Arizona doctors will be able to provide legal abortions under a new California law that Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed Thursday.
The bill was fast-tracked through both chambers in the California legislature in about a month. It will allow Arizona physicians who have performed an abortion in the last two years to apply to be temporarily licensed to practice in neighboring California.
“Arizona Republicans tried to turn back the clock to 1864 to impose a near-total abortion ban across their state,” Newsom said in a statement. “We refuse to stand by and acquiesce to their oppressive and dangerous attacks on women.
“I’m grateful for the California Legislative Women’s Caucus and all our partners for moving quickly to provide this backstop,” the statement continued. “California stands ready to protect reproductive freedom.”
Earlier this year, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that an 1864 near-total ban on abortion was enforceable. In the wake of the ruling, Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) signed legislation that will revert the state to its 2022 abortion law, which is less severe but still bans abortion in all cases, including rape and incest, after 15 weeks. In California, abortion is legal until “viability.”
Arizona state law, however, requires new legislation to go into effect 90 days after the legislature adjourns, so there will be a period of time this summer when the 1864 ban is enforceable before the 2022 law goes back into effect.
Newsom was in contact with Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes on 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.”
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Mayes has said she would not prosecute physicians who perform abortions nor those who seek them in Arizona, prompting some California critics to say the law was not needed.
The law will allow Arizona doctors to practice in California through Nov. 30, 2024.