California governor pardons abortion activist from 1940s

Source: Associated Press

California governor pardons abortion activist from 1940s

By DON THOMPSON
November 4, 2022

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday posthumously pardoned an abortion activist from the 1930s and 1940s, acting days before Californians finish voting on whether to enshrine increased protections in the state Constitution in response to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Laura Miner was convicted in 1949 of abortion and conspiracy to commit abortion. She was sentenced to four years in prison on the twin felonies, and died in 1976.

“I can still hold my head up, and I respect myself because my conscience is clear,” she wrote while serving her prison sentence. “I have helped humanity — someday it will be legal for a doctor to help a woman who will then have a right to decide for herself how many children she shall have, and when.”

Her statement proved prescient, for a time. The U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark Roe v. Wade decision ruled in 1973 that protections under the U.S. Constitution included the right to have an abortion.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-california-gavin-newsom-constitutions-e9bf137e5b83a75ff255cdbe63abdc88