FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 9, 2015
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Today, Governor Brown signed the Reproductive FACT Act, AB 775 into law.
Said Amy Everitt, state director of NARAL Pro-Choice California:
“For years, women have been speaking out about being uninformed or deliberately misinformed about their reproductive health choices. Today, Gov. Brown joined the California legislature in taking the action voters have been demanding to inform women so they can make health care decisions without interference or delay. This is what it looks like to respect women: empower us and trust us to make the best decisions for ourselves and our families.”
Said Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America:
“Anti-choice crisis pregnancy centers are ground-zero in the fight for reproductive freedom, and Gov. Brown and the California legislature can be proud of leading the first successful statewide effort to ensure that no woman is tricked into walking through doors of a CPC to be manipulated and shamed again. This is the kind of change that 7 in 10 Americans have been clamoring for—to expand access, not reduce it.”
The Reproductive FACT Act (AB 775), authored by Assembly members David Chiu (D-San Francisco) and Autumn Burke (D-Los Angeles), requires unlicensed facilities that provide pregnancy-related services to disclose that they are not licensed medical providers. Licensed reproductive health clinics must notify patients that California has programs to help them access affordable family planning, abortion services and prenatal care. This includes so-called “crisis pregnