California Bill Seeks To Provide Abortions, Trans Treatment In States Where It’s Banned With New Bill Protecting Doctors

A new bill in California, SB 345, seeks to protect doctors who provide abortion medication by mail to women in states where the medication, or the procedure itself, is banned. It would also permit the distribution of controversial transgender medication, such as puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones, in states where local laws would prohibit it.

The new bill would allow people who are patients of a doctor in California to obtain abortion medication or trans medication, even if the state they are in prohibits it. Notably, the bill protects medical providers in California from punishment, but not the out-of-state patients or California doctors who leave the state to provide the care in person.

“California health care practitioners will be able to provide essential reproductive and gender-affirming care that is legal in California, regardless of their patient’s geographic location, knowing that California is doing everything it can to protect them against the draconian laws of other states,” boasted Democratic State Sen. Nancy Skinner, author of SB 345.

Skinner says SB 345 would permit doctors to “prescribe and dispense medications for abortion and contraception that are safe to patients regardless of where the patient is located,” “provide gender-affirming care and deliver that care regardless of where the patient is located,” and “bring suit in California against anyone who interferes with the health care provider’s right to provide care that is legal in California.”

Politicians in the blue state, including Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, have promoted California as an abortion destination since recent legal pro-life wins, which have coincided with a pandemic-charged population loss in the Golden State. Moreover, Newsom, in September, signed a bill making California a so-called sanctuary state for child gender surgery.

Critics say the law infringes on states’ rights.

“The arrogance of such a proposal is astounding,” said Blaine Conzatti, president of the Idaho Family Policy Center, according to Fox News. “It flaunts the traditional relationship between states and would upend our federal system altogether.”

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Abortion is banned in most cases in some 13 states, and numerous other states have requirements relating to how abortion medication mifepristone is dispensed. The Biden administration first allowed mifepristone to be sent by mail and stopped enforcing a rule requiring women to get the drug in person at a clinic or hospital during COVID. The removal of the in-person requirement was made permanent in January, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it would allow pharmacies to become “certified” so they can dispense the abortion medication to people who have a prescription. Mifepristone is widely used in the U.S. making up more than half of all abortions, an estimated 54%.

Numerous states, including Tennessee and Mississippi, have outlawed controversial transgender medication and surgeries on minors.

Related: Newsom Signs Bill Making California Sanctuary For Child Gender Surgery

Black DEI Director Says She Was ‘Bullied’ Out Of Job, Called A ‘White Supremacist’ For Considering Perspectives Of All Races

The director of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at a California college said she was “harassed and bullied” out of her job because she wanted to consider the perspectives of people from all races equally. 

Dr. Tabia Lee, who is black, told The New York Post that faculty at De Anza College in Cupertino, California, labeled her a “white supremacist” after she pushed to “create safe spaces for everyone.” Lee said that during her review for tenure, she was denied and will be out of a job on June 15. 

“Some people wanted me to create spaces that were just safe for them, and that’s not my mission as an educator,” Lee said. “That’s not what I’m here to do.”

Lee worked for years as a middle school teacher and adjunct professor before she landed the job as the DEI director at De Anza in 2021. In that position, one she described as a “dream come true,” Lee focused on designing workshops to promote inclusion, the Post reported. But after starting at De Anza, Lee said she was subject to “daily, endless harassment right from the start.” 

On one occasion, Lee said she questioned why school communications capitalized “Black” but not “white.” She pointed to recommendations from the National Association of Black Journalists, which advises that all racial groups should be capitalized. 

“For that, I was accused of being a white supremacist,” she said. “These constant accusations of calling people racist or calling them a white supremacists or saying that they’re aligned with right wingers — that’s such ridiculousness. It’s very damaging.”

Lee attempted to set up a summit to address anti-Semitism after Jewish students and faculty came to her, saying they experienced anti-Semitism on campus, but she said some co-workers argued that an event for Jewish people wasn’t important because they too are white oppressors. 

The DEI director also said she received flak from her co-workers after she declined an invitation to join a campus socialist network.

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“I do not identify as a liberal or a conservative or a Republican or a Democrat or a libertarian or socialist or a communist or a feminist,” she told the Post. “I don’t identify with any of those labels, so I just had no interest in being a part of that.”

Lee said there are others like her in DEI positions who “are trying to do it in an inclusive way … actually being inclusive,” but she lamented that “those people are targeted for elimination and neutralization … by people who are working from extreme ideologies.” 

Lee has not ruled out taking legal action against the college.

De Anza’s Coordinator of Communications Paula Norsell responded to Lee’s accusations, telling the Post that “faculty members have comprehensive due process and appeal rights both under the law and negotiated through their bargaining unit.”