Many Democratic federal and state candidates vying for a seat in the November general election are making access to abortion services a central tenet of their platform in the aftermath of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
About half of voters say that key races in the 2024 election will have a “major impact” on access to abortion, according to a national poll by KFF Health. Those who say it is the most important issue on the ballot are “disproportionately younger, Democratic-leaning, and want abortion to be legal in all cases.”
The issue was selected by Whatcom County residents as among the five most important questions for Cascadia Daily News to ask candidates through its Citizens Agenda project.
Abortion has been legal in Washington since 1970 and remains so. But advocates point to erosion of abortion rights nationally as a troubling sign.
“Anything can change at any time,” Mt. Baker Planned Parenthood Executive Director Linda McCarthy said. “There’s a lot of old, archaic rules out there in the country that could be implemented again, to restrict people.”
In Whatcom County, Mt. Baker Planned Parenthood carries out the vast majority of abortion services, providing for local residents and women fearful or unable to access the medical procedures in their home state.
McCarthy said that while Planned Parenthood provided 436 of the procedures in the county in 2022, there were a total of 486. She noted that she did not know which physicians carried out the other documented procedures, suggesting that the doctors likely don’t publicly advertise the service.
Despite Washington being a stronghold for access to abortion services, the local Planned Parenthood facilities are regularly picketed by those who oppose the medical procedure.
PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center, the only hospital in the county, does not provide the service. The not-for-profit Catholic health system states on its website that “because we believe in the sacredness of life’s journey from conception until natural death, direct abortion is not performed in any PeaceHealth-owned, operated or leased facilities.”
Federal fight
U.S. District 2 incumbent Rep. Rick Larsen, a Democrat, told CDN that he’s fighting not only for his seat in Congress but for the party’s efforts to gain control of the House, and retain control of both the Senate and the presidency.
If they are able to do so, Larsen said he expects Democrats to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, which is legislation that would codify the provisions of Roe v. Wade.
Larsen denounced Republicans who support the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, returning the question of access to abortion back to the states.
“This backwards ruling strikes a blow to our basic constitutional rights of liberty, privacy and equality – which is why the American people overwhelmingly oppose the decision,” Larsen said.
The congressman explained that the move essentially rolled back the clock of the state of the union to 1973, when a patchwork of health care access existed throughout the country.
“This is the first generation where young women have less rights than their mothers or grandmothers,” said McCarthy. She noted that Mt. Baker Planned Parenthood served one Texas client who came to Bellingham because she was fearful of having any abortion services included in her medical record in the Lone Star state.
Such concerns stretch far beyond Texas, however. Idaho became the first state to outlaw helping a minor to travel across state lines to get a legal abortion without parental consent. Tennessee has enacted a similar law.
“It’s not even a health care issue, as much as it violates the direct language out of the Constitution about interstate commerce,” Larsen said of such restrictions.
“I’m supportive of Washington state being a place where people can come freely and have access to reproductive health care and other health care,” he added.
Cody Hart, running as a self-proclaimed MAGA Republican, will face off against Larsen in November.
“I, as with many other Christians, have the very strong belief that the lives of all children should be protected and life begins at conception,” Hart told CDN.
However, he said that he believes a mother should be the one to make a decision on whether or not to have the medical procedure when her life is at risk.
“On the broader issue of birth control, I strongly support birth control as an option to unplanned pregnancies to avoid the unnecessary death of a child,” Hart said.
Post Roe v. Wade world
While federal politicians are focused on the Women’s Health Protection Act, the battle over reproductive rights is currently at the state level. Compared to states such as Idaho, Washington is seen as a refuge for reproductive rights.
In 2021, the Washington Legislature passed the Protecting Pregnancy Act. The law requires hospitals to refer patients out for reproductive health care, including abortions. While the act has clear implications in Whatcom County because of the role PeaceHealth plays as a health care provider in the region, it also highlights the battles around abortion access that can still be lost and won at the state level — even before the Dobbs decision.
