Recommendation to support the denouncement of HB 481, Georgia's Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act, which bans abortions if a doctor can detect a heartbeat and denounce HB 314, Alabama's Human Life Protection Act that bans abortions at any stage of pregnancy; authorize City Manager to suspend all travel, contracts, etc. from the states of Georgia and Alabama, so long as the bills become law. 1. Request City Attorney to prepare a resolution for adoption denouncing Georgia's Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) act (HB 481) and Alabama's HB 314, immediately suspending official travel to Georgia, Alabama and any other state which adopts similar heartbeat legislation and imposing financial sanctions until such time as the new law is revoked, amended, or struck down. 2. Direct staff to send signed copies of the adopted resolution to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, California Governor Gavin Newsom, California State Senator Ben Allen, California State Assembly Member Richard Bloom, and others as deemed appropriate. 3. Authorize City Manager to susp
We're taking a couple of items out of order per a request from council. We're going to begin with item 24, which I believe we have most folks here for. Item 24 is communication from Councilmember Pearce. Councilwoman Praise. Council Member Councilman Austin. Council Member Richardson. Recommendation to support the denouncement of HB 481 and HB 314 and authorize city managers to suspend all travel contracts from the states of Georgia and Alabama so long as the bills become law. Thank you. Let me go and begin by turning this over to Councilmember Pearce. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you to all the women and men and organizations who have fought for health care, for all the women and men that came before us in the sixties and the seventies to make sure that women like me had access to affordable, safe resources. This item is here before us today because at a national level, there's an organized effort to take away the rights of women, to make decisions for themselves, the rights to health care, to economic dependance, the right to choice. There are many stories that are true. Women across age, race and class have been. Oppressed whenever states have decided to take away their rights to affordable health care, such as abortion. There are already levels that exist. Barriers that exist to getting access to abortions in states where it is legal. And so when we have states like these that have decided to try to roll back the efforts of so many before us, I felt, and I believe my colleagues felt, that it was necessary for Long Beach to take a stand and say, we are a pro-choice city and we will spend our resources where we see fit in . Spending our resources in states that continue to take away the rights to health care is not a priority of this city. So I'm happy today to have many people signed onto this item, many people in the audience to support this. I wanted to remind us that Roe versus Wade was done in 1973. Before 1973, we had a high number of women having children that were put into foster homes, high number of women having children that they had to leave behind, a high number of women that were having abortions that were unsafe. Many women died. And so we want to make sure that nationally, we don't let that happen again, that nationally we continue to make progress not only in California, but as a nation. So I look forward to hearing my council colleagues comments, but I'm really proud to stand with Planned Parenthood, proud to stand with women, and look forward to hearing from everyone here in the audience. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember. Councilwoman Price. Thank you. I want to thank council member Pierce for bringing this item forward. Obviously, it's a very timely item and it's one that I think the city of Long Beach should take a strong stance in support of support of the item. I do not believe that we should be using city funds and public moneys to support policies in other states that are taking steps backwards. Since 1973, the law has been settled and the law has been clear in allowing women choices. And we cannot allow for progress in states that are trying to take those choices away to continue to thrive. We have to stand firm as a community in supporting the right of women to choose how they want to care for their bodies, what choices make sense for them in their lives. It is their choice. It is their bodies. And we should, as a community and as a society, support that. I strongly support this item. I thank my colleague for bringing it forward. It is not the time in 2019 for us to take a step back. It is time for us to continue to take steps forward. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Austin. Thank you. Thank you. I want to thank my colleagues, especially Councilmember. Janine Pearce in price I that's a tongue twister sometimes. The many community organizations that are signed on in support of this. Obviously the recent legislative actions in Georgia and Alabama are seeking to turn the clock back and divide our country further. And I think tonight Long Beach is taking a stand to show that we are a pro Troy City, progressive city, and we won't support backward steps. This is a moral dilemma, in my opinion, because in my opinion, it is immoral to bring in an unwanted child into this world, this hard, cold world where it's tough enough for those even with advantages if a child is unwanted. The world is in brought into this world. The deck is automatically stacked against them. They are coming into this world, possibly without love, without support of a family. And if they are poor and of color, then inequity is even much greater. Policies that create more foster children, more prison pipelines, more social ills are our policies that we can ill afford to support. And lastly, I think we should not be criminalizing women who are standing up and making