California plans to be sanctuary if Roe overturned
SACRAMENTO » With more than two dozen states poised to ban abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court gives them the OK next year, California clinics and their allies in the state Legislature on Wednesday revealed a plan to make the state a “sanctuary” for those seeking reproductive care, including possibly paying for travel, lodging and procedures for people from other states.
The California Future of Abortion Council, made up of more than 40 abortion providers and advocacy groups, released a list of 45 recommendations for the state to consider if the high court overturns Roe v. Wade, the 48-year-old decision that forbids states from outlawing abortion.
Some of the state’s most important policymakers helped write the recommendations, including Toni Atkins, the San Diego Democrat who leads the state Senate and attended multiple meetings.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom started the group and in an interview last
week with The Associated Press said some of the report’s details will be included in his budget proposal in January.
“We’ll be a sanctuary,” Newsom said, adding he is aware patients will likely travel to California from other states to seek abortions. “We are looking at ways to support that inevitability and looking at ways to expand our protections.”
California already pays for abortions for many lowincome residents through the state’s Medicaid program. And California is one of the states that require private insurance companies to cover abortions, although many patients still end up paying deductibles and copayments.
But money won’t be a problem for state-funded abortion services for patients from other states. California’s coffers have soared throughout the pandemic, fueling a record budget surplus this year. Next year, the state’s independent Legislative Analyst’s Office predicts California will have a surplus of about $31 billion.
California’s affiliates of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, got a sneak preview of how people might seek abortions outside their home states this year when a Texas law that outlawed abortion after six weeks of pregnancy was allowed to take effect. California clinics reported a slight increase in patients from Texas.
Now, California abortion providers are asking California to make it easier for those people to get to the state.
The report recommends funding, including public spending, to support patients seeking abortion for travel expenses such as gas, lodging, transportation and child care. It asks lawmakers to reimburse abortion providers for services to those who can’t afford to pay, including those who travel to California from other states whose income is low enough that they would qualify for statefunded abortions under Medicaid if they lived there.
It is unclear about how many people would come to California for abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned. But a recent report by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, estimated about 1.3 million more women would drive to California to seek abortions. The institute predicts most of them would come from Arizona, which has a law on the books that would outlaw abortion once it becomes legal to do so.