Mifepristone

Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed Assembly Bill 2164, which sought to write into law his 2022 executive order shielding California medical providers from extradition for providing abortion care—including mailing medication abortion drugs—to patients in states with stricter bans. The bill, authored by Assembly Member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, would have also extended those extradition protections to providers of gender-affirming care, amid a wave of state bans targeting such care for minors.

Newsom argued extradition decisions are an "exclusively executive function" and warned against a legislature binding a future governor's authority. Abortion rights groups, including the Guttmacher Institute and Reproductive Freedom for All, sharply criticized the veto, saying it leaves providers vulnerable if a future governor reverses course—a concern amplified by Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton's shifting position on extradition. Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra has said he would not extradite providers. The veto follows Louisiana's attempted extradition of a Bay Area doctor earlier this year, which Newsom denied, and comes as nearly two dozen states have enacted their own shield laws on reproductive health or gender-affirming care.

Arguments began Wednesday in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in a Louisiana lawsuit seeking to roll back a Biden-era FDA rule that allows mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortions, to be prescribed via telehealth and sent by mail. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill filed the suit last October, arguing the telehealth policy—made permanent in 2023 after being loosened during the pandemic—violates state law, which has banned abortion since the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade. A Louisiana woman, Rosalie Markezich, joined as a plaintiff, alleging she was given mifepristone by her boyfriend after it was mailed by a California doctor; related arrest warrants against out-of-state prescribers in California and New York were not honored by those states.

The Fifth Circuit previously froze the FDA rule for Louisiana before the Supreme Court restored telehealth access pending further litigation. A ruling could reshape nationwide mail-order abortion access and may eventually reach the Supreme Court. Telehealth accounted for about 29% of U.S. abortions last year.