decisions for their own reproductive rights. And so I'm happy that this has has come before us. I'm glad to see that our city and hopefully will take a stand on this. I'm happy to support. Thank you very much. And thank you, Councilmember Vice Mayor Andrews. Yes, thank you, Mayor. I'd also like to thank my council persons like, you know, Jeanine and by Mrs. Pierce both the two PS but I like to let you know that this is I really want to say that this is an album about freedom of choice and the barriers that brain places by institutions that no business get involved. You know, in a personal matter, I have four daughters and a wife and I'm supporting this item for their rights and for women just like them. I hope that this sends a message to Alabama, Georgia, and I hope the California stay out of making legislative stimulus to this. Thank you very much. Thank you, vice mayor. And before I go back to cancer prepares to close closest allies add I mentioned some of this I think earlier today but I'll say that we should always, always under under all circumstances stand with women and their ability to make every choice about their body. Every health care choice that they that they would like to make is their right and their right only. I think it's also important for the city to go on record and and and recognizing that abortion is health care and that that is part of a women's that is part of women's health care is the ability to make those types of choices and be very clear and vocal about those when we can be. I want to thank especially Councilwoman Janine Pearce, who thoughtfully worked with our Planned Parenthood group, affiliate groups, as well as Zoe Nicholson, and now and some of the other groups that are involved in in women's rights. I know our our Long Beach breast feeding group as well. So I just want to thank the women's organizations within the city that are leading this fight. And and like I said, as an as a male, as a as a as an ally, that's a man. I, again, say to all the men that we have no business being involved in women's decisions about their body and just mind your own business and stick to yourself. So. And so I strongly, strongly support support this. And I want to thank the other council members as well that signed on and Councilmember Pearce. It's a really public comment and then we'll wrap it up. So if there's any public comment, please come forward. Good evening. I have to apologize at the start. I'm not used to wearing a hat and chamber. It feels very odd. My name is Zoe Nicholson. I live in Rose Park. I happen to love Long Beach. I'm very grateful to all who are here today to stop the band. Thank you. Councilmembers in particular. Councilwoman Price. Councilwoman Pierce. Councilman Austin. And whose Air Force? I forgot. Oh, Rex, she's not here. That's why I can't see it. You might find it interesting. That is the same 13 states, 13 that have not ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, that are now closing in on the strictest abortion bans. I don't think that's a coincidence. I think it's about universal respect. No disrespect for those women in those states. For me, in fact, this is not about abortion at all. It is about seeing women as full human beings, capable, responsible members of society, not appendages or ancillary to men. Women. All women are my family and therefore my responsibility. It is not just my obligation, but my privilege to share the safety and protections we are awarded here in California. Just because women are in Arizona or Alabama and not in California does not exempt us from caring and sharing a public outrage as we are tonight. Recently, I've heard Mr. Mayor talk quite a bit about Long Beach being the same size as Atlanta. I want to tell you that if a woman wanted to have an abortion here, there's a whole list of places she could go. Some close, some far, but all available in Atlanta, the same size as Long Beach. There is one, and that one is under siege. The bogus heartbeat bill is being passed by all male committees. I don't even understand what they're talking about. They don't understand how birth control works or what the criteria is for second or third term abortions. Even making laws, assuring rapists visitation with children, which is so unthinkable. These are the same legislators who are in favor of sending living, breathing children to internment camps, and they are now reporting death tolls like it's a war. These same men are collecting data on the menstrual cycles of the girls being held in those internment camps and ordering arbitrary vaginal probes or requiring a three day wait, making it impossible without threatening jobs and privacy. I understand that we are here rallying about stopping the bans, which we don't have here. But the fact is it is our obligation and fundamentally it is our privilege to raise our voices for those who cannot. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Hi. My name is Karen Ayres. I'm vice president of Hollywood now, and I'm a resident of the city of West Hollywood. I'm here today because Long Beach speaks to me, is a is a place that is primed to pass the resolution you have before you. West Hollywood has come forward and embraced its identity publicly as a pro-choice city. I think Long Beach can be the same and bigger. And Long Beach is a fantastic city. The residents here are so warm and welcoming. I think they are representative of the nation and that the majority of the people here and in our country support a woman's right to choose. And I commend the five council members who came forward to support this resolution and and are taking a stand to protect a woman's right to choose. Councilmember Austin, a few of those comments you've made have really resonated with me, particularly with regards to children in foster care. And as you know, Southern California has a huge population of children and youth in foster care today. I am a CASA volunteer. I work with a youth in foster care who told me that when he and