State senator to introduce bill protecting California doctors who mail abortion pills to women in other states
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – A Democratic state senator in California is introducing a new bill that would protect doctors from extradition or prosecution for mailing abortion pills to patients in other states, the Washington Examiner reports.
A combination of two abortion pills are taken to terminate early pregnancies up to 10 weeks; the pills have been legal in the US for over 20 years and constitute the main form of abortion in America. Since the US Supreme Court revoked the federal right to abortion by overturning Roe v Wade last year, numerous Republican-run states have banned almost all surgical abortions; Wyoming last week became the first state to ban abortion pills.
State Sen. Nancy Skinner is set to introduce the new bill in the California Legislature on Friday, the Examiner reports. The bill only applies to doctors practicing in California; there is no protection for physicians who leave the state.
Under Ms. Skinner’s bill, California doctors would be protected from being extradited for prosecution in another state if they had provided a medical abortion, the Examiner reports. The bill would also allow state doctors to sue anyone who tries to stop them from providing abortions. “Our health care practitioners should be protected for treating their patients regardless of where their patients are geographically,” Ms. Skinner said in a statement.
Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and Vermont have introduced or passed similar legislation, the Examiner said.