California Legislative Action to Protect & Expand Abortion
Did you know that abortion providers, advocates, and pro-abortion legislators created a comprehensive plan to turn California into an abortion sanctuary state for the entire country? In 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom put together the California Future of Abortion Council in an effort to make this a reality. In their initial report, they made 45 recommendations (and added 16 more over the years) to ensure and expand abortion access.
Here is a summary of their initial proposal.
To pay for 1.4 million abortions for non-state residents (page5)
To pay for associated costs surrounding abortion (page 6).
To make abortions free to everyone (page 7).
To make late-term abortion easier (page 10).
To pressure faith-based hospitals into the abortion business (page 10)
To legally protect do-it-yourself abortionists (page 11).
To eliminate consequences for illicit drug use during pregnancy (page 11).
To ensure insurance companies hide abortions of minors from parents (page 11).
To target pro-life pregnancy centers for persecution (page 11).
To gather student information about sex lives and beliefs through CA Health Kids Survey (page 12)
Their progress is included in their 2026 report.
California is considered one of the most abortion protective states in the country. California passed and implemented 30 new laws and investments since 2021 (when Roe v Wade was overturned) to protect and fund abortions. Although they are dismayed by the 2025 federal budget reconciliation bill (HR 1), that prohibit certain abortion providers – primarily Planned Parenthood health centers – from receiving federal reimbursement for services rendered in Medicaid, CA is resolute in their goal to protect and expand access to abortion. As of 2022, CA has committed over $200 million in investments and continues to enact new laws protecting abortion and contraception rights.
A PDF CAFAB 2022-2025 Summary of Successes reviews their recent activity. Below is their stated progress towards their goals in their own words:
State Budget Investments to Expand Abortion Access
The historic $200+ million state budget investments made in 2023 to expand access to abortion and sexual and reproductive health care included:
$40 Million for the Uncompensated Care Grant program established by the CARE Act
$20 Million to launch the California Abortion Practical Support Fund
$15 Million for equity and infrastructure payments for clinic abortion providers in Medi-Cal
$20 Million for reproductive health care provider scholarships/loan repayments
$20 Million for reproductive health center physical and digital Infrastructure and security
$20 Million to establish the Reproductive Health Service Corps to provide abortion training programs for all members of the healthcare team
$20 Million to fund the Los Angeles County Abortion Safe Haven pilot program
$20 Million for premium subsidy payments for abortion coverage
$15 Million to establish the Reproductive Justice and Freedom Fund
$10 Million for backfilling lost Title X Federal Family Planning funds
$8 Million for family planning, access, care and treatment, and HPV vaccine coverage
$4 Million to create abortion.ca.org and for research on unmet reproductive health care needs
$15 Million for a grant program through an 1115 federal demonstration waiver focused on access to family planning services.
2025 State Legislation
AB 40 (Bonta): EMTALA – Intended to expand the definition of “emergency services and care” to include abortion and other reproductive health services for health facilities and health care service plans, thus mandating emergency rooms to provide, and health plans reimburse, for these services. ACTIVE BILL
AB 54 (Krell and Aguiar-Curry): Access to Safe Abortion Care Act – Helps ensure that Californians maintain access to medication abortion by shielding manufacturers, distributors, authorized healthcare providers, and individuals from any civil, criminal, or professional liability when legally transporting, distributing, or administering Mifepristone in California. 2-year bill. ACTIVE BILL
AB 67 (Bauer-Kahan): Reproductive Privacy Act Enforcement – Intended to grant the Attorney General theauthority to enforce the Reproductive Privacy Act by investigating and taking legal action against violations and imposing civil penalties of up to $25,000 for violations. DIED
AB 260 (Aguiar-Cury): Legal Protections Related to Medication Abortion – Protected access to medication abortion drugs regardless of federal action to restrict care by clarifying state authority for Mifepristone use, protecting providers and facilities that offer medication abortion, affirming use and coverage of Mifepristone by health plans, and making necessary clarifying changes to existing law. ENACTED
AB 551 (Krell): Reproductive Health Emergency Preparedness Program – Intended to establish the Reproductive Health Emergency Preparedness Program (RHEPP) to expand and improve access to reproductive and sexual health care in emergency departments across California. The program would be funded through legislative appropriations or private sources and administered by HCAI in collaboration with California-based organizations. DIED
AB 45 (Bauer-Kahan): Privacy: Health Care Data – Prohibited release of research records with personally identifying information in response to a subpoena or request that would enforce a hostile state’s laws; restricted geofencing to collect data of individuals located in or near family planning facilities. ENACTED
AB 1500 (Schiavo): Sexual and Reproductive Health Information Act – Intended to require the state website abortion.ca.gov to be maintained to share timely and accurate information about abortion access in California, provide linkages to time-sensitive care, combat disinformation, and to be updated to serve as a central repository for the health care workforce, researchers, and members of the public to access evidence-based, medically-accurate sexual and reproductive health information, research, data, and resources. DIED
