Written by William Hale
A new bill crafted by California Democrats would enable nurse practitioners to complete abortions without the supervision of a doctor. As of now, California law states that nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants are allowed to perform abortions on patients prior to their 13th week of pregnancy with doctor supervision.
San Diego Democrat and State Senate leader Toni Atkins suggests that the bill would essentially respond to abortion restrictions in conservative states like Texas and Mississippi. Democrats are also anticipating a supreme court ruling on a number of abortion-related cases this summer — if the court overturns Roe v. Wade (1973) then state governments will once again be allowed to ban abortions.
“As states like Texas and others start to restrict further abortion, it just makes sense that women are going to find other places to go. California will be one of those states,” said Atkins. California Democrats want the state to become an abortion hub for women across the country, and they are willing to enact unprecedented measures like subsidizing women’s travel expenses in order to do so.
Last month a proposal that would use taxpayer dollars in order to pay travel, lodging, child and food care costs for women looking to get an abortion in California was filed by Democrats. Jonathan Keller of California Family Council said that Atkins bill would be “a tragic example of the legislators putting abortion numbers above abortion safety and putting ideology above patients.”
Keller noted how radical the proposal truly is by noting that “We’re not flying people from poor states to California to get heart transplants.” Indeed, California’s progressive legislators have demonstrated a rather extreme approach to the highly sensitive issue of abortion.
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