Gubernatorial candidates Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, said that in a post-Dobbs world it is necessary to continue to fight at the state-level to support reproductive freedom, including positioning Washington as a “sanctuary” state for care.
“I secured an important legal victory protecting Washingtonians’ access to Mifepristone, which is used in the majority of abortions,” Ferguson said, pointing toward his previous work on the issue as Attorney General.
Former U.S. Congressman Dave Reichert, a Republican vying for the governor’s office, has regularly voted for federal bills that would restrict access to abortion care, including the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would have made it illegal to perform an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions. He also voted for a bill prohibiting federally funded abortion services, as well as the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act.
However, he was clear that he would “not change any laws regarding abortion if elected governor.”
“I firmly believe that no politician, irrespective of personal conviction, should make this decision for any woman,” he told CDN.
Securing reproductive health care rights is a top priority for District 42 incumbent Position 1 Rep. Alicia Rule, a Democrat, as she faces off against Republican candidate Raymond Pelletti.
“This is the issue of our time, because it’s about human rights and bodily autonomy,” Rule told CDN.
Rule explained that because reproductive health care rights appear to be a constant target, it is necessary to solidify the “silent parts in our law” to avoid them from being exploited. She said that she has two pending bills tackling the issues of securing access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and surgical birth control within Washington.
For political newcomer Pelletti, access to abortion services should be limited to specific circumstances.
“If your life’s at risk, you have a right to make a choice,” Pelletti said. He went on to explain that in circumstances of rape, including spousal rape, and incest, a woman should be allowed to decide whether or not to have an abortion, but should make the decision “as soon as” she can.
He put the window for making that decision within eight to 12 weeks. In Washington, abortions are legal up to the point of fetal viability, generally 24 to 26 weeks.
Pelletti also spoke strongly against allowing “late-term” abortions, though he said that he didn’t think the situation occurred frequently in the state.
The issue of people coming to Washington from out of state, such as Idaho, to receive those services is complicated, he said.
The same question does not seem so complicated to Senate District 40 incumbent Liz Lovelett, a Democrat, as she faces off against Republican Charles Carrell.
Lovelett said Washington state should be considered a sanctuary of reproductive rights, and has “made investments accordingly.”
She noted that Washington providers along the Idaho border have seen a “dramatic uptick” of women visiting for prenatal medical visits if they are unsure if they want to carry the baby to term or not.
“Even if they know they do, they’re afraid of having something on the record in Idaho that potentially endangers them or their provider,” Lovelett said. “That is unacceptable.”
“When you eliminate options for people to plan their families, you are doubling down on failed policies that create impoverishment,” she added.
Her opponent, Carrell, did not respond to any questions from CDN, including those seeking his stance on access to abortion services. He did not address the issue in his statement published in the voter guide.
Legislative District 39 House race Position 2 sees incumbent Carolyn Eslick, a Republican, teeing off against newcomer Jackie Huey.
While reproductive rights is not listed among the topics of Eslick’s platform, her campaign website does say she “counts herself as pro-life.” However, it goes on to note that she believes the government should stay out of people’s personal lives.
To her, the issue in the state has been “out of lawmakers’ hands” for a long time.
Nonetheless, Eslick voted against a number of bills related to abortion access and reproductive rights in 2023. These included a bill that expanded and codified abortion protections into state law, a bill that required state insurers to cover the costs of abortion and contraception, and a bill that prohibited the state from cooperating with out-of-state abortion and gender-affirming care lawsuits.
All were passed and signed into law.
Huey is listed as supporting the prohibition “of abortion after a baby’s heartbeat is detected, with limited exceptions, such as to save the mother’s life or in cases of rape or incest,” according to Freedom Voters Guide, a Christian legal advocacy group known for its anti-LGBTQ+ advocacy.
Isaac Stone Simonelli is CDN’s enterprise/investigations reporter; reach him at isaacsimonelli@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 127.