2024 State Legislation
AB 2085 (Bauer-Kahan): Planning and Zoning: Ministerial Approval: Community Clinic – Streamlined the clinic permitting process and improved enforcement of constitutionally protected access to care. ENACTED
AB 2099 (Bauer-Kahan and McCarty): Crimes: Reproductive Health Service – Updated specified some penalties for violations of the California FACE Act. Specifically, updated from a misdemeanor to wobbler the offense of hate crimes and doxxing; updated from a misdemeanor to wobbler for second offenses of physical obstruction that keeps someone from accessing a repro health center, and for videotaping within 100 feet of a health center with intent to intimidate; updated to a felony the first violation of destroying property of a repro health center; and lastly, updated to a felony for second violation of someone using force or threat of force and obstructs, injures or intimidates someone from accessing repro health care. ENACTED
AB 2339 (Aguiar-Curry): Medi-Cal: Telehealth – Aimed to require Medi-Cal to cover asynchronous telehealth services and address barriers to accessing care via mobile apps and other asynchronous modalities. VETOED
AB 2490 (Petrie-Norris): Reproductive Health Emergency Preparedness Program – Intended to establish the Reproductive Health Emergency Preparedness Program (RHEPP) for the purpose of expanding and improving access to reproductive and sexual health care – including treatment for pregnancy loss and miscarriage, and abortion care – in emergency departments across the state. VETOED
AB 2670 (Schiavo and Holden): Awareness Campaign: Abortion Services – Intended to require the department of Public Health to develop an awareness campaign to publicize the internet website abortion.ca.gov. VETOED
SB 233 (Skinner and Aguiar-Curry): Expediting Authority for Arizona Abortion Providers to Offer Care in California – Temporarily allowed licensed Arizona doctors to provide abortion and related care to Arizona patients traveling to California through November 30, 2024. ENACTED
2023 State Legislation
AB 90 (Petrie-Norris): Contraceptive Device Coverage – Aimed to expand Family PACT coverage and reimbursement policies to ensure uninsured or underinsured individuals receiving inpatient postpartum or gynecologic care have options to receive long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) in conjunction with that care. ENACTED
AB 254 (Bauer-Kahan): Confidentiality of Medical Information – Protects sensitive data collected by fertility tracking and sexual health digital services by adding this category under the purview of the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act. ENACTED
AB 352 (Bauer-Kahan): Health Information Privacy – Prohibits the sharing of abortion and abortion related medical records through electronic health records systems with out-of-state entities without the patient’s authorization. ENACTED
AB 571 (Petrie-Norris): Medical Malpractice Discrimination – Protects the ability of providers to obtain malpractice insurance and prohibits an insurer from refusing to insure a health care provider solely because they offer abortion or contraception and prohibits an insurer from charging an arbitrary fee or surcharge to a health care provider for providing those services. ENACTED
AB 576(Weber): Medication Abortion Equity Act – Intended to align Medi-Cal coverage of medication abortion with evidence-based clinical guidelines. Enacted via administrative action. VETOED
AB 598 (Wicks): Sexual Health Education and HIV Prevention Education – Aimed to expand 7th-12th grade sexual health education to include local resources and require that students receive a physical or digital resource detailing local resources. ENABLED
AB 710 (Schiavo): Public Education Campaign: Pregnancy Care and Abortion – Intended to require the State Department of Public Health to launch an awareness campaign to work with local health departments, health care providers, and the public to raise awareness about the services offered by facilities that provide pregnancy and abortion services. DIED
AB 793 (Bonta): Reverse Demands – Intended to prohibit a government entity or any court in California or another state from seeking or enforcing a reverse keyword or reverse location demand. DIED
AB 1194 (Carrillo): Privacy Rights Act Exemptions – Clarified that a business exempt from compliance with California Privacy Rights Act does not include a consumer accessing, procuring, or searching for services regarding reproductive health, including abortion services. ENACTED
AB 1432 (Carrillo): Health Care Coverage – Intended to require all out-of-state health care insurance providers who provide coverage to California residents to comply with California’s laws that require coverage of abortion and gender affirming care. VETOED
AB 1481 (Boerner): Care for Pregnant People – Renamed the Presumptive Eligibility for Pregnant Women (PE4PW) program to the Presumptive Eligibility for Pregnant People (PE4PP) program and requires the Department of Health Care Services to ensure that a pregnant person continues to receive, past the 60 days period, immediate temporary coverage for prenatal care under PE4PP until their full-scope Medi-Cal application is approved or denied. ENACTED
AB 1646 (Nguyen): Guest Rotations for Medical Residents – Expanded an exemption for a physician training license to allow for out-of-state medical residency programs to directly contract with abortion training sites in California to facilitate training through guest rotations. ENACTED
AB 1707 (Pacheco): Shield Law Protections – Expanded licensing protections to all healing arts licensees, clinics, and health facilities and expands those protections to credentialing and privileging to protect providers of abortion in California. ENACTED
