California Governor Gavin Newsom, will sign into law a bill that will allow doctors from Arizona to perform abortions on Californian soil. After registering in California, doctors will be able to move or travel to perform interventions. They will only be allowed to treat Arizonan patients.
"Arizona Republicans tried to turn back the clock to 1864 to impose a near-total abortion ban across their state," Newsom said after approving the rule. "We refuse to stand by and acquiesce to their oppressive and dangerous attacks on women."
The governor is thus referring to the Arizona Supreme Court's decision to reinstate an 1864 law that made abortion a crime, punishable by between two and five years in prison, unless in certain circumstances where it is deemed necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman.
This week's California response includes a clause that makes the law go into effect as soon as it receives the governor's signature, with the aim of beating the abortion ban that would go into effect in June in Arizona.
But it was not only this: in addition to haggling over the decision of the neighboring state's highest court, California Democrats also targeted a law of their peers. Earlier this month, Arizona lawmakers sent the Governor Katie Hobbs office a bill to get back on track in 15 weeks.
This rule approved with Democratic votes and signed by a Democratic governor was not enough for those of the blue party on the other side of the interstate border, who clarified in a press release that their permit for abortion providers will continue to operate even when the other Arizona abortion law begins to be enforced.
The new law approved in California will take effect until November 30.
SB 233 California by Santiago Adolfo Ospital
Newsom, champion of abortion
Since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, the governor of California coined the defense of abortion at the national level as a banner of his administration. As part of his campaign in defense of abortion tourism, the Democrat contracted advertising space, both billboards and television ads, in several states. The most recent one being last month in Alabama:
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
It also protects providers against possible sanctions from other states, guarantees patient privacy "so people receiving care in California don’t have to worry about records being used against them in other states," maintains a fund to finance travel -from the trip itself to food and childcare-. All with the goal of turning California into an abortion sanctuary.
According to figures shared by Newsom's office, 160,000 people traveled to other states last year to obtain an abortion.
This is not the first time that Newsom has tried, from Sacramento, to disseminate progressive policies throughout the country. In 2022, for example, he passed a law that allows children from any state to travel to California to undergo gender surgery or affirmation therapy.
