By Nancy Flanders
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Sunday that he will introduce legislation this week to make it easier to get Arizona women into California for abortions. The announcement follows a recent ruling from the Arizona Supreme Court to allow a pro-life law dating back to 1864 to stand.
During an appearance on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki,” Newsom — from inside a Sacramento Planned Parenthood facility — urged pro-abortion advocates to take action against pro-life legislation that doesn’t exist. His political action committee, Campaign for Democracy, is producing ads dramatizing young women being arrested or handcuffed to a hospital bed to prevent them from traveling for an abortion.
The ads insinuate that Alabama and Tennessee are attempting to pass laws to block pregnant women from traveling out of state to have abortions and that they will be punished if they try to. The truth is, however, that the proposed laws would prevent non-custodial adults from taking minor girls across state lines for abortions without their parents’ knowledge or consent.
The laws are aimed at protecting minors, but the ads mislead Americans into thinking adult women will be arrested and detained for traveling. In other words, the ads are entirely false.
Newsom’s proposed legislation would allow Arizona abortionists to treat their patients in California by expediting California medical licenses for them. It is unclear what standards will be ignored in order to fast-track these licenses. The legislation is slated to be introduced this week through the legislature’s women’s caucus. Newsom worked with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to build the plan to secure abortions for women from Arizona.
“We’re now doing that as it relates to being a good neighbor, not just to those that seek reproductive care and reproductive freedom, but also to our neighbors, particularly in Arizona,” said Newsom. “We’ve got some ideas to help those that seek to get their care in California to have their back as well.”
In 2022, Newsom placed pro-abortion billboards using the Bible verse, “Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these,” from the words of Jesus Christ in Mark 12:31. However, the verse just prior to this begins the statement: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Newsom’s most recent remarks seem to harken back to this Biblical sentiment once again — a sentiment which is meant to honor God and others — the opposite of killing the most innocent and vulnerable human beings made in the image of God, who are also our neighbors.
Newsom claimed, “We’re already dealing with the absorption of people seeking [abortion] in the state of California. It’s up by 17 percent post-Dobbs in this state.” Claiming his spot as pro-abortion hero, he added, “No state has more responsibility, more opportunity, but bigger burden than the state of California.”
Arizona’s 1864 law protects the majority of preborn children from abortion, only allowing it to be used when a woman’s life is considered to be at risk (though induced abortion — the direct and intentional killing of preborn children — is not medically necessary).
Though it was enacted the same year that the Senate took the first step in abolishing slavery in the United States by passing the 13th Amendment, opponents have deemed it too old to be allowed to stand. But what makes a law bad is its immorality, not its age, and laws allowing the killing of innocent and defenseless human beings are immoral — and cruel.
Bonta promised, “California will continue to be a haven for those who provide and seek safe and legal abortion, including our neighbors in other states like Arizona who are forced to endure cruel and dangerous abortion bans.”
Editor’s note. This appeared at Live Action News and reposted with permission.