A California bill aimed at enabling abortion access to residents of Arizona, where a restrictive abortion policy is set to go into effect, has landed on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) desk.
On Tuesday, the fast-tracked Senate Bill 233 was approved by the California State Senate after passing through the State Assembly. The bill would offer an expedited avenue for licensed doctors in Arizona to become licensed in neighboring California in order to bypass the restrictive Arizona law.
“As much as we talk about women’s rights, the decision over one’s own body is still in question in the United States,” Democratic state Sen. Aisha Wahab said. “California is a state where we try to provide for every single community, especially our neighbors who are suffering.”
A nonprofit organization has pledged to cover the fees of licensing the Arizona doctors in California. In Arizona, a restrictive 1864 abortion ban is set to go into effect for part of the summer after the state Supreme Court ruled the ban was enforceable.
“Arizona Republicans continue to put women in danger — embracing a draconian law passed when Arizona was a territory, not even a state,” Newsom said in a statement when he unveiled the bill last month. “California will not sit idly by. We’re urgently moving legislation to allow Arizona doctors to provide safe and reliable reproductive care to Arizonans here in California.”
Newsom is expected to sign the bill into law next week upon his return from a trip to Italy. A spokesperson for the governor’s office said allowing Arizona doctors to practice in California could ease the strain on California abortion clinics.
Planned Parenthood of California, however, believes it can accommodate those who seek abortions from other states and has been planning for laws such as Arizona’s to go into effect.
“To be clear, Planned Parenthood in California has been preparing for and already absorbing more out-of-state patients for several years,” spokeswoman Shelby McMichael told Politico in a statement. “PPAC welcomes any additional statewide tools that support abortion providers and our collective ability to serve patients—no matter the state they call home.”
In the wake of the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling, Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) signed legislation into law that would revert Arizona back to its 2022 abortion law, which is less severe but still bans abortion in all cases including rape and incest after 15 weeks.
Because Arizona requires new legislation to go into effect 90 days after the legislature adjourns, there will be a period of time this summer when the 1864 ban is enforceable before the 2022 law goes back into effect.
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Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said she would not prosecute physicians who perform abortions nor those who seek them. Newsom said he was in contact with Mayes regarding the California legislation.
“[Mayes] inspired this framework and she inspired this support, and we have been in contact,” Newsom said. “As it relates to the particularities — the peculiarities — of the legislation, we have not been working with her counsel in that respect, but certainly the spirit of what she was looking for.”