SB 345 (Skinner): Shield Law Protections – Built on existing protections to ensure reproductive health care providers are able to provide care to patients – including protections in circumstances when the patient is not located in California; provided protections of geolocation data; and provided protections and remedies from abusive out-of-state litigation attempting to enforce hostile laws. ENACTED
SB 385 (Atkins): Abortion Training – Aligned the training requirements for aspiration abortion for Physician Assistants with Nurse Practitioners and Certified Nurse Midwives. ENACTED
SB 487 (Atkins): Abortion Provider Protections Shield Law – Ensures that a health insurer, Medi-Cal, or health care service plan cannot penalize a licensed California health care provider who performs abortion or gender-affirming care services and prohibits insurers from discriminating or refusing to contract with a provider sanctioned in another state for providing care that is legal in California but prohibited in another state. ENACTED
2022 State Legislation
AB 657 (Cooper): Expedited Licensure for Abortion Providers – Requires the Medical Board, the Osteopathic Medical Board, the Board of Registered Nursing, and the Physician Assistant Board to expedite the licensure process of an applicant who can demonstrate that they intend to provide abortions in California. ENACTED
AB 1242 (Bauer-Kahan): Reproductive Rights – Prohibits a peace officer from arresting a person for performing or aiding in the performance of a lawful abortion or for obtaining an abortion and prohibits law enforcement agencies from cooperating with or providing information to an individual or agency from another state regarding a lawful abortion. Prohibits specified corporations from providing information to out- of-state entities regarding an abortion. ENACTED
AB 1666 (Bauer-Kahan): Civil Liability – Protects patients and providers from civil liability judgments for providing reproductive health care to patients when the claims are based on laws in other states that are hostile to abortion rights and are contrary to the public policy of California. ENACTED
AB 1918 (Petrie-Norris): California Reproductive Health Service Corps – Established a Reproductive Health Service Corps that includes abortion training programs for the entire healthcare team, improving the education pipeline for providers and creating a more robust and diverse workforce. ENACTED
AB 2091 (Bonta): Medical Privacy – Enhances privacy protections for medical records related to abortion care under California’s Reproductive Privacy Act against disclosures to law enforcement and out-of-state third parties seeking to enforce hostile abortion bans in other states. ENACTED
AB 2134 (Weber): California Abortion and Reproductive Equity Act (CARE Act) – Established the California Reproductive Health Equity Program to provide grants to health care providers who provided uncompensated abortion and contraceptive care to patients with low-incomes. EnactedAB 2205 (Carrillo): Abortion Premium Transparency – Requires qualified health plans under Covered California to report annually to the Department of Insurance and Department of Managed Health Care the total amounts of funds collected in the segregated abortion accounts to create greater transparency. ENACTED
AB 2223 (Wicks): Decriminalization of Abortion & Pregnancy Loss – Created clear and consistent guidance regarding existing protections under the Reproductive Privacy Act to protect people from prosecutions and criminalization of abortion or pregnancy loss. Enacted AB 2320 (C. Garcia): Reproductive Health Care Pilot Program – Intended to establish a pilot program to direct funds to community health clinics that provide reproductive health care services in 5 counties to address health disparities. ENABLED
AB 2529 (Davies and Calderon): Certified Nurse Midwives – Intended to add certified nurse-midwives to existing provisions establishing a state medical contract program with accredited medical schools and hospitals. DIED
AB 2586 (C. Garcia): Reproductive Justice and Freedom Fund – Created a grant program to fund community- based organizations who provide and promote medically accurate, comprehensive reproductive health information and sexual health education. ENACTED
AB 2626 (Calderon): Abortion Provider Protections – Protects abortion providers by preventing the Medical Board of CA from revoking or suspending a medical license for a licensee providing abortion care in CA and in other states. ENACTED
SB 245 (Gonzalez): Abortion Care Cost-Sharing – Eliminated cost-sharing and co-pays for abortion services covered by commercial health plans. ENACTED
SB 1142 (Caballero and Skinner): Access + Support for Abortion Patients – Established the Abortion Practical Support Fund to provide grants to increase patient access to abortion and created a website with comprehensive and accurate information regarding accessing abortion services in California. ENACTED
SB 1245 (Kamlager): Los Angeles County Abortion Access Safe Haven Pilot Program – Established a reproductive health pilot project in LA County to support innovative approaches and patient centered collaborations for abortion. ENACTED
SB 1375 (Atkins): Nurse Practitioners and Access to Reproductive Care – Allows Nurse Practitioners who meet specified criteria to practice independently, without physician supervision, including first-trimester abortion care. ENACTED
SCA 10 (Atkins): Reproductive Freedom Constitutional Amendment – Safeguards reproductive freedom in California. The resolution was signed, and Proposition 1 was placed on the 2022 November election ballot. Proposition 1 passed with more than 65% of the vote. ENACTED
Sources: https://www.cafabcouncil.org/. Birth Choice Centers do not support the efforts to expand abortion services within our state but wish to accurately reflect the desires of our state government in their pursuit of this goal. For this reason, descriptions of the goals set and achievements made have not been edited, nor has any evaluation of these actions been included.