AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 1, 2025
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 17, 2025
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
97
Introduced by Assembly Members Krell and Aguiar-Curry
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bonta, Harabedian, Kalra, Nguyen, Pellerin, Ransom, Sharp-Collins, Stefani, and Zbur)
December 2, 2024
An act to add Chapter 25 (commencing with Section 27050) to Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to reproductive health.
Vote: majority Appropriation: no Fiscal committee: yes Local program: no
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST
Existing law sets forth provisions, under the California Constitution, regarding the fundamental right to choose to have an abortion. Existing law, the Reproductive Privacy Act, prohibits the state from denying or interfering with a pregnant person’s right to choose or obtain an abortion prior to viability of the fetus, or when the abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant person.
This bill, the Access to Safe Abortion Care Act, would make legislative findings about medication abortion, with a focus on use of the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol. Under the bill, the Legislature would reaffirm that it has been, and would continue to be, lawful to cause the delivery of, or mail, ship, take, receive, or otherwise transport, any drug, medicine, or instrument that can be designed or adapted to produce an abortion that is lawful in the State of California.
The bill would set forth provisions regarding the lack of civil or criminal liability, or professional disciplinary action, for accessing or administering brand name or generic mifepristone or misoprostol, among other certain conduct, or any drug used for medication abortion that is lawful under the laws of the state, on or after January 1, 2020, with this provision applied retroactively, as specified.
The bill would make its provisions severable.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) In 1973, the United States Supreme Court recognized a federal constitutional right to an abortion in Roe v. Wade (1973) 410 U.S. 113. For nearly 50 years, and through numerous challenges, the federal courts consistently upheld this fundamental right. However, in 2022, the United States Supreme Court reversed course. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) 597 U.S. 215, the Court threw out decades of precedent, overruled Roe, and concluded that there was no federal constitutional right to an abortion. In reaching that conclusion, the Court “return[ed]” the authority to regulate abortion to the “people and their elected representatives” (id. at 302).
(b) Both before and after the Dobbs decision was announced, California enacted numerous measures to protect the right to an abortion at the state level. Chief among these is Section 1.1 of Article I of the California Constitution, which states that individuals in California have a constitutional right to choose to have an abortion.
(c) California’s decision to protect access to abortion as a matter of both individual rights and sound public policy is consistent with the promise of the Dobbs decision that abortion would be entrusted to the states and the normal political processes. However, in the wake of Dobbs, there are numerous threats to access to abortion care and reproductive rights, even in California. In particular, an ongoing court case, Missouri et al. v. U.S. FDA et al., Case No. 2:22-cv-00223-Z (N.D. Tex), threatens to upend access to mifepristone.
(d) In 2000, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved mifepristone for use in the termination of pregnancy. In April 2019, the FDA approved a generic version of mifepristone.
(e) Mifepristone is usually used in combination with misoprostol to terminate a pregnancy. Misoprostol can also be used on its own to terminate a pregnancy. When mifepristone and misoprostol are used in combination, or when misoprostol is used alone to terminate a pregnancy, this is referred to as a “medication abortion,” to distinguish it from a procedural abortion.
(f) Today, providers and researchers estimate that over 60 percent of all abortions in the United States are done using medication abortion.
(g) With over 20 years of available data, medication abortion has proven to be remarkably safe and effective. Medication abortion has only a 0.4-percent risk of major complications, and a mortality rate of only 0.00064 percent. To put these figures in perspective, this is lower than the mortality rate associated with Viagra, which carries a 0.0049-percent mortality rate. Using medication abortion is also far safer than carrying a pregnancy to term, as the United States has an overall maternal mortality rate of 0.0329 percent.
(h) Instrumentalities of the State of California regularly acquire and provide mifepristone and misoprostol. The five medical centers owned and operated by the University of California, for instance, all routinely acquire and use mifepristone and misoprostol for their patients in a variety of contexts.
(i) Pursuant to the College Student Right to Access Act, each public university student health center (including at the University of California and California State University systems) is required to offer abortion by medication techniques onsite.
(j) The widespread availability of mifepristone and misoprostol, through both state instrumentalities and private actors, furthers the policies and goals of the State of California, including safeguarding the health and welfare of Californians — as a safe, effective, and accessible means of terminating a pregnancy, and by providing medical providers with safe and effective options to treat their patients under a wide variety of circumstances.
SEC. 2.
Chapter 25 (commencing with Section 27050) is added to Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
Chapter 25. Access to Safe Abortion Care Act
This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Access to Safe Abortion Care Act.
(a) Consistent with the public policy and constitutional guarantees of California, and to avoid any confusion or misinformation on the matter, the Legislature reaffirms that it has been, and shall continue to be, lawful to cause the delivery of, or mail, ship, take, receive, or otherwise transport, into California from out of state or within the boundaries of California, any drug, medicine, or instrument that can be designed or adapted to produce an abortion that is lawful in the State of California.
(b) A manufacturer, distributor, authorized health care provider, pharmacist, or individual shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability, or professional disciplinary
action, for accessing, mailing, shipping, receiving, transporting, distributing, dispensing, or administering mifepristone or misoprostol brand name or generic mifepristone or any drug used for medication abortion that is lawful under the laws of the state on or after January 1, 2020, in accordance with the laws of this state, applicable and accepted standards of care, and good faith compliance with this chapter. This subdivision shall be applied retroactively to January 1, 2020.
The provisions of this chapter are severable. If any provision of this chapter or its application is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.