Where do the candidates stand on Reproductive Justice issues? 

Reproductive rights are those that provide all people with the freedom to make decisions about whether and when to have a child without government interference. Laws that protect reproductive rights and freedoms defend bodily autonomy and provide greater access to safe and effective contraception, abortion, and childbirth. Laws that support reproductive justice not only support rights-protection, but also seek to acknowledge the additional barriers that people may face when trying to access care and/or make choices about whether and when to have a child, such as environmental factors, systemic inequalities, social status, economics, and biases around LGBTQ+, racial, and ethnic identities. 

The following issue areas related to Reproductive Justice were assessed: 

• Does candidate support reproductive justice and abortion access, overall?

• Does the candidate support protecting the lives of pregnant people through EMTala?

• Does the candidate support legislation, such as the Women’s Health Protection Act (H.R.12), that codifies the right to abortion care, federally?

• Does the candidate support legislation and measures in California that defend reproductive rights, including protection of patient privacy, the safeguarding of providers, the expansion of reproductive healthcare access, the defense of medication abortion delivery, and the challenging of federal attempts to restrict care?

Candidates' positions on Reproductive Justice were determined based on publicly available information, such as press statements, voting records (in California or Federally), and campaign materials.  All candidates were given the opportunity to respond directly to a member of AAUW California's Public Policy team. Candidates' positions on Reproductive Justice were then scored using the scale below, which gauges candidates' degree of alignment with AAUW California's public policy priorities and positions on Reproductive Justice.

If candidate responses or public records show that said candidate strongly opposes a key policy or topic within a larger issue area (e.g., does not support policy that expands civil rights for all people), we have placed them in an “oppose” position to the entire issue area (e.g., protection of civil rights). 

Click on the Links Below To Access Candidates' Campaign Websites

Click here to view raw data collection guides and citations for research conducted on all candidates.