California Gov. Newsom on Arizona abortion ban: "This is not an academic exercise. This is real life."
SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom is seeking a bold new step to open California medical facilities to Arizona doctors for abortions on their patients after the state's Supreme Court upheld an 1864 abortion ban.
Governor Newsom rolled out new legislation in a press conference on Wednesday.
"This Arizona law is the first border state law that will directly impact the state of California," Newsom said.
Newsom is crafting a proposed law to allow licensed Arizona doctors to perform abortions on their patients inside California state lines. The bill restricts doctors only to performing abortions. It does not allow Arizona doctors to fulfill other medical needs.
I asked the governor about that.
"There are doctor shortages, healthcare shortages in California, in rural California," Large said. "Why not use a tool like this for other kinds of healthcare shortages?"
"Well, we've done it for military spouses. We have a lot of other tools we have across the spectrum," Newsom said.
Reproductive freedom was enshrined into the California Constitution in 2022 in wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. The governor signed a law in 2021 allowing doctors with out-of-state medical licenses to temporarily practice in California if their military spouse was stationed here.
Michele Monserratt-Ramos is a patient advocate at Consumer Watchdog who says adding Arizona doctors to California facilities could lead to longer wait times for California women. She said the details in the proposed law are lacking.
"There are women in California who have to travel an hour or more to get to a hospital," Monserratt-Ramos said, "to get to an OBGYN to get to access their maternal services. It's a big issue."
The full language of the bill is expected to be presented Thursday.
The Arizona abortion ban is expected to take effect June 8. Newsom wants to have this new legislation passed before then.
"This is not an academic exercise, this is real life," Newsom said.
