U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Expanded Access

California

Abortion will remain legal in California. The state’s highest court recognized abortion rights under the California Constitution in 1969, four years before Roe. State law protects the right to personal reproductive decisions. In November 2022, Californians approved Prop 1, which explicitly adds abortion and contraception rights to the state constitution.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, Viability

Restrictions

California law generally prohibits abortion at viability.1

State Protections

California has enshrined in statute a protection for abortion as a fundamental right.2 The law provides:

The legislature finds and declares that every individual possesses a fundamental right of privacy with respect to personal reproductive decisions. Accordingly, it is the public policy of the State of California that: (a) Every individual has the fundamental right to choose or refuse birth control. (b) Every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child or to choose and to obtain an abortion, except as specifically limited by this article. (c) The state shall not deny or interfere with a woman’s fundamental right to choose to bear a child or to choose to obtain an abortion, except as specifically permitted by this article.0

Furthermore, California has strong state constitutional protections for the right to abortion. California recognized the existence of the right of procreative choice under the state constitution four years before the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Roe decision.3 The state constitution includes an explicit protection for privacy and this provision has been interpreted as protecting the right to abortion.4 Additionally, in November 2022, voters approved an amendment to the state constitution, which specifies that the constitution protects the fundamental right to choose abortion and to choose or refuse contraception.5

California authorizes certain advance practice clinicians (APCs) to provide medication or aspiration abortion care during the first trimester.6 California also provides public funding for abortion7 and requires private insurance coverage of abortion.8 The state protects clinic safety and access by prohibiting the obstruction of health-care facilities.9 The state prohibits anti-abortion center from providing ultrasounds. 10

In 2022, California enacted interstate shield laws protecting providers, patients, and people who help others access abortion from out-of-state civil investigations, legal actions, and civil judgments.11 Another 2022 interstate shield law prohibits police from arresting people aiding or obtaining abortions in California and from cooperating with law enforcement in other states regarding abortions that are lawful in California.12 In 2023, the state enacted interstate shield laws to protect providers from licensure consequences,13 insurance and Medicaid consequences,14 professional liability insurance consequences, 15 create choice of law provisions, 15 and provide for clawback suits.15 State law prohibits a person from being subject to criminal or civil liability related to pregnancy outcomes, including miscarriages, stillbirths, and abortions.18 The state also enacted data privacy provisions to prohibit data collection19 and require enhanced security for medical data.20

California created an Abortion Practical Support Fund that would provide financial and in-kind assistance to people seeking to obtain an abortion in California, and appropriated $20 million for the fund.21 In order to expand abortion access in Los Angeles, the state appropriated $20,000,000 to establish the Los Angeles County Abortion Access Safe Haven Pilot Program.22

 

Post-Roe Prohibitions

California does not have a pre-Roe ban, as the state legalized some abortions before Roe was decided.23

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, abortion will remain legal in California. The state’s highest court recognized abortion rights under the California Constitution in 1969, four years before Roe. State law protects the right to personal reproductive decisions. In November 2022, Californians approved Prop 1, which explicitly adds abortion and contraception rights to the state constitution.

  1. CAL. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE u00a7 123468. ↩︎
  2. CAL. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE u00a7 123462, CAL. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE u00a7 123466. ↩︎
  3. People v. Belous, 458 P.2d 194, 199 (Cal. 1969) (“[t]he fundamental right of the woman to choose whether to bear children follows from the Supreme Court’s and this court’s repeated acknowledgement of a ‘right of privacy’ or ‘liberty’ in matters related to marriage, family and sex.”). This case was decided before the California constitutional privacy protections were added to the state constitution in 1974. ↩︎
  4. CAL. CONST. Art. I, u00a7 1 (Added 1974); Comm. to Defend Reprod. Rights v. Myers, 625 P.2d 779 (Cal. 1981) (striking down limits on Medicaid coverage for abortions, finding that all women possess a fundamental constitutional right to choose abortion under the California constitutional privacy provision); Am. Acad. of Pediatrics v. Lungren, 940 P.2d 797 (Cal. 1997) (invalidating parental-consent requirement). ↩︎
  5. A res. to propose to the people of the State of Cal. an amend. to the Const. of the State, by adding Section 1.1 to Article I thereof, relating to fundamental rights, Sen. Const. Amend. No. 10, 2022, https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SCA10. NYTimes, California Proposition 1 Election Results: Constitutional Right to Reproductive Freedom, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/11/08/us/elections/results-california-proposition-1-constitutional-right-to-reproductive-freedom.html (Last accessed Nov. 9, 2022). ↩︎
  6. CAL. BUS. & PROF. CODE u00a7 2253 (b). ↩︎
  7. (154)(154) Committee to Defend Reprod. Rights v. Myers, 29 Cal. 3d 252, 625 P.2d 779 (Cal. 1981). ↩︎
  8. Michelle Rouillard, Director of Department of Managed Health Care letter to Mark Morgan, California President of Anthem Blue Cross, RE: Limitations or Exclusions of Abortion Services. August 22, 2014. S.B. 245, 2022 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2022) to be codified at CAL. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE u00a7 367.251 and CAL. INS. CODE u00a7 10123.1961. ↩︎
  9. CAL. CIV. CODE u00a7 3427.1. ↩︎
  10. A.B. 1720, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2023) to be codified at Cal. Health & Safety Code u00a7 123621. ↩︎
  11. A.B. 1666, 2022 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2022) codified at Cal. Health & Safety Code u00a7 123467.5. ↩︎
  12. A.B. 1242, 2022 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2022); S.B. 345, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2023) to be codified at Cal. Penal Code u00a7 847.5 (prohibiting the issuing of warrants for the provision of reproductive healthcare, punishing bail bondsmen who take people into custody, and requiring out-of-state orders to include an affidavit that these orders are not related to legally protected healthcare activity). ↩︎
  13. A.B. 1707/S.B. 345, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2023) to be codified at Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code u00a7 850.1. ↩︎
  14. S.B. 487, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2023) to be codified at Cal. Health & Safety Code u00a7 1375.61, Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code u00a7 14043.6. ↩︎
  15. S.B. 345, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2023) to be codified at Cal. Civ. Code u00a7 1798.300. ↩︎
  16. S.B. 345, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2023) to be codified at Cal. Civ. Code u00a7 1798.300. ↩︎
  17. S.B. 345, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2023) to be codified at Cal. Civ. Code u00a7 1798.300. ↩︎
  18. A.B. 2223, 2022 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2022); S.B. 345, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2023) to be codified at Cal. Penal Code u00a7 187. ↩︎
  19. S.B. 345, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2023) to be codified at Cal. Civ. Code u00a7 1798.99.90. ↩︎
  20. A.B. 352, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2023) to be codified at Cal. Civ. Code u00a7 56.101; A.B. 254, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2023) to be codified at Cal. Civ. Code u00a7 56.05. ↩︎
  21. A.B. 179, 2022 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2022). ↩︎
  22. A.B. 100, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2023). ↩︎
  23. Therapeutic Abortion Act, CAL. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE u00a7 25950 et seq. (West Supp. 1971). ↩︎