Gov. Gavin Newsom Signs Legislation to Make Abortions Free in California

“This bill would prohibit a health care service plan or an individual or group policy or certificate of health insurance or student blanket disability insurance that is issued, amended, renewed, or delivered on or after January 1, 2023, from imposing a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other cost-sharing requirement on coverage for all abortion and abortion-related services, as specified,” the bill states.

“The bill would require that for a contract, certificate, or policy that is a high deductible health plan, the cost-sharing prohibition would apply once the enrollee’s or insured’s deductible has been satisfied for the benefit year,” it continued, adding that the bill would not cover experimental or investigational treatments.

As the Associated Press noted, the bill is seen as a preemptive response if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

California has a similar bill, one of 14 proposals aimed at expanding and protecting access to abortion in the nation’s most populous state. The bills were inspired by a report from the Future of Abortion Council, a group Newsom convened last year to advise him about how to respond if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

“We’re looking at 26 states that will introduce some sort of ban and restriction on abortion, so you have the other half of the country that will need to prepare for how we take care of those patients,” said Jodi Hicks, CEO and President of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. “We’re all imagining and trying to prepare correctly for what that impact will be.”

Jennifer Siebel Newsom made the following remarks:

In the face of nationwide attacks on reproductive rights, CA has taken action to improve access to reproductive care by removing costly barriers. Thankful to @SenGonzalez_33 & @CaWomensCaucus for working to ensure all pregnant people are able to access the healthcare they need. https://t.co/iIKXZbLJqj

— Jennifer Siebel Newsom (@JenSiebelNewsom) March 23, 2022

But as Trending Politics explained, this adds to California’s disturbing legacy of being a state to push abortion and eugenics:

California has a long dark history of celebrating both abortion and eugenics. From the early 1900s through the 1970s, the state of California imposed sterilization on females who were regarded to be mentally ill or to have physical impairments, according to the state’s guidelines. According to some estimates, more than 20,000 inhabitants of California were sterilized during the Eugenics movement in the state.

A report by CBS states that the most recent sterilizations happened in 2013, at which time the state of California sterilized over 144 women in jail using coercive techniques to achieve its sterilization goals. Crime, poverty, and overcrowding in cities were all problems in California during the early 1900s, so officials came up with the horrifying concept of sterilizing women who they feared would give birth to non-productive individuals and introduce them into society.

More than 20,000 people were forced to undergo sterilization under California’s decades-long eugenics program. Now, the state is prepared to spend $7.5 million to find and pay surviving victims reparations. https://t.co/3duT1i0pIQ pic.twitter.com/zQeZsZXBNl

— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 11, 2021