his girlfriend needed Planned Parenthood, they were there for him. He said that if a if he didn't have Planned Parenthood, he felt his life would have been ruined. And his biggest fear was to bring a child into the world that he couldn't support and to put a child through what he had gone through six years in the foster care system. So it's real. What you're doing is meaningful. And I commend you and taking your stance. Thank you. Thank you so much. Next speaker, please. Hello, Mayor and honorable council members. My name is John Erickson. I am the director of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood Advocacy Project, Los Angeles County Action Fund. We have a health center right here in Long Beach. And I want to say thank you very much to the. Counsel for considering supporting this resolution tonight. I am hopeful it passes and we join here in Long Beach where the rest of the cities, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, the county of Los Angeles, LAUSD, and multiple cities that are coming aboard here in Southern California and staying. We won't go back. Enough is enough and we stand with women. I want you to picture it. It's 1973. Roe v Wade was decided by 7 to 2 at the United States Supreme Court. 7 to 2 when we're so used to decisions that are coming about five, four, 4 to 5. What we saw last summer with the appointment of Justice Kavanaugh was now being held up, and that promise is being upheld right now with the challenges directly to Roe that we're facing. 73% of Americans do not support overturning Roe v Wade. That is the highest statistic that that statistic has been of its time. 73%, two thirds of Americans believe a woman has a fundamental right to access to reproductive freedom in deciding her reproductive future. Additionally, right now in these states, 25 million women of reproductive age would face desolate areas where no reproductive health care would be available. Should Roe v Wade be overturned? 25 million women. The economic impacts of that alone are daunting, scary. And it's because places like Long Beach, places like other cities here in Los Angeles and the county of Los Angeles and everywhere we can call home are taking a stand and saying, enough is enough. And I want to say thank you. I want to say thank you for standing with Planned Parenthood. And I want to say we got your back because you got our back. And we want to thank Councilmember Janine Pearce, Councilwoman Susie Price, Mayor Garcia, Councilmember Austin, Councilmember Richardson, Councilmember Andrews, I hope the rest of the council signs on to this really important resolution, because right now we're on that. We're on the future, the cusp of the future, and we could see Roe v Wade overturned in our lifetime. And I know the children in this end in the United States, as well as the children in the audience and their parents do not want to see a generation of where we have to go back to the horror stories that many of us have heard about and maybe have even experienced firsthand about when a woman's reproductive freedoms are taken away from her. So thank you very much for this resolution. Thank you very much. And before I do the next speaker, I'm going to go ahead and close the speakers list. So we have our last speaker there and then our speakers list will be closed, please. Hi. My name is Carolyn Weathers. I'm a member. I live in the first district. I'm 79 years old. And when I lived in Texas in the sixties before, while abortion was still illegal, I was in my twenties and a friend of mine was in her twenties. She was gang raped by seven men. She could not get an abortion, so she would tell us we would get together at our house and we would have coffee and we would talk about it. And all she could do is say, Oh, I hope I can learn to love this baby. That's all she could do. How she could learn to love this baby that seven men had gang raped her to make her pregnant with. She committed suicide. She committed suicide. And she was maligned by the city. Her grave. Was wrecked. So I came out here in the sixties to do the counterculture, the hippie stuff, and I marched for Roe versus Wade. I was out in the streets marching for it, protesting, pushing for it, and thank God it happened. I never dreamed in my wildest imagination that we would be coming to this point. There would be so many people trying to push us back to what I remember, the horror stories, and they would happen again. If it's not happening here, it's happening in other places. Thank you. Let us stand up and not go backwards. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hi, my name is Mariella Salgado. I am a Parks Rec commissioner and a small business owner. More importantly, I'm a mother of two daughters. And one of the reasons why I come before you. I just wanted to say it's important that we think about this from a perspective of where we put our dollars matters. And I want to thank you all for. I want to thank you and respect and commend you for taking this action and saying that where our dollars go in contracts matters. So I just wanted to say that, and I truly appreciate and commend you guys for taking this step forward. