The Supreme Court's decision to overturn
Roe V Wade puts the power to allow or ban
abortions in the hands of state governments.
Here to talk about its impact
here in Washington. Well,
we're joined by Austin Jenkins,
a public radio reporter for the
Northwest News network.
Austin. Thanks for joining us.
Thanks for having me.
So how does the SCOTUS ruling
affect us here in Washington?
Well, it really doesn't.
From a legal standpoint because
Washington State has codified in state
of law the right to abortion and the
state law is very clear about this.
That pregnant people have the
right to access an abortion up
to the point of fetal viability,
which is usually in the 24 to 25
week time frame and then beyond
that abortion is available to
protect the health or life of.
The mother's the potential mother, so,
uh, early term abortions are legal and
later term abortions are legal when
it's a matter of health and safety.
Both our governor and our attorney
general have made it pretty clear
that they're going to make sure that
abortions are available in our state.
Do you? Do you have any knowledge
of what's going to be happening in
the next couple of days or weeks?
In that section.
Yeah, so to start with because
the legislature isn't in session.
The governor is able to do
some things by executive order.
So for instance,
he's going to tell the State Patrol
here in Washington state and he has
command and control over the State
Patrol that it may not cooperate
with any other state that is seeking
to track down someone who comes
here to this state for an abortion
and try to sort of have the long
arm of the law from that other
state reach into Washington and and
try to prosecute that person so.
No cooperation on the part of
the State Patrol.
The governor is accessing about
$1,000,000 from a fund he controls
to provide some funding to low
income women who might come here and
not be able to afford an abortion.
So you're going to see things like
that in the part of the governor
and then already Democrats are
talking about if they maintain
control of both the House and the
Senate in the November elections.
And by the way,
all House members and about half of
state senators are up for election.
But if they're still in control come January,
they're looking at a number
of laws related to patient.
Privacy related to expanding
access to to abortion in terms of
providers because they are expecting
an influx of patients from other
States and and any number of other
measures to sort of strengthen,
solidify and ensure the protections
that are in place today remain in place
and they they will remain in place.
But that could change depending on who's
in power in our state legislature, right?
Haven't there been some attempts
to rollback abortion rights
and access here in Washington?
There have this is codified in state law,
but not enshrined in the state constitution.
Now the governor has called for
a constitutional amendment.
The California State Assembly this week
passed a constitutional amendment that
will now go to voters for approval to.
Further, protect and enshrine
abortion rights there,
but in this state right now,
that doesn't look feasible.
They just don't doesn't appear
to be the votes for that.
It would require a number of
Republican state lawmakers to sign on,
and they're showing no no
indication they would.
So for now, this is in state line.
Yeah, if Republicans swept into
control and held the governorship,
and if they wanted to repeal this law,
they could potentially do that,
and the governor is warning about that.
What what we have seen over the.
Last number of years,
most years in this in this state
is that some number of Republican
lawmakers will introduce bills to
restrict or limit access to abortion.
So for instance,
parental notification restricting
later term abortions prohibiting
someone from getting an abortion
based on the Down syndrome.
Diagnosis things like that,
so these bills get introduced every year.
In my 18 years covering Olympia,
when Democrats have held
at least one if not both,
chambers of the legislature and
always had the governor's office,
none of them have gotten any traction,
right? So do you see this having an
impact on voter turn out in November?
Well, Democrats are certainly.
Going to be talking about this right up
until then, they see this as an issue
that can galvanized voters and they
see this as another way to you know,
paint a stark contrast between
them and and the Republican Party.
That said, you know we are hearing
that this could be a wave election
that benefits Republicans.
We know that the party in power
nationally tends to lose seats
in in the midterm elections.
We also know that local elections
are are very much influenced by
what's happening at a national level.
So I think you're going to be
hearing a lot of conversation and
talk about this decision from the
Supreme Court and about abortion
rights from Democrats all the way
up to the finish line in November.
Whether this will turn the tide
in favor of Democrats,
I just think remains to be seen.
How big of a role do you see Bob
Ferguson, our Attorney general,
playing in in terms of legal challenges?
He's been very vocal,
he says he's put together a team
of about 20 people on his staff.
And by the way, he runs what's
considered to be the largest law
firm in the state to look at this,
to try to anticipate.
Potential legal issues
that might come up we've.
We know that he's not one to hesitate
to sue when he feels like the
rights or interests of Washington
state residents are at stake,
so he's clearly building a team and
preparing one thing he already did
preemptively even before the decision
after the draft decision was leaked,
as he said to the state medical
licensing boards that they should
not hold it against an out of
state provider trying to come work
here if they have been penalized
in that other state for their
involvement in providing abortions.
Services typically,
if you have been in trouble with
the medical board and you try to
come to this state to practice,
that would be you know a potential
problem to getting licensed here.
He's saying don't hold that
against these providers.
In that sense,
Washington should be welcoming
abortion providers to come work here.
Are there any actions that state lawmakers
can take to defend the rights of abortion?
If if national restrictions are imposed?
That could be tough.
You know there is this idea.
This concept and I'm not an attorney,
but federal preemption is a thing,
and that essentially says when there is a
conflict between federal law and state law,
federal law Trump's and so.
And that's true,
even if if it's a federal law and
a state constitutional matter,
oftentimes I think you know the the
default is going to be that what the
feds say what Congress says goes so you know,
would there be legal fights?
Would there be pushback?
Would there be efforts to try to protect?
Abortion rights in this state at any cost,
absolutely,
but if Republicans swept to
power in in Washington DC had the
presidency down the road and a
nationwide abortion ban was passed,
it might be very tough for Washington
state to to hold on to its current.
Abortion rights statute
Austin Jenkins you've got a very busy job.
You've got a lot to to watch.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Like to watch in the coming
months for sure, yeah.