California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statement on April 1 in response to the Florida Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the state’s 15-week abortion ban, which paves the way for a six-week ban to take effect next month.
“If you are no longer able to get abortion care in your home state, California has the resources and support available to help you exercise your reproductive freedom,” he said.
The governor also criticized the ruling, saying it “severely restricts reproductive freedom and cuts off access to care before many women even know they are pregnant.”
“For the past six years, Gov. DeSantis has put up a freedom façade so he could systematically cut down people’s rights based on his own personal political agenda.
“Today, yet another right was stripped away from Floridians through Gov. DeSantis’s anti-rights agenda—millions of Floridians and women in neighboring states with total bans will now no longer be able to access essential reproductive health care on their own terms,” Mr. Newsom said.
In a 6-1 ruling on Monday, the court upheld Florida’s 2022 15-week abortion ban, which includes exceptions to save the pregnant woman’s life, prevent physical harm, or in cases where the fetus has a fatal abnormality.
The six-week ban, passed in 2023, was designed to take effect a month after the 2022 law was upheld.
With the court’s decision, Florida joins most of its surrounding southeastern states in having a ban on all or most abortions.
In contrast to Florida, California allows abortion up to the point of viability, when the fetus could survive outside the uterus without requiring extreme medical interventions, typically around the 24th week of a pregnancy. Abortions after the point of viability are permitted only if a physician determines that continuing the pregnancy would endanger the life or health of the mother, according to abortion.ca.gov.
Additionally, under state law, individuals traveling to California for the procedure are protected, and the state offers various programs to cover their travel expenses.
