On December 8, 1969, a group known as Washington Citizens for Abortion Reform announces that it will campaign for a referendum to liberalize the state’s abortion law.
The move was a response to the defeat of two abortion bills in the regular session of the Legislature. The group said it would propose a referendum during the special session of the Legislature beginning in January 1970, hoping “faint-hearted legislators” would be willing to submit the issue directly to the people.
On February 4, after adding a number of restrictions to the bill favored by the reformers, the Legislature agreed to put Referendum 20 on the ballot for ratification by the voters in November 1970.
Sources:
Walt Crowley, Rites of Passage: A Memoir of the Sixties in Seattle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995), 278; The Seattle Times, December 1, 1969; Journal of the Senate, January 30, 1970, pp. 233-234; Journal of the House, February 4, 1970, p. 301.
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