California governor backs plan to pay for some abortions

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California taxpayers would assist fork out for abortions for gals who just can’t manage them beneath a new expending proposal Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday to get ready for a opportunity surge of men and women from other states in search of reproductive treatment if the U.S. Supreme Court docket overturns Roe v. Wade.

California presently pays for some abortions by its Medicaid method, the taxpayer-funded health insurance plan system for the bad and the disabled.

But some women do not qualify for Medicaid and do not have private health and fitness insurance policies. When that happens, clinics will in some cases carry out abortions for cost-free, known as “uncompensated treatment.” Wednesday, Newsom mentioned he would like the state to give $40 million value of grants to clinics to assistance offset those expenses.

An abortion can price in between a number of hundred pounds and a handful of thousand bucks in California, relying on how significantly together the pregnancy is and what type of insurance plan a client has.

“California will not stand idly by as extremists roll back our basic constitutional legal rights we’re going to battle like hell, earning positive that all females – not just individuals in California – know that this condition continues to recognize and guard their essential rights,” Newsom reported in a information release.

When the grants could perhaps shell out for abortions for women of all ages from other states, the dollars would not pay back for those people gals to vacation or continue to be in California.

A bill in the Democratic-managed point out Legislature would set up a fund to aid pay out for the logistics of acquiring an abortion in California, like things these kinds of as journey, lodging and kid care. The California Legislative Women’s Caucus has requested Newsom for $20 million to set into that fund. But Newsom’s announcement on Wednesday did not incorporate that money.

Newsom spokesman Alex Stack stated the governor omitting that dollars from Wednesdays announcement “doesn’t imply that any of these points are off the desk.” Stack said the governor is “working with the Legislature on a wide selection of proposals.”

Abortion advocates did not appear upset at the omission on Wednesday. Jodi Hicks, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, praised Newsom’s announcement, declaring it will “will go a lengthy way” to guard abortion obtain “for people who live in this article and these who may possibly be forced to seek care here.”

Democrats in the point out Legislature have proposed 13 costs to make abortions less difficult to get in California. Newsom has now signed a single of them into legislation — a invoice that will make abortions less costly by banning private insurance plan plans from charging co-pays or deductibles for the technique. The other proposals are shifting via the Legislature.

Anti-abortion advocates have opposed these proposals in California, but blocking them will be hard. Polling exhibits a majority of California voters assist abortion rights, such as a vast majority of Republicans.

The $40 million Newsom introduced Wednesday is element of an extra $57 million in proposed new paying out on abortion. He introduced options to expend $15 million on a general public training marketing campaign, $1 million to develop a internet site listing available abortion providers in California and $1 million for exploration into “unmet needs for access to reproductive health treatment services.”

Any new investing have to to start with be authorized by the state Legislature. Lawmakers should pass a budget by June 15.