Question #6 to Mike Levin, asked by Josie Schneider (’26) on behalf of Grade 9.

“With the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court, how would you respond as a Congressional representative if the Republicans gain control of the US Congress and attempt to legislate a national ban on abortion?”

I can tell you that this is top of mind for me. I never thought I would experience a situation in my lifetime where my daughter, who is 18 years old, had fewer rights than her mom. I just never thought that would happen and Roe versus Wade has been the law of the land since 1972. So we’re talking about a 50-year history and now women’s reproductive rights are being taken away by a Supreme Court that does not represent my values or the values of the majority of Americans who believe–and look there are people who can disagree about this issue, well-intentioned people can disagree on important things like this–but the majority of Americans believe and I believe that this decision should be between a woman and her doctor, ultimately. And so if the Republicans do what they say they’re going to do–and Lindsey Graham has said that they would move forward with this nationwide ban on abortion–at that point what we would do: Number one California we would pass Proposition 1, which would protect the right to women’s reproductive rights in the California Constitution and then, of course, it would be an argument between the state constitution and the federal constitution. But number two, I would fight like crazy to pass something in Congress called the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would actually codify Roe versus Wade at the federal level. The Supreme Court interprets the law as it’s passed by Congress and executed by the President. They don’t make the laws. Congress makes the laws. So right now, there’s that gray area where they’ve interpreted away the rights for women. And they may interpret away other rights that are directly related to the Griswold versus Connecticut case, talking about the right to privacy. They’re already talking about LGBTQ equality for example, or other privacy rights. And so, I will do everything I can to make sure that we legislate, as Congress, to protect those rights. So that the Supreme Court can not take them away. That make sense?

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