Here's How Roe v. Wade Could Affect CA's Primary Election

CALIFORNIA — The leak of a draft Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade could upend midterm elections in a state where 72 percent of residents, including 54 percent of Republicans, support the right to an abortion.

A recent CBS poll found that twice as many Democrats said that overturning Roe would motivate them to vote, which is important in a year when many speak of an “enthusiasm gap” between Democrats and Republicans. As a result, many Democrats in the state are pivoting to the issue.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is facing a re-election campaign, has gone all in to promote California as a “haven” for reproductive rights.

He and leaders in the California Legislature pushed an amendment that would enshrine the right to an abortion into the state constitution.

On May 13, Newsom also unveiled an updated $125 million “Reproductive Health Package” that would include $40 million to help offset costs of abortions for the uninsured, $20 million to subsidize abortion care for Covered California patients and $20 million in scholarships and loan repayments for health care providers who provide the service.

Newsom has joined a slew of California lawmakers airing ads to brand their Republican opponents as anti-abortion. He ran a new campaign ad saying that reproductive rights were “under attack” and that defeating “anti-choice Republicans” was the “defining issue of the 2022 election.”

That ad aired more than 400 times in the span of three days, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

In a speech in front of an L.A. Planned Parenthood location on May 13, Newsom warned voters that overturning Roe could lead to bans on same-sex marriage or the scaling back of labor and environmental protections.

“Don’t think for a second this is where they stop,” Newsom said. “Pay attention, America. They’re coming for you next.”

He added: “Folks should get really... be pissed off at this moment. If this doesn’t animate people to get involved, ... I don’t know what the hell will.”

Other Democratic candidates have issued similar warnings and many ads with the same message. Democratic congressional representatives are warning voters that Republican majorities in Congress could even go as far as to enact a federal abortion ban, something Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell recently called “possible.”

Similar ads have followed suit across the country and in California, particularly in tight races. Former California Assemblymember Christy Smith, who is making her third run against GOP Rep. Mike Garcia to represent the area around Santa Clarita, released a Facebook ad discussing an abortion she had during a dangerous pregnancy she said could have ended her life.

Rep. Katie Porter is also making the media rounds to tout her pro-choice bona fides in Orange County, where the support of centrist women played a large role in helping Democrats regain the House in 2018.

Danielle Sams, a two-time Trump voter and registered nurse who lives near Seal Beach, told the Los Angeles Times she may vote for a candidate depending on whether or not they support abortion rights.

“I am a ‘my body, my choice’ person because I work in health care. I believe in being able to choose,” she said.

In a recent CBS poll, 63 percent of Americans said that the ruling would not affect their views. And many GOP candidates and strategists have said that Democrats doubling down on abortion to galvanize progressives and attract moderates may not be enough in a year when Republicans are still favored to regain control of one or both chambers of Congress.

“The governor knows that his policies aren’t helping Californians,” GOP gubernatorial candidate Brian Dahle told the San Francisco Chronicle. “Nothing is going to change in California with the Supreme Court ruling. He’s just using this to stir up his base.”

Dahle spokesperson Josh F.W. Cook told the L.A. Times: “We have dead bodies on the street, we have underperforming schools, we have inflation that’s out of control. People are unhappy.”