have to pay for your employees to travel back to the states that you made them move, maybe they should start reconsidering some of those decisions as well,” Newsom said. “This is an economic issue across the spectrum, and at the end of the day, for women and girls, this is an economic issue, make no mistake.”
California is making plans to become an abortion “sanctuary,” where reproductive rights would be expansively protected and patients could travel from other states for services. One proposal seeks to guarantee a right to an abortion in the state constitution.
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If the Supreme Court overturns the Roe ruling, at least 26 states are likely to outlaw abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights advocacy group.
Fox News’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
