(Washington Examiner) California Attorney General Rob Bonta is aiming to make the Golden State the top destination for people seeking to get an abortion with a pair of legislative proposals.
Since the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization returned abortion lawmaking to the states, California has aimed to be the top state for abortion access. With the looming return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House, Bonta is seeking to protect medical abortion and the ability for abortion facilities to remain open and operate in all cities in the state.
“I want to make it unequivocally clear: California will remain a safe haven for reproductive rights and access to abortion care, no matter who is in the White House. We have been preparing for this moment, and today’s legislation doubles down on our commitment to protect those seeking reproductive healthcare, including access to medication abortion,” Bonta said in a statement.
“Progress will always prevail, and I will use the full force of this office and all the tools at my disposal to fearlessly and fiercely defend your constitutional rights, including your reproductive rights,” the attorney general added.
Tweet This: Calif. AG Bonta will use the "full force" of his office and "all the tools" at his disposal to "fearlessly and fiercely" defend abortion.
The first proposed piece of the legislation, the Medication Abortion Access bill, would offer protections for medical abortion and “shield manufacturers, distributors, authorized healthcare providers, and individuals from any civil, criminal, or professional liability when legally transporting, distributing, or administering medication abortion in California.”
Democratic Assemblywoman Maggy Krell, one of the co-authors of the bill, said that while the state enshrined abortion into its constitution with 2022’s Proposition 1, additional laws protecting medication abortion are necessary.
“With Prop 1, we enshrined the right to abortion in California’s constitution. But this right is meaningless if it can’t be safely accessed,” Krell said in a statement. “This law ensures that women in California will have access to medication abortion, even in an uncertain federal environment.”
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The other proposed bill, the Attorney General Enforcement of the Reproductive Privacy Act, would allow Bonta to fine local governments that “interfere with the reproductive rights of Californians by using their power to block or obstruct abortion providers from opening in their regions,” according to the attorney general’s office.
“The fundamental right to reproductive healthcare is non-negotiable in California. No individual should face barriers to accessing care due to the deliberate actions of anyone,” Democratic Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, the author of the bill, said in a statement.
“By empowering the attorney general to enforce the Reproductive Privacy Act, this legislation ensures that our laws are more than words on paper — they are protections in practice. I’m proud to stand with Attorney General Bonta in defending the reproductive freedoms of every Californian,” Bauer-Kahan added.
The attorney general’s office pointed to a dispute between the city of Beverly Hills, California, and the state over the termination of a lease for a planned abortion clinic by a landlord after protests as one reason to have the power to levy fines for violations of the Reproductive Privacy Act.
The planned abortion clinic was slated to be the first one in southern California to offer abortions after 24 weeks, widely considered to be roughly the point of viability for a fetus. The city denied that it had blocked the planned clinic, as Bonta alleged, and that the lease was terminated by the private landlord, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Golden State has pushed itself as a destination for women seeking abortion in states where the procedure is restricted, such as Georgia, where the practice is largely illegal after a fetal heartbeat is detected.
When neighboring Arizona was slated to have more restrictive abortion laws reinstated earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed into law a bill expediting the ability for licensed abortion doctors in Arizona to get a license to perform abortions in California.
Abortion has been one of the key talking points as the state looks to “Trump-proof” itself in a special legislative session, which began Monday. Most of the legislative talks surround funding to challenge the incoming Trump administration on points of contention.
Trump vowed throughout his successful presidential campaign that he would veto an abortion ban if one were ever passed by Congress, and he said that he believes abortion policymaking should be left to the states. He hailed the 2022 Dobbs decision as a victory for allowing the matter to be handled by the states rather than the federal government.
Editor's note: This article was published by the Washington Examiner and is reprinted with permission.
