Strolling down First Street hasn’t been an option recently due to some unskillful behavior in high school back in the day. Succumbing to peer pressure to have a tan, I lathered myself with baby oil and cocoa butter and am now reaping what I sowed. A reticulated giraffe comes to mind.
The recent Bans Off Our Bodies march unleashed a flood of memories. How did we get here 50 years after the SC made abortion legal? The issue of abortion wasn’t always so politically charged nor a litmus test for candidates. Opposition had mostly been a Catholic issue. Evangelicals were generally ambivalent or pro choice, including their putative leader Reverend Billy Graham. It didn’t become a rallying cry for evangelicals until politicians and church leaders determined that it could be an effective organizing tool to garner power. https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/amanpour/episodes/84c52655-156a-4094-ba13-ae8b012e2a57
I flashed back to the Roe decision in 1973. At that time I was working for a statewide Planned Parenthood pilot project to educate and advocate for family planning issues. The three-year pilot program was the brainchild of Elizabeth Gatov who had been the Treasurer of the U.S in the Kennedy Administration and Nancy Jewell, a former Chief of Staff to two California Attorney Generals. Libby, as we called her, raised all of our operating money by writing personal notes to her bipartisan friends in high places.
Once we had set up our office on Solano Ave in Berkeley, the three of us drove to Sacramento to meet with Senator Anthony Beilenson author of the 1967 Therapeutic Abortion Act to ask him how we could help. He said there was no one resource that he or other legislators could consult to see the big picture as to what was on the books in the area of family planning and that such a document would be helpful before trying to reform current statutes. Over the course of two years, we spent hundreds of hours doing research at the Alameda County Law Library — well before the internet. In 1973 our book “Sex Code of California: A Compendium was published. The first half of the book reported on health related laws and the second concerned legal restraints on sexual behavior. We gave each legislator a copy. Some teachers used it as a textbook.
Four years earlier in 1967 when Beilenson introduced his bill to decriminalize the procedure all abortions were banned, even in the case of rape or incest, with one exception — to save the life of the mother. Legislators weighed in across the aisle with a civility that is nonexistent today. The bill got stuck in its first policy committee until the chair, Republican Senator Donald Grunsky, intervened and passed it out by a vote of 7-6 — six of the seven “aye” votes from his own party. He told his fellow Republicans that they should vote for Beilenson’s bill so they could put abortion behind them once and for all! The bill was backed by a bipartisan coalition of conservatives who thought that the State was over-reaching in banning abortions (amazing!) and a more liberal bipartisan group who thought abortion should be legal. “I respect and admire the sincerity and moral convictions of the views of those who are opposed to abortions for any reason,” Beilenson said when his bill got to the Senate floor. “This bill is a request that they respect the sincerity, the religious beliefs, and the convictions of the majority of their fellow Californians.” Getting mixed signals from his staff, Governor Reagan signed the bill.
The measure made it through the Senate 21-17 with 12 Dems and 9 Reps voting “aye” and through the Assembly on a 48-30 vote with 29 Democrats and 19 Republicans voting in favor. Reagan signed it into law after language allowing abortion in the case of a deformed fetus was removed. (Thanks to journalist Lou Cannon of Real Politics who reported on this in real time and again in 2013.)
By 1971 abortion had been legal for four years and Reagan was voicing some regret for signing the measure. He did, however sign a number of progressive bills relating to sex education, contraception, venereal disease, and access to care for emancipated minors. In those days, the 20 or so Planned Parenthood affiliates in California were led by members of both major political parties. My job was to travel to Sacramento, attend committee hearings and report back which measures needed their support or opposition. We saw steady progress from both sides of the aisle. Senator Peter Behr (R) San Rafael, authored a bill that made the sale of condoms more widely available by allowing them to be sold and displayed in drugstores if accompanied by VD educational material. Prior to that they could be sold only to married people or those 18 and over. You can imagine the fun Capitol reporters had with that one. Assemblywoman March Fong (D) Alameda, who two years earlier had taken an ax to a pay toilet and smashed it to smithereens during a press conference, authored a bill allowing public schools to educate students on the perils of VD, allocating a whopping $238,000 for that purpose. Governor Reagan signed both.
Beilenson went on to serve ten sessions in Congress and in 1997 decided to call it quits. “What has really bothered me about the Congressional environment now is all this ideological and mindless politics. Moderate, sensible, middle-of-the-road resolutions of issues seem no longer possible.” Do I hear an Amen?
Letters From Benicia 