California is slated to set aside over $20 million to try and assist women from other states to get access to abortion after traveling to the Golden State.
This past Friday, Democratic Governor of California Gavin Newsom and various other legislative leaders unveiled an amendment to the budget of the state that would allow California to spend public money for out-of-state travel to have abortions carried out. Lawmakers are slated to carry out their vote concerning the measure at the end of the week, as reported by the Associated Press.
Previously, Governor Newsom had been quite hesitant to bring forth such a budget allocation request, making the argument that the funds within the “Abortion Practical Support Fund” needed to be for all in-state travel, stating, “we have to be realistic about what we can absorb.”
Supporters of abortion attempted to lobby Newsom’s office concerning the topic for multiple weeks before Newsom and the other leaders officially announced the new amendment. This fund will make use of taxpayer money, but it will also be open to receiving private donations.
“As the Governor has stated, California is doing its part, but we cannot do it all — private donations and philanthropy will be critical to these efforts,” explained Alex Stack, a spokesperson for Newsom, to the AP. “We all need to step up to support women who are being denied reproductive freedoms by their state governments and are forced to come to California for abortion care.”
Newsome has stated previously that California will set itself up as a “sanctuary state” for all abortion, which means that women will be able to go there for access to abortion procedures even if it is prohibited within their home state.
This coming November, the voters of the state of California will officially choose whether or not to codify the right to abortion and various other contraceptive measures within the state’s constitution.
The reason for using taxpayer funds to help women get abortions is not a unique one to California. St. Louis, Missouri, as well as Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, have all sported leaders that have taken action to set aside tax money to pay for women to get abortions in other states.
A big of the funds in California would end up being directed to Access Reproductive Justice, California’s only statewide abortion fund. Jessica Pinckney, the director of the group, stated that they have recently been experiencing more out-of-state women than those who are native to California.
“We’re definitely seeing an increase of Texans and Arizonians. We’re also starting to see folks coming from Louisiana, Alabama — much further than we would have even anticipated,” stated Pinckney. “I still don’t necessarily think we have the full story of what things are going to look like now in this post-Roe era.”
California Family Council, a pro-life group, has been lobbying hard against the funding.
“The idea that the most pressing use of state funds would be to pay for people from red states to fly here to have abortions on the California taxpayer dime is really just a travesty,” expressed president Jonathan Keller.
