SAN DIEGO (KGTV)— California Attorney General Rob Bonta was in San Diego Thursday, affirming his support for protecting abortion rights in California.
"This is a moment full of pain, anxiety, trauma, fear, and it requires us to come together like this, to have these discussions, conversations, to plan and prepare," said Bonta.
In The Skyline Hills Branch Library, Bonta was joined by Assemblymember Dr. Akilah Weber, and other reproductive rights advocates to discuss the Roe v. Wade supreme court draft opinion with community members and take their questions.
"As some seek to roll back 50 years of progress, we will move forward here in California, we will expand access to healthcare, we will expand access to abortion," said Bonta.
"It is very personal to me because I can sit here before you today, an assemblymember, an OBGYN, the only Fellowship-trained pediatric and adolescent gynecologist in San Diego County, because I had the ability to choose when I would start my family," said Weber. "Unfortunately many women will no longer have that choice if Roe versus Wade is overturned."
Bonta making it clear that as California's chief law enforcement officer, he will use the law and authority of his office to protect reproductive freedoms.
"We have issued a first of its kind legal alert declaring that the law does not allow a Californian to be prosecuted for murder when they suffer a pregnancy loss," said Bonta.
The panelists say California is prepared to welcome women seeking an abortion here if outlawed in their home states, but fear what overturning Roe vs. Wade could mean for those who take things into their own hands.
"This is 2022 we don't need to revert back to a time where women are dying for something that should be their fundamental right," said Weber.
Bonta's office said this roundtable discussion is the first of many to come with communities across the state.
