SACRAMENTO — The California Future of Abortion Council (FAB Council), comprised of more than 50 organizations from across California, released a new report highlighting 48 policy recommendations that state leaders and lawmakers can pursue to protect and expand abortion access in the state as attacks from the Trump Administration, Congress, and federal courts seek to devastate the abortion and reproductive health care safety net nationwide, including in California.
The FAB Council’s third report comes at a time when Planned Parenthood health centers and other abortion providers are currently barred from receiving payment with federal funds for reproductive health services provided to Medi-Cal patients – effectively defunding them in states like California. These and other imminent federal attacks on abortion care pose an existential threat to the stability of California’s reproductive health care safety net and endangers access to essential services for countless Californians in urban and rural communities alike.
While state leaders have enacted and implemented nation-leading abortion protection legislation, as well as continue to prioritize critical investments in reproductive health care, California still must do more to meaningfully protect abortion access as a Reproductive Freedom State. This new report builds on the state’s successes, while further preparing California for ongoing attacks to abortion and reproductive health care by a hostile, anti-abortion federal government. “Since the overturning of Roe, California has led the way nationwide in protecting and expanding abortion access for all people in our state. Yet nonetheless, we are not immune to the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans’ unrelenting attacks against the reproductive freedom we have fought so hard for here in California,” said Sylvia Castillo, Executive Director of the California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom, which houses the FAB Council. “It is essential that California leaders protect the progress we’ve made in expanding access to equitable abortion care and uphold the state’s legacy as a beacon of reproductive freedom. The FAB Council’s new recommendations report provides a roadmap to do just that.”
“An organization that defends health care rights for low-income and underserved individuals and communities, NHeLP reiterates that abortion is health care,” said Fabiola De Liban, National Health Law Program’s Senior Director of Sexual Health and Reproductive Health. “We are pleased to continue to work towards a future where abortion isn’t just legal – but also accessible, affordable, and supported for anyone who steps foot in California. Lack of abortion access hardest on Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, people with disabilities, people in rural areas, young people, immigrants, and those having difficulty making ends meet. The fundamental right to make decisions about our bodies, lives, and futures is essential to the pursuit of health equity and racial, reproductive, and economic justice. We are ready to work with our state policy makers to meet this crucial moment in our nation’s history.”
The California FAB Council members will continue to work with state leaders to advance and implement the policy recommendations outlined in this report to protect abortion access in the state. Read the full report here.
The California FAB Council was launched in 2021 by reproductive health, rights and justice advocates – with support from Governor Gavin Newsom and state legislative leaders – to identify barriers to abortion access and recommend policy solutions to expand equitable and affordable access to abortion services for all who seek care in California. The FAB Council developed two successive reports (in 2021 and 2022) outlining recommendations to expand access to abortion care in anticipation of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
