The Post-Roe State of California with Stacy Cross

On today’s episode of Fall of Roe, Chris’ guest is her former colleague Stacy Cross, who runs Planned Parenthood of Mar Monte in California, one of the biggest affiliates in the country. Chris and Stacy discuss what’s going on with abortion access in California and everything about the state in our post-Roe world. Stacy begins by sharing some details about California’s response to the fall of Roe as a state that supports reproductive rights and justice, including protecting both local patients and those from out of state. She also talks about what’s been happening on the ground in California as it prepares to handle hundreds of additional patients and helps to allay confusion over what is still legal and where.

The discussion then turns to the importance of taking action, especially voting, and Stacy gives details on some upcoming ballot initiatives to keep an eye on. She also highlights SCA 10, which has just been passed and makes explicit the fundamental constitutional right to abortion and contraceptives in California. In addition to voting, Stacy urges the need to normalize stories of the positive impact abortion has and discusses the long-term negative impact losing access to reproductive autonomy will have, narrowing the choices for those who can get pregnant and adding an extra burden onto lives that are already challenging. She and Chris also highlight the hypocrisy of pro-lifers, their disinterest in protecting children once they’re out of the womb, and their desire for power and control. Finally, Stacy closes the episode on a hopeful note, emphasizing that there are places to find safe, compassionate, and confidential care, California amongst them, and highlighting the response of young people who are ready to stand up and finish the fight for reproductive rights.

The Finer Details of This Episode:

• California’s response to the fall of Roe
• Dealing with confusion over what’s legal
• Getting the vote out
• The long-term impact of losing access to reproductive autonomy
• What gives Stacy hope

Quotes:

“There’s so much confusion and fear out there that even people from California and Nevada were calling our response center saying, ‘Are we still safe and legal in our states?’”

“People are going to do what it takes. Making abortion illegal doesn’t make it go away, it just makes it unsafe.”

“The biggest fear that we have is that people don’t know that they can look up Planned Parenthood, that they can go to an independent provider, that we are all uniting together to make sure that women and people seeking abortion have access, and that when they walk through our doors, they are met with love and compassion.”

“Our average patient, as you know, is nineteen to thirty-four, already has children, they just don’t think they can afford to care for another child to the capacity that they want to. So forcing a birth, how is that going to improve the lives of anyone? And this attack on women is an attack on families, which is an attack on our country.”

“We want people to disrupt, and by disrupt, we mean not only rally but also tell your story. One in four women in our country have had an abortion. We need to normalize this, we need to tell the stories of the positive impact by making a choice that involves your body.”

Links:

Fall of Roe Homepage

Abortion Finder