JD Lasica from Pleasanton, CA, US via Wikimedia Commons

Up to $20 million will be set aside by California to assist women from other states in obtaining abortions there. California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, and legislative leaders proposed an amendment to the state budget on Friday that would allow the state to spend tax dollars on out-of-state travel for abortions. This week, lawmakers are expected to vote on the proposal.

As The Daily Wire reports:

In the past, Newsom had been hesitant to create such an allocation, arguing that the funds in the “Abortion Practical Support Fund” needed to be for in-state travel, saying, “we have to be realistic about what we can absorb.”

Abortion supporters lobbied Newsom’s office on the topic for weeks before Newsom and the leaders announced the amendment. The fund will take in public funds, but it will also receive private money.

“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,” Newsom spokesperson Alex Stack told 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.”

Newsom has said in the past that California will be a “sanctuary state” for abortion, meaning women will be able to access the procedure in California if it is prohibited in their state.
California voters will decide in November whether or not to include the right to abortion and other forms of contraception in the state constitution. The concept of utilizing tax dollars to assist women in getting abortions is not exclusive to California. Leaders in St. Louis, Missouri, Cleveland, Ohio, and Columbus, Ohio, all took steps to provide government funding to assist women in obtaining abortions in other states.



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