Governor Newsom signs new landmark laws to protect reproductive freedom, patient privacy amid Trump’s war on women

“With the Governor’s signature on AB 260, California will continue to be a national leader in protecting reproductive and privacy rights,” said Assembly Majority Leader and Legislative Women’s Caucus Chair Cecilia Aguiar-Curry. “I appreciate the partnership with the Administration as we fight for the sanctity of the patient-health professional relationship, and the safety of Californians and their health providers.”

“Today, even in California, access to abortion and reproductive health care hangs in the balance. President Trump’s Administration and Republican members of Congress continue to attack reproductive health care access on all fronts, including ongoing threats to medication abortion and already successfully defunding all 109 Planned Parenthood health centers in California. And we know they won’t stop there,” said Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California CEO and President Jodi Hicks. “As Planned Parenthood fights to keep health centers open to provide the reproductive health care so many Californians rely on, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California is grateful to the Governor for signing Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry’s bill, AB 260. This significant policy will help safeguard access to medication abortion for many Californians and protect the ability of our state’s abortion providers to continue providing this life-saving care.” 

Other bills the governor signed today include:

• Assembly Bill 45 by Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) – Privacy: health data: location and research.
• Assembly Bill 50 by Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) – Pharmacists: furnishing contraceptives.

California’s actions to protect reproductive freedoms

In the years since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision, California has stepped up consistently to protect reproductive freedom, including:

• June 2025: The 25-26 budget expanded the authority of CalRx to purchase brand-name drugs. This change gives the state more tools to respond to supply chain disruptions, market manipulation, or politically motivated restrictions that could threaten access to essential medications — including medication used for abortion care.
• May 2024: Governor Newsom signed SB 233 with the Legislative Women’s Caucus, allowing Arizona abortion providers to temporarily provide abortion care to patients from Arizona who travel to California for care following the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling to reimpose a regressive 1864 law imposing a near-total abortion ban in their state. 
• January 2024: The Reproductive Freedom Alliance, led by Governor Newsom, filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Food and Drug Administration, et al., v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, arguing that, if the Court allowed the Fifth Circuit’s decision rejecting FDA’s approval of mifepristone to stand, it would undermine Governors’ ability to provide adequate healthcare services and would have far-reaching implications beyond reproductive healthcare. The Supreme Court sided with the FDA in June 2024.
• April 2023: Governor Newsom procured an emergency stockpile of Misoprostol, a safe and effective medication abortion drug, as legal challenges continue to move through the courts in an attempt to block abortion medication.
• March 2023: Governor Newsom joined 13 other Governors in calling on major pharmacies to clarify plans for dispensing Mifepristone and other actions they plan to take to safeguard access to reproductive health care drugs.
• February 2023: Governor Newsom launched the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, a coalition of 23 Governors fighting together to protect and advance reproductive freedom.
• November 2022: Voters pass Governor Newsom and the Legislature’s Proposition 1, an amendment to the state constitution to enshrine the right to reproductive freedom – including abortion care and contraception.
• September 2022: 
  • Governor Newsom launched Abortion.CA.Gov to ensure people across California, and the country, can access essential information regarding reproductive health care, including resources available to support access to care.
  • Governor Newsom, working with the Legislature, ensured California passed the largest reproductive freedom bill package in state history, building firewalls around California as a reproductive freedom state.
• June 2022:
  • Governor Newsom signed legislation to help protect patients and providers in California against radical attempts by other states to extend their anti-abortion laws into California, on the same day Roe v. Wade was overturned.
  • California invested over $200 million in reproductive health care.
  • Issued an Executive Order protecting state-held data and information from being used by out-of-state anti-abortion entities to target providers and patients.
  • Joined the Governors of Oregon and Washington to launch a new Multi-State Commitment to defend access to reproductive health care and protect patients and providers.