California lawmakers unveiled two new pieces of legislation to protect abortion access in the state ahead of President-elect Trump’s return to the White House in January.
The first of the two bills seeks to protect Californians’ access to abortion, particularly medication abortion.
Under the bill, manufacturers and distributors of abortion medications as well as authorized health care providers and others would be protected from any civil, criminal, or professional liability when “transporting, distributing or administering” medication abortion in the state, according to a statement from the California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
The bill would shield Californians from legal or professional consequences if the incoming Trump administration tries to ban the mailing and distribution of abortion medication like mifepristone, the statement added.
The second would allow the Attorney General to fine local governments in California for blocking or otherwise obstructing abortion providers from opening.
“I want to make it unequivocally clear: California will remain a safe haven for reproductive rights and access to abortion care, no matter who is in the White House,” Bonta wrote in a statement. “We have been preparing for this moment, and today’s legislation doubles down on our commitment to protect those seeking reproductive healthcare, including access to medication abortion.”
The full texts of both bills have yet to be released.
During the campaign trail, Trump said that he would not invoke an 1873 law called the Comstock Act to ban the mailing of abortion drugs if he was re-elected in November telling CBS News that the federal government should “have nothing to do” with the issue.
The move angered some conservatives and members of the pro-life movement who found Trump’s stance on abortion “cowardly.”
But the application and enforcement of the Comstock Act have changed numerous times over the last century. The Biden administration’s Department of Justice determined the law only applies to abortion materials when the sender “intends for the material or drug to be used for an illegal abortion,” according to KFF.
Since abortion drug use is legal in all states to save the life of a pregnant person, “there is no way to determine the intent of the sender,” according to KFF.
Still, many abortion-rights activists are reluctant to take the former president at his word and fear he might try to use the 150-year-old obscenity law to stop the distribution of medication abortion drugs in the mail, particularly mifepristone.
