Newsom signs emergency bill to aid Arizona abortion patients and doctors

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Wednesday that will give Arizona doctors temporary, emergency licenses to perform abortions in California in the wake of an Arizona Supreme Court decision outlawing the procedure that was based on an 1864 law.

The legislation, SB233 (co-written by Democratic state Sen. Nancy Skinner of Berkeley and Asm. Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry of Winters) will allow licensed Arizona doctors in good standing to provide abortions and abortion-related care to Arizona patients traveling to California through Nov. 30. It went into effect immediately. 

“With Governor Newsom’s signature on SB233, our Arizona sisters can come to California to get the health care they need from their own doctors, who they know and rely on. And their Arizona doctors can come to California without worrying about being sent to prison — the penalty under Arizona’s 1864 law,” Skinner said Thursday in a statement. “Once again California has made it crystal clear for all who need or deliver essential reproductive care: We’ve got your back.”

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