Abortion

From CalMatters’ health reporter Kristen Hwang: Doctors and patients in California can rest assured that the abortion pill mifepristone is legal to prescribe and take — for now.  Late Wednesday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the most significant part of U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling last week out of Texas that the […]

In response to calls for greater police accountability, California passed laws to make police misconduct records more accessible to the public and placed the state Attorney General’s office in charge of investigating police killings of unarmed civilians. Following the 2018 Sacramento police shooting of Stephon Clark, who was unarmed, lawmakers now require law enforcement agencies […]

A ruling that suspends federal approval for medication abortion will not be easy for California abortion access advocates to overcome. Unless it's reversed on appeal, the drug will likely be pulled from pharmacy shelves.

On March 6, Gov. Gavin Newsom sent the policy world into a frenzy when, without any notice, he tweeted that “California won’t be doing business with Walgreens,” because of the company’s decision to not distribute an abortion pill in states that banned the medication.  But it turns out that Walgreens won’t lose that much state […]

Hundreds of thousands of California rideshare drivers finally have clarity on their job classification — but it’s not the outcome unions were hoping for. A California appeals court ruled Monday that drivers can indeed be treated as independent contractors and not employees of Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other platforms, reports CalMatters’ Grace Gedye. If this […]

It’s not clear how the decision might affect those enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance program for low-income residents. Walgreens is a key provider of prescriptions for the program.

Note: The newsletter will pause until Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. Happy holidays and happy New Year! If you were reading the text of the California Constitution on Wednesday — as one does — you would have noticed a new line: “The state shall not deny or interfere with an individual’s reproductive freedom in their most […]

After months of anticipation and buildup, California’s general election came and went — and so far, things don’t look very different than they did before polls closed Tuesday night. But some of the races that could be among the most consequential for the country’s direction have yet to be decided. Early returns tabulated by CalMatters’ […]

As California voters consider whether to enshrine reproductive freedoms in the state constitution, Proposition 1 opponents argue that the amendment could enable late-term abortions.

Opponents of Proposition 1 argue it would expand California abortion law to allow late-term procedures for any reason, but the measure's supporters and legal experts dispute that interpretation.