As the legal battles in Arizona rage on over abortion, California has stepped in to protect abortion rights for residents of its neighbor state.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 233 Thursday to allow Arizona abortion care providers in good standing to register to provide abortion care on a temporary basis in California to patients from Arizona, effective immediately through November 30th if an absolute ban goes into effect, even temporarily.
The law also intends to facilitate continued access to care when Arizona’s 15-week abortion ban goes into effect.
“We live in a post-Roe world where women live without access to basic reproductive care and even face criminalization for seeking an abortion while the men who impregnate them face no scrutiny nor negative legislative consequences,” Newsom said in a statement.
“California will remain a safe harbor, ready to defend abortion access because we value women’s health and trust women to make the most intimate decision about their bodies, health, and futures.”
Gov. Newsom signed the bill, which was authored last month by Democratic Sen. Nancy Skinner of Oakland and Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry of the Legislative Women’s Caucus, against the backdrop of Arizona’s Supreme Court voting in early April to restore an archaic abortion ban from 1864.
That law provided no exceptions for rape or incest and allows abortions only if the mother’s life is in jeopardy. The majority opinion also suggested that doctors could be prosecuted and sentenced to up to five years in prison if convicted
The ban was quickly repealed by Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbes, but the legislation remains in a bureaucratic thicket, leaving the immediate future of abortion rights in the state uncertain.
California shares a roughly 200-mile-long border with Arizona.