17 New California Bills on ‘Reproductive Justice’ & ‘Abortion Rights’

The California Legislative Women’s Caucus and the California Future of Abortion Council announced their 2023 bill package on “reproductive justice” and abortion rights Monday.

“The ‘California Future of Abortion Council’ (CA FAB Council) is comprised of reproductive freedom and sexual and reproductive health care allies, partners, and leaders,” the website says.

Because of “the zealots on the United States Supreme Court,” who according to Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), “overturned a 50-year right,” the package includes 17 pieces of legislation “that will expand access to reproductive health care and strengthen California’s standing as a safe haven for abortion, contraception, and pregnancy care.”

Sen. Skinner acknowledged that while the Supreme Court justices did not criminalize abortion, in some states there is an avalanche of anti-abortion bills. “States have been taking away those rights,” Sen. Skinner said.

Following the leaked United States Supreme Court draft decision in which the Court voted to overturn the federal landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision and send the issue back to the states to decide, Democrats and the left claimed abortion rights were being struck down, and women would suffer “countless attacks on reproductive freedom and abortion access.”

The reaction to the impending decision was mass hysteria and hyperbole by abortion proponents and activists – and California Democrats. Notably, California has the most Planned Parenthood facilities of any state in the U.S. “Of the 862,320 abortions performed in the U.S. that year [2017], 132,680, or about 15%, were in California,” Planned Parenthood says.

Almost immediately, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a father of four, jumped on the band wagon following the leaked decision: “Our daughters, sisters, mothers, and grandmothers will not be silenced,” Newsom tweeted. The world is about to hear their fury. California will not sit back. We are going to fight like hell.”

And Democrats vowed to draft and pass legislation to “to protect the right to abortion in the state constitution,” which voters approved last November.

According to Senator Skinner, this is the second year in which the Legislative Women’s Caucus has partnered with the CA FAB Council on a reproductive rights bill package.

“We have to be bold again to further reproductive justice,” Skinner said at Monday’s press conference.

Access Reproductive Justice Executive Director Jessica Pinckney said the Future of Abortion Council was created in anticipation of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. “We are assuring that everyone has full access to abortion care.” That means providing abortions to women from other states.

Pinckney said their work has been “wildly successful,” with 45 policy recommendations in 2021, and another 13 bills in 2022. “We’ve worked tirelessly the last few years. But we still have work to do.”

Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) concurred: “The message today is we’re not done, protecting and expanding abortion services in California, so every woman and pregnant person who comes to California has access to abortion care.”

“We shouldn’t have to protect women’s rights,” Assemblywoman Stephanie Nguyen (D-Elk Grove) yelled. She announced she is authoring AB 1646 to expand abortion and gender-affirming care by allowing out-of-state medical school graduates to practice in California for up 90 days, “to keep up with” the high influx of abortion patients seeking care in California.

“We see bans on health care services in other states,” Assemblywoman Blanca Pacheco (D-Downey) claimed. Her bill, AB 1707, “will offer enhanced protections on abortion providers.”

“We are living in unprecedented times – extremists are working to take away our rights,” said Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo D-Chatsworth. She said her bill, AB 710, will deliver accurate information in a public information campaign on “fake women’s health care centers.” Schiavo said these fake women’s health care centers “lie to, shame, and intentionally mislead women
about their reproductive healthcare options to block them from accessing abortion care.” When pressed, she said her bill is really just an information campaign, and will not be forcing the “fake women’s health care centers” to list their services.

Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) said, “this is deeply personal to me.” Wicks said she had a medical abortion when she was 25 by Planned Parenthood at a difficult time in her life. She blamed the “the right wing agenda” for the need to ensure California is a reproductive justice state.

Senator Skinner spoke of bounty hunters from other states who might come to California to arrest women seeking an abortion. Her bill, SB 36 “would prohibit a magistrate from issuing a warrant for the arrest of an individual whose alleged offense or conviction is for the violation of law of another state that authorizes a criminal penalty to an individual performing, receiving, supporting, or aiding in the performance or receipt of an abortion abortion, contraception, reproductive care, or gender-affirming care.”

Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters), vice chairwoman of the Legislative Women’s Caucus, complimented “these brave, strong women, with backbones of brass,” as she gestured to the group.

The pregnant woman in the top photo turned out to be more than a prop for “reproductive health care.” She is Shannon Olivieri Hovis, NARAL Pro-Choice California Director. “This bill package is another chance to make our state’s values clear: California will continue to provide abortion access to all who need it regardless of where they call home,” Olivieri Hovis said in a statement. “NARAL Pro-Choice California and our more than 371,000 members look forward to continuing to work alongside our partners on the Future of Abortion Council Steering Committee to ensure these bills.”

This year’s “Reproductive Justice” & Abortion Rights Legislation package:

• AB 90 (Assemblyman Cottie Petrie-Norris) Improves access to long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) for those seeking abortion services.
• AB 254 (Assemblyman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan) Provides privacy protections for digital data related to patients accessing abortion services in California.
• AB 352 (Bauer-Kahan) Enhances privacy protections for medical records related to abortion, pregnancy loss, and other sensitive services through electronic health record sharing and health information exchanges.
• AB 571 (Petrie-Norris) Ensures that medical malpractice insurance includes coverage for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care.
• AB 576 (Weber) Aligns Medi-Cal coverage of medication abortion with evidence-based clinical guidelines.
• AB 598 (Wicks) Requires school districts to participate in the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) and include a module on sexual and reproductive health care as one of the core survey modules.
• AB 710 (Schiavo) Launches a public information campaign to provide women with accurate information regarding access to abortion care at crisis pregnancy centers.
• AB 793 (Bonta) Provides privacy protections for digital data related to patients accessing abortion services in California.
• AB 1194 (Carrillo) Ensures that California Privacy Rights Act protections always extend to accessing, procuring, or searching for services regarding contraception, pregnancy care, and perinatal care, including abortion services.
• AB 1432 (Carrillo) Requires every health insurance  policy or certificate that is issued, or delivered to a resident of California, regardless of the situs of the contract, to comply with California laws that require coverage of abortion services and gender-affirming care.
• AB 1481 (Boerner-Horvath) Clarifies Presumptive Eligibility for Pregnant Individuals (currently called PE4PW) coverage policies and ensures PE4PW patients can access abortion services regardless of other health coverage.
• AB 1646 (Nguyen) Expands access to abortion and gender-affirming care by allowing out-of-state medical school graduates to practice in California for up 90 days.
• AB 1707 (Pacheco) Provider Protections
• SB 36 (Skinner) Strengthens safe haven protections by making it illegal for bail agents or bounty hunters to apprehend people in California and protect access to public benefits.
• SB 345 (Skinner) Provides legal protections for medication abortions and gender-affirming care.
• SB 385 (Atkins) Seeks to extend many of the updated training rules from SB 1375 last year to additional providers (i.e. physician assistants, etc.)
• SB 487 (Atkins) Provides additional safeguards for California abortion providers and other entities and individuals that serve and support abortion patients that reside in states with hostile abortion laws.

You can watch the press conference here.