California Announces Plans to Become “Abortion Sanctuary” if Roe v. Wade Overturned

California plans to become an abortion sanctuary state if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the California Future of Abortion Council revealed on Wednesday.

Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom created the council, comprised of more than 40 abortion providers and advocacy groups, in September in anticipation that the highest court will overturn Roe v. Wade in consideration of Mississippi’s abortion law in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which would allow states to set their own abortion laws.

An October 2021 report by the Guttmacher Institute showed 26 states are certain or likely to ban abortion, a move that the California Future of Abortion Council claims will increase the number of out-of-state patients whose nearest clinic would be in California from 46,000 to 1.4 million.

The California Future of Abortion Council released a report on Wednesday with 45 recommendations for the state to consider in the event the 48-year-old Supreme Court decision is overturned.

“It is imperative that California take the lead, live up to its proclamation as a ‘Reproductive Freedom State,’ and be ready to serve anyone who seeks abortion services in the state,” the report reads.

The recommendations full under seven categories:

1. The State Must Increase Investment in Abortion Funds, Direct Practical Support, and Infrastructure to Support Patients Seeking Abortion Care
2. The State Must Ensure Cost Is Not a Barrier to Care and Reimbursement for Abortion and Abortion-Related Services Is Adequate and Timely
3. The State Must Invest in a Diverse California Abortion Provider Workforce and Increase Training Opportunities for BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and people of color] and Others Historically Excluded from Health Care Professions
4. California Must Reduce Administrative and Institutional Barriers to Abortion Care
5. California Must Strengthen Legal Protections for Abortion Patients, Providers, and Supporting Organizations and Individuals.
6. California Must Meaningfully Address Misinformation and Disinformation and Ensure that Access to Medically Accurate, Culturally Relevant and Inclusive Education About Abortion and Access to Care is Widely and Equitably Available.
7. The State Must Support Efforts to Collect Data, Conduct Research, and Distribute Reports to Assess and Inform Abortion Care and Education Needs in California.

Notable recommendations to make California an “abortion sanctuary” include providing transport, childcare, lost wages, lodging, and other basic necessities such as food for those who seek abortions in California and reimbursement to abortion providers who provide services for women who cannot afford them. The group also recommends forming a coalition of states to overcome legal barriers to offering medication abortions through telehealth.

To increase the state’s capacity to handle the increased demand for abortion, the council also recommends the creation of a “California Reproductive Scholarship Corps,” which would provide scholarships to medical students training to be doctors, nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives, physicians assistants, and other healthcare professionals who pledge to offer abortion services in rural areas of the state. Other recommendations include providing “financial support for abortion service providers to access affordable insurance coverage, requiring primary care medical education programs to train students of family medicine in abortion care and miscarriage management to “increase the number of clinicians who provide these essential health services.” The group also suggests optimizing loan repayment “to increase retention and recruitment of clinicians who provide abortion by allocating funds for health care workforce programs.”  

In an effort to expand abortion access throughout the state, the report also suggests actions to “address existing barriers to abortion care later in pregnancy,” which would include providing uniform guidance to licensing boards to address disparities in how the state’s Reproductive Privacy Act is interpreted by healthcare institutions across the state to “ensure that institutions do not impose unnecessary restrictions to limit abortion care that people are entitled to access under California law.” The council also seeks to address so-called gaps in abortion care in areas served by religiously affiliated hospitals.

The report also recommends protections for individuals and abortion providers from prosecutions and criminalization of abortion or pregnancy loss, and protecting Californians from “third-party enforcement of abortion restrictions.” And while the state no longer requires parental consent for abortion services after California’s Supreme Court declared it “unconstitutional,” the report calls for a repeal of the statute, which remains in the state’s Health and Safety Code.

The council’s report offers multiple recommendations to increase funding for and expansion of sexual health education for middle- and high-school students, including the development of a “core survey” school module that focuses on sexual and reproductive health-related questions as a requirement under the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS). It also calls for funding for “culturally relevant, community-based organizations that serve and provide medically accurate, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education, including information about abortion, to communities that experience barriers to care.” The report claims the focus should be on addressing “abortion misinformation and disinformation.”

Governor Newsom told the Associated Press that California’s upcoming budget proposal will reflect some of the report’s suggestions.

“We’ll be a sanctuary,” Newsom said during an interview with AP.

On the other side of the country, New York is also looking to become a “safe haven” for women seeking abortions.

Governor Kathy Hochul announced in September that she would be taking “aggressive action” to ensure women seeking abortions know that they can come to New York.

“We’re gonna make sure that we direct all state agencies, I’m doing that right now as we speak — particularly the Department of Health — to launch a public information campaign so New Yorkers and those who come here will know all the rights they have available when it comes to abortion access,” the governor said.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who announced her gubernatorial run, has proposed funding abortions for people across the country, Forbes reported.

Meanwhile, pro-life activist and Live Action President Lila Rose reacted to California’s “sanctuary state” proposal in a tweet, saying the state will be more of a “slaughterhouse than a sanctuary.”