Gov. Newsom Vows To Introduce Emergency Bill This Week To Provide Abortion Care For Arizonans

Governor Gavin Newsom and other Californian lawmakers announced on Sunday that they are currently working on a bill where California would provide abortion care for Arizonans following the Arizona Supreme Court upholding a near complete abortion ban earlier this month.

While abortions in California have for decades been easier to get compared to other states, the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022 precipitated California doubling down on the state’s commitment for access. The Dobbs V. Women’s Health Organization ruling made abortion a state issue once again, with the state quickly passing laws to make California an abortion sanctuary state. In November of 2022, voters even passed Prop. 1 by a 2-to-1 margin, granting a right to abortions and contraceptives.

Often leading the fight has been Governor Newsom. In the past several years he has gone so far as to spend money on ads across the country showing the state’s opposition to new local abortion laws. The most most famous of these was in July 2022, when he bought numerous TV ads in Florida, which highlighted California’s ease of obtaining abortions as compared to the Sunshine State. Earlier this year, he also backed ads going after abortion travel bans in other states like Tennessee, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.

However, the latest issue in the saga brewed this month. Earlier in April, the Arizona Supreme Court held firm on an 1864 law that would only allow abortions if the mother’s life is in danger. While California doesn’t have the widest range of abortion window in any state, as the state only allows an abortion until “fetal viability,” which is roughly 5 to 6 months into a pregnancy, the state has a massive number of clinics and many perks which makes a trip to California to obtain an abortion a somewhat cheaper option.

Texans, for example, could go to New Mexico or Colorado, as abortions are legal at any stage, but many choose California because of the ease of it and the associated “perks.”

With the Arizona ban coming into place on June 8th, and neighboring states outside of California unprepared for the anticipated large influx of women seeking abortions, Governor Gavin Newsom announced Sunday that he plans to introduce new legislation soon to make having an abortion easier in California for Arizonans.

“The proposal would offer Arizona abortion providers an expedited way to get licensed in California to perform the procedure for their patients,” said Newsom’s office on Sunday. “Arizona AG Kris Mayes identified a need to expedite the ability for Arizona abortion providers to continue to provide care to Arizonans as a way to support patients in their state seeking abortion care in California. We are responding to this call and will have more details to share in the coming days.”

In addition to Arizona, Newsom also highlighted going up against Alabama, which is currently considering a bill to criminalize the act of helping a minor get an abortion in another state.

Alabama’s abortion ban has no exceptions for rape or incest.

Now, Republicans are trying to criminalize young women’s travel to receive abortion care.

We cannot let them get away with this. pic.twitter.com/gHbYJYlEXk

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) April 21, 2024

During MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki” on Sunday, Newsom also noted that “We’re already dealing with the absorption of people seeking reproductive care in the state of California. It’s up by 17% post-Dobbs in this state. Not enough attention has been placed on the fact that we’re not just criminalizing women’s access to reproductive care in certain states, now we’re criminalizing their travel.”

Currently, little is known about the proposed legislation, which will likely be introduced later this week. It is known that it will be an “emergency bill,” with the aim of passage as soon as possible because of the looming ban date in Arizona.

Newsom said that he hoped Arizonas could be approved in as little as 5 to 10 days for an abortion under the bill. However, other details, such as which Assemblyperson or Senator would author it, is unknown.

Amanda Hollister, a medical facility logistics manager, told the Globe on Monday that the bill needs to figure a ton out in a short amount of time.

“California is expecting a lot of abortions to come in through Arizona, especially as they are putting themselves up as the cheapest option,” said Hollister. “So you will need a lot of clinics and medical staff to handle this influx. Will you set up at the border? Will they have to come out to Los Angeles? Or San Diego? Or are they going to have a bulk of them inland, like in Riverside or San Bernardino? They say they want Arizona input. Does that include Arizona staff coming over? Because that raises so many other issues at the same time.”

“And all these out of state approvals, and transfer of records. That’s a lot of manpower handling this. We live in a digital age, sure, but things like this still require a lot of staff. Most of all, they want to put all of this in bill form in the coming few days. That’s a lot of things to cover, as well as a lot of potential money. Who is footing the bill for all these extra costs? The patient? Insurance companies? The state? Taxpayers? They need one heck of a plan in such a short amount of time. Everyone is treating this like a social thing. It’s that, yes, but we need to treat this more as a logistical undertaking. No one seems to be doing that.”

The Arizona abortion bill is expected to come out later this week.