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Yes, councilman. Councilwoman. Mayor, I'm glad to be here for a couple moments because in my life with my wife, we went through a problem of getting rid of her, getting an abortion back in the early seventies before Roe versus Wade. We had to sneak around and find somebody who would do it and hope that it turned out okay. And that was a tried and true situation. More for her than for me, of course. But from that I learned a lot. And one of the things I do whenever I talk about this, I say to other men, you know, this is our issue, too. And if we think we can ignore this issue or we can stay silent or we can let those who are against abortion take control of our perhaps daughters or granddaughters or great granddaughters and cause them to be treated like like like really animals and not even have the right to say, oh, no, I control my own health and my body. Then we as men are letting women down. And this is our our species. And we have got to stand together and we can't let people tell us, oh, women are less than men. Women don't have. So please, everyone support this because we need every vote so that people like in the legislature down in places like Georgia and Alabama and Arkansas and Missouri don't come to realize that there's a price they're going to pay now for being against women and for taking on women's right to choose and has their right to choose, not mine. So thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hi. Council members. Mayor, my name is Genesis to Square. I'm an intern with Planned Parenthood's political political advocacy project. I'm here today supporting this resolution because, as we all know here, money not only is power, money in this country is also speech. And I think it's important that the city of Long Beach and the state of California uses their money to show that we are on the front of this issue, that we are here supporting women's rights, trans men's rights and the rights of all people. So I ask you to stand with us today, stand with Planned Parenthood, stand with the women of Long. Beach, California. And the country to not use this money to support states that are going to hinder these rights for other women. I think it's important for us to all be on the right side of this issue. And I asked you to stand with us today. Thank you. Thank you very much. And our last speaker. Good afternoon, Mayor Garcia and council members. I want to thank you so much. My name is Marisela Rivera. I am many things. Among them, a city commissioner. I am an activist in my community. I am a leader. I am also the founder and director of Long Beach Breastfeeds. I had the pleasure when I was a homeowner in the second district to vote for a councilman, Jeanine Pearce. I am eternally grateful that I got to vote for somebody who would bring something like this forward. And I am now a District nine resident and got to vote for Rex Richardson, who is a co-sponsor along with council members Susie Price and Austin. And I thank all four of you for being brave enough to put your political capital behind women, because I know that that's what this is. You know, we talk about labels and we talk about who we are and the importance of that. I am a mother. I am a queer woman. I am a wife. I am also incredibly privileged to have made the choice to have two abortions. Unlike most people who don't feel the need to share their medical history, I do because I am privileged. Because I had the choice to continue my college education, to only give birth to the children that would come into a loving marriage fully and completely wanted and adored. I had the choice to finish my career and then leave my career at the city of Long Beach when I wanted to be a full time parents. That is what feminism looks like. That is what reproductive freedom looks like. And that is what ultimately privilege looks like. Because I am a Southern Californian from a liberal family and a liberal place and was able to ask my mom for a ride. I was able to pay cash because insurance did not pay for it. I was not ostracized by my community. I wasn't shamed. It wasn't in a dark room. And unlike my grandmother and my great grandmother before me, I did not give birth to countless children because I had to. I am very grateful that I live in the city of Long Beach. I'm very grateful that you are doing this. And I'm grateful for the Long Beach Breastfeeds members who showed up today and the many, many hundreds who wanted to and can't. Long Beach Breastfeeds is about equity. It is about reproductive justice and freedom from whether or not a person can get pregnant, whether or not they want to, how they birth, where they birth, and yes, also how we use our breasts and where we feed our babies. I'm very, very grateful to you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Speaker's list is closed and I will go back to Councilmember Pearce and then we're going to vote. Thank you. I don't want to have a whole nother round of talking, but I have some things that I haven't said yet. One is, thank you again for sharing your stories. I grappled with the idea of sharing my story or not, but I had the privilege in Texas to go to Planned Parenthood when I was 12. My mom took me. And my life was not normal. Obviously, if your mom's taking you Planned Parenthood at 12. But I was thankful because I had an education around reproductive rights at an early age. And so I want to share, as many women did as Roe versus Wade came up that were in power, that I to have had an abortion and that I want to make sure that everybody in the nation has access to their reproductive rights. I also wanted to say that I just got word that way. 31 ABC News in Huntsville is watching and looking at what Long Beach is doing. And so I want to make sure that we send a message not only in our vote tonight, but a clear message to the representatives in the state that doing right by all of your constituents, doing right by all of your residents, is what you were elected to do. And that it is my hope that you give all your residents access to reproductive freedom, to health care, to choice, because that's what we are elected to do. And that's what this ban is trying to isolate women. So please do the right thing and hear us loud and clear. We will make sure that we continue to fight all the way till the end. I hope everyone will vote on this. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember. Okay. Well, now go ahead and call called the vote for the council. Please cast your votes. Motion carries. Great. Excellent. Unanimous. Congratulations. Thank you and thank you all for coming out today as well. Appreciate all the advocacy and hard work. We're going to be moving on. Our next request was to do item 30. Actually, let me do the consent calendar really quick.