Gloria Steinem, a fearless writer and organizer who pioneered the reproductive freedom movement, passed away Sept. 2. In 1970, Steinem testified before the United States Senate advocating for an Equal Rights Amendment to enshrine gender equality in the Constitution, which, if ratified, would strengthen protections against gender-based violence, workplace discrimination and access to reproductive healthcare.

Since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, 13 states have enacted total abortion bans, and access to abortion is restricted across more than half of the country. As a result, women nationwide are struggling to safely and conveniently secure access to reproductive healthcare. 

In Ohio, a 10-year-old victim of rape was forced to travel to Indiana to receive an abortion. No one should endure a horror to convince lawmakers that they deserve to make decisions about their own bodies.

Californians voted to pass Proposition 1 in 2022, securing reproductive freedom in the state constitution. But women seeking abortions anywhere shouldn’t have to cross state lines to receive care — we need a right to reproductive healthcare at the federal level. As one of the few states with broad reproductive freedom, California must champion a national Equal Rights Amendment, which it adopted as a state in 1972, protecting the right to choose by guaranteeing equality regardless of sex.

In centering a fetus’ supposed stolen future, the right-wing force of anti-abortion lobbyists and politicians conveniently ignore a woman’s potential: a high school or college graduation tassel that will never be turned, a career put on hold. Abortion bans treat women’s bodies as birthing vessels and confine the meaning of their lives to reproduction, reinforcing the patriarchal belief that every woman is destined for motherhood.

Restrictive abortion laws that claim to protect the fetus’ right to life also place women’s health in jeopardy. From Alabama to Texas, states with limited access to abortion experience higher rates of maternal and infant mortality, especially among women of color. For instance, in Texas, doctors were forced to choose between upholding the law and protecting Porsha Ngumezi’s health, ultimately leading to her preventable death.

After the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last July, it placed a year-long freeze on Planned Parenthood clinics’ ability to receive Medicaid reimbursements, effectively defunding its health centers.

“Especially in California, [Planned Parenthood was] pretty much hit the hardest out of the country because we had spent the most time and effort ensuring that the largest proportion of people relying on Medi-Cal could go to Planned Parenthood health centers in the state,” said Shelby McMichael, communications director at Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. 

The bill’s defunding impacted more than 100 clinics in California. Planned Parenthood Mar Monte closed five health centers, and clinics in Orange and San Bernardino Counties had to halt primary care services. But in February, California legislature allocated $90 million in emergency funding for Planned Parenthood centers.

“Sometimes we can feel like we are safe in a place like California, but all of the rights and protections that we have secured here in California kind of mean nothing if people can’t access the care that they need,” McMichael said.

Abortion bans are a form of sex-based discrimination, placing not only a woman’s bodily autonomy but the trajectory of her life in the hands of legislators, most of whom are men and will never have to make the incredibly personal decision to terminate a pregnancy. The Equal Rights Amendment explicitly recognizes women’s rights, which should extend to safeguarding clinics that provide abortions like Planned Parenthood from facing another round of defunding.

In 2024, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that abortion providers could challenge the state’s ban on Medicaid coverage for abortion as sex discrimination under the Equal Rights Amendment. A lower state court declared the ban unconstitutional in April.

At the state level, an Equal Rights Amendment protects reproductive rights. But unless this right is outlined in our nation’s Constitution, more and more women will continue to be denied life-saving care.

Reproductive Freedom for All’s California branch is one organization spearheading the fight to strengthen reproductive rights. Some of the nonprofit’s bills currently awaiting Governor Gavin Newsom’s signature include legislation that would create a pathway for veterans and active-duty military members to access abortion care in California as well as a policy to bolster privacy protections surrounding sensitive reproductive health information.

As election season nears, Reproductive Freedom for All endorsed candidates who defend reproductive rights.

“We have to win back the [U.S. House of Representatives], and that’s going to take every single person across the country, [including] our young students on campus in California, getting out to vote to make sure that we elect reproductive freedom champions,” said Pavitra Abraham, director of state campaigns for Reproductive Freedom for All California.

Abortion bans don’t just force a woman to carry a pregnancy to term; they strip away freedom by depriving women of the fundamental right to choose. This November, vote for politicians who will fight for our reproductive rights. Volunteer to phone bank or canvass with organizations like Planned Parenthood and Reproductive Freedom for All to hold our legislators accountable.