The Californer - Governor Newsom signs new laws expanding California's nation-leading reproductive freedom and care

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Sep 27, 2026

Governor Newsom signs new laws expanding California's nation-leading reproductive freedom and care

What you need to know: Governor Gavin Newsom continued to build on California's nation-leading protection and access for reproductive freedom, signing new legislation to support patients and families across the Golden State and bolster the state's reproductive healthcare workforce.

SACRAMENTO – As Donald Trump continues to attack reproductive freedom and women's choices regarding their own bodies, Governor Gavin Newsom today signed nine bills strengthening California's robust reproductive healthcare system, including expanding access to care for students and veterans, bolstering perinatal and postpartum care, and allowing qualified health professionals to serve more people within their training and experience. This builds on existing laws and programs that have made California the leader in protecting reproductive rights nationwide.

Freedom means being able to make deeply personal decisions without elected officials inserting themselves in pursuit of a political agenda. California is protecting that freedom and showing the nation, particularly under increasingly severe attacks by the Trump administration, what is possible when we put patients and people first — not politics.

Governor Gavin Newsom

The bills signed today add to California's nation-leading protections on reproductive and maternal health and include:

✅ Greater access to medication abortion, making medication available on community college campuses. This builds on prior legislation signed by Governor Newsom in 2022, requiring that California State University and University of California campuses offer medication abortion.

✅ Expanded medical access by expanding the ability of certified nurse-midwives, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants to perform abortions that fall within the scope of their license and training. Additionally, the bills will help save lives by allowing certified nurse-midwives to stabilize patients with an emergency medical condition or in active labor without physician supervision.

✅ Stronger reproductive care for veterans, bolstering California's position as the best state in the nation for veterans and military families. After the Trump administration imposed one of the most severe abortion bans in the country through the Veterans Affairs system, California is now ensuring that veterans have greater access to the full spectrum of health benefits they are owed, including abortion care.

✅ More support for nursing mothers, removing a requirement for preauthorization for lactation care through Medi-Cal, helping moms access this service without delay.

✅ Bolstered perinatal care and recovery, with a longer paid maternity leave for firefighters, with 26 weeks of paid maternal leave, and new resources and guidance for postpartum mothers regarding postpartum pelvic floor concerns,

The legislation signed today includes:

AB 1696 by Assemblymember Catherine Stefani (D-San Francisco) — Emergency services and care: nurse-midwives.
AB 1854 by Assemblymember Maggy Krell (D-Sacramento) — Legally protected healthcare activities.
AB 1910 by Assemblymember Tasha Boerner (D-Encinitas) — Public health: pelvic floor health advisement.
AB 1973 by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) — Abortion: authorized procedures.
AB 2160 by Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez (D-San Fernando) — Medi-Cal: lactation services.
AB 2531 by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks) — Public health: abortion services.
AB 2540 by Assemblymember Catherine Stefani (D-San Francisco) — Public health: public postsecondary education: student health centers
SB 526 by Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) — Health facilities: clinics
SB 1271 by Senator Eloise Gómez Reyes (D-Colton) — Midwifery: workforce data: availability to be a clinical preceptorship.

For the full text of the bills, visit http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.

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Governor Newsom's long record of protecting and advancing reproductive freedom

In the years since the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson decision, Governor Newsom, thanks to key partnerships in the Legislature, has stepped up consistently to protect reproductive freedom, including:

June 2026: The 26-27 budget provided an additional $50 million one-time General Fund to support reproductive health services and gender-affirming care services.
January 2026: Governor Newsom signed SB 106 by Senator John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), granting $90 million in one-time emergency funds for Planned Parenthood and other clinics providing reproductive health care services following a devastating funding prohibition in Trump's Big Ugly Bill. Total funds appropriated for this purpose are in excess of $200 million.
June 2025: The 25-26 budget expanded CalRx's authority to purchase brand-name drugs. This change gives the state more tools to respond to supply chain disruptions, market manipulation, or politically motivated restrictions that could threaten access to essential medications — including medication used for abortion care.
May 2024: Governor Newsom signed SB 233 with the Legislative Women's Caucus, allowing Arizona abortion providers to temporarily provide abortion care to patients from Arizona who travel to California for care following the Arizona Supreme Court's ruling to reimpose a regressive 1864 law imposing a near-total abortion ban in their state.
January 2024: The Reproductive Freedom Alliance, led by Governor Newsom, filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Food and Drug Administration, et al., v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, arguing that, if the Court allowed the Fifth Circuit's decision rejecting FDA's approval of mifepristone to stand, it would undermine Governors' ability to provide adequate healthcare services and would have far-reaching implications beyond reproductive healthcare. The Supreme Court sided with the FDA in June 2024.
April 2023: Governor Newsom procured an emergency stockpile of Misoprostol, a safe and effective medication abortion drug, as legal challenges continued to attempt to block abortion medication.
March 2023: Governor Newsom joined 13 other Governors in calling on major pharmacies to clarify plans for dispensing Mifepristone and other actions they plan to take to safeguard access to reproductive healthcare drugs.
February 2023: Governor Newsom launched the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, a coalition of 23 Governors fighting together to protect and advance reproductive freedom.
November 2022: Voters pass Governor Newsom and the Legislature's Proposition 1, an amendment to the state constitution to enshrine the right to reproductive freedom – including abortion care and contraception.
September 2022:
- Governor Newsom launched Abortion.CA.Gov to ensure people across California, and the country, can access essential information regarding reproductive healthcare, including resources available to support access to care.
- Governor Newsom, working with the Legislature, ensured California passed the largest reproductive freedom bill package in state history, building firewalls around California as a reproductive freedom state.
June 2022:
- California invested over $200 million in reproductive healthcare.
- Issued an Executive Order protecting state-held data and information from being used by out-of-state anti-abortion entities to target providers and patients.
- Joined the Governors of Oregon and Washington to launch a new Multi-State Commitment to defend access to reproductive healthcare and protect patients and providers.

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