How the Reversal of ‘Roe v. Wade’ Impacts Washington State

Cascade PBS Ideas Festival

At a live Civic Cocktail event, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and an expert panel discuss the Supreme Court’s decision to end federal protection for abortion.

Roe v. Wade established the right to a safe and legal abortion nationwide. Its reversal means that each state in this extraordinarily divided country of ours will need to decide for itself whether to keep abortion legal, ban it or severely limit it.

Washington state decided decades ago that abortion access would remain in the state even if Roe fell. But the impact of this decision extends far beyond access.

What changes lie ahead for clinics and service providers as demand grows from other states? Will legislators reinforce Washington’s laws as other states rewrite theirs? And what should Washingtonians know about the broader implications to their rights going forward?

For this episode of the Civic Cocktail podcast, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Planned Parenthood regional CEO Rebecca Gibron and State Senator Manka Dhingra attempt to answer those questions.

This conversation was recorded on June 22, 2022.

Civic Cocktail is a production of Seattle City Club and Crosscut.

To receive future conversations like this one in your podcast feed earlier, subscribe to the Civic Cocktail podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Podbean, or wherever you listen.

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Credits

Host: Mónica Guzmán

Podcast production: Mark Baumgarten

Event production: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara

Audio support: Sara Bernard