(CN) — Repudiating recent actions by state legislatures to restrict abortion access, Washington state passed a new law Thursday that affirms legal protections for those who seek or help provide abortions in the state.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, penned his signature on House Bill 1851, also known as the Affirm Washington Abortion Access Act.
“We know this bill is necessary because this is a perilous time for the ability of people to have the freedom of choice that they have enjoyed for decades,” Inslee said.
The move comes mere days after lawmakers in neighboring Idaho approved a bill that lets would-be family members of a “preborn child” sue an abortion provider for at least $20,000 in damages within four years of an abortion.
The Washington law is largely symbolic, according to Seattle University law professor Sital Kalantry, because lawsuits against abortion providers were never allowed in the state. No state law had authorized that kind of legal action, she said.
“I think it’s more messaging and signaling to residents of the neighboring state of Idaho where restrictive legislation is on its way to being passed,” Kalantry said. "It’s just affirming that they continue to have no basis to sue."
Washington was one of the first states to decriminalize abortion in 1970 before the U.S. Supreme Court established a constitutional right to an abortion in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
In 1991, Washington voters passed a referendum, The Reproductive Privacy Act, which protects the right of women to choose to get an abortion or obtain birth control or refuse those options.
The newly inked law makes two significant changes to the prior statute. It replaces “women” with “pregnant individuals,” acknowledging that transgender and non-binary people with certain reproductive organs can get pregnant.
The law also expands abortion providers covered by the law to include not just physicians but physician assistants, advanced registered nurse practitioners and other health care providers.
Additionally, the law prohibits the state from penalizing or prosecuting people based on pregnancy outcomes or going after people who help someone get an abortion or birth control.
On Tuesday, Idaho legislators sent to a bill to Republican Governor Brad Little’s desk that would allow the parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles of a “preborn child" to sue an abortion provider.
“To the citizens of Idaho, if Idaho will not stand up for your constitutional rights, we will,” Inslee said before signing his neighboring state's bill into law Thursday.
The Idaho bill is modeled off a Texas law, which took effect last September and bans abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest.
When the Supreme Court declined to stop that bill from taking effect last year, Kalantry said it emboldened anti-abortion lawmakers in other states like Florida, where the legislature recently passed a bill that prohibits abortions after 15 weeks.
“We knew that once the Supreme Court didn’t immediately enjoin the Texas law that there were going to be slew of these types of laws by other anti-abortions states,” Kalantry said.
The Seattle University law professor believes the new Washington law is intended to convey a contrary message that “we’re here and we’re putting values on reproductive freedom.”
If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade as many abortion opponents are pushing for, Kalantry said the procedure would remain legal in Washington state, where abortion access laws were passed more than 30 years ago.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in states like Ohio are currently proposing legislation that would automatically make abortion illegal there if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
In California, Democratic leaders have vowed to make the state an abortion “sanctuary” for women in states that might outlaw or severely restrict access to abortion. Lawmakers have introduced multiple bills to prepare for a potential influx of new patients. One bill would let nurse practitioners perform abortions without a doctor’s supervision. Another would set up a fund to help pay for things like travel, lodging and childcare for patients seeking abortions — both within California and from other states.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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