San Francisco Chronicle

“CA, OR and WA are creating the West Coast offensive … Time to fight like hell.”

- Gov. Gavin Newsom in a tweet Sophia Bollag is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sophia.bollag@sfchronicl­e.com Twitter: @SophiaBoll­ag

whether it was constituti­onal.

Newsom said he worries Republican­s will pass a nationwide abortion ban if they win control of Congress and the White House.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Friday that he supports such a ban.

“It is incumbent on all who cherish the sanctity of life to resolve that we will take the defense of the unborn,” Pence told Breitbart News. “We must not rest and must not relent until the sanctity of life is restored to the center of American law in every state in the land.”

As California officials fought back tears talking about the ruling, Republican officials in other states cheered the decision, saying it protects unborn children.

“Texas will always fight for the innocent unborn,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wrote in a statement. “I will continue working with the Texas legislatur­e and all Texans to save every child from the ravages of abortion and help our expectant mothers in need.”

Meanwhile, Newsom, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced a joint commitment to safeguard abortion rights. Together they pledged to protect people who come to their states seeking abortion, including by shielding them and the doctors who treat them from prosecutio­n and refusing to cooperate with law enforcemen­t efforts in other states to criminaliz­e abortions.

Newsom’s office dubbed it a “West Coast offense” in response to the Supreme Court decision. They join Gov. Charlie Baker across the country in Massachuse­tts, who on Friday signed an executive order saying his state wouldn’t honor extraditio­n requests from other states related to abortion.

“I’m gonna work the Democratic governors up and down not only the Western United States, but all across this country to align our principles, align our values and express them much more forcefully,” Newsom said Friday during a news conference in Sacramento. “Red states have been doing that for some time.”

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