Newsom battles abortion foes
Gov. Gavin Newsom's latest moves to defend abortion rights are aimed at a neighbor, plus a Deep South state.
Targeting Arizona, he is pushing legislation to make it easier for that state's residents to obtain abortion services in California, following the Arizona high court's ruling upholding an 1864 abortion ban, Politico reports. Under the bill, Arizona abortion providers could get licensed in California under an expedited process, in as few as 5 to 10 days, increasing the physician workforce to treat additional patients from Arizona. He plans to unveil the bill this week as an emergency measure with the Legislative Women's Caucus.
Brandon Richards, a Newsom spokesperson, said that the California government is “coordinating closely” with the Arizona governor's office and its attorney general in response to the court's “shocking resurrection” of the ban.
And aiming at Alabama, Newsom is launching a new TV ad today, through his Campaign for Democracy PAC, that blasts a bill in that state that would make it a crime to help minors obtain an abortion without informing a parent or guardian, including by harboring or transporting a girl.
Newsom previewed the ad Sunday in an appearance on MSNBC, in which he was interviewed from a Planned Parenthood clinic in Sacramento.
Newsom, on Republican states that are imposing abortion restrictions: “We're not just criminalizing women's access to reproductive care in certain states, now we're criminalizing their travel.” Newsom and Democratic allies in the Legislature have acted to make California even more of an abortion rights haven ever since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in June 2022. Democrats approved a series of new laws and successfully persuaded voters to enshrine abortion rights in California's constitution in November 2022.
Democrats are counting on abortion rights as an issue that can galvanize their voters in November. Newsom is a top cheerleader for President Joe Biden's reelection campaign. On MSNBC's “Inside with Jen Psaki,” the governor also called former President Donald Trump “a liar” for declaring recently that he wouldn't sign a national abortion ban.