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California AG Pledges to Protect Abortion Rights After Trump Win

California has emerged as a safe haven for reproductive rights since the overturn of "Roe v. Wade."

California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks during a press conference in Los Angeles, California, on October 12, 2022.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) has vowed that his office will defend abortion rights following Donald Trump’s presidential win on Tuesday, saying that state leaders have developed a plan to respond to a potential federal abortion ban or restrictions on sending abortion pills by mail.

“We’ve been preparing since the Dobbs decision dropped,” Bonta told KFF News in October, referring to the 2022 Supreme Court decision to overturn the federal abortion protections established by Roe v. Wade.

In the aftermath of Trump’s win, conservatives have admitted that Project 2025 — a set of policy proposals crafted by right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation — is the blueprint for the next Trump administration. That document describes the overturn of Roe as “just the beginning,” and calls for ending the Obamacare mandate to cover emergency contraceptives, banning the mailing of abortion pills, and cutting federal funding for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.

“There’s no national abortion ban, and maybe there never will be, but we want to be ready if there is,” Bonta told KFF News. “We want to have thought through it when we had time and been able to do the in-depth and the nuanced review.”

As part of this anti-abortion policy rollout, the Trump administration may attempt to revive the Comstock Act, an 1873 law that could be used to block the mailing and distribution of the abortion pill mifepristone, along with any materials and medical equipment related to abortion care. However, Bonta has told the San Francisco Chronicle that his plan is designed to ensure that delivery of abortion medication within California is not subject to the Comstock Act.

In the past, Bonta’s office has taken legal action against a national anti-abortion group and a network of so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” for promoting unproven “abortion pill reversal” treatments. In September, he filed a lawsuit against Providence St. Joseph Hospital for allegedly denying a patient an emergency abortion. Bonta also recently reached a settlement with the city of Beverly Hills over its attempt to block the opening of an abortion clinic, and has joined other states in lawsuits concerning medication abortion, emergency abortions, and inter-state travel for care.

“We’re in a fight for freedom right now, certainly including reproductive freedom, and it’s something that I think the entire nation has some connection to, and it’s wrong for elected officials, presidential candidates, to make political decisions, to get in the way of a decision that should be made between a woman, her doctor, her faith,” Bonta told KFF News.

These lawsuits are part of a broader effort by Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democratic lawmakers to make California a “safe haven” for abortion. They have passed numerous laws to strengthen abortion protections, including enhanced privacy safeguards and restrictions on sharing patient medical information with out-of-state law enforcement. These policies have been popular with voters who, in 2022, overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment that protects the right to abortion.

On Thursday, Newsom urged state lawmakers to convene a special session in anticipation of a second Trump presidency. “The freedoms we cherish in California are under threat — and we won’t stand by,” Newsom said. His office has reportedly told The Associated Press that he and the legislature are prepared to take steps to “Trump-proof” the state’s laws.

Newsom has called for a December meeting to discuss boosting funding for the attorney general’s office to counter federal challenges to the state’s progressive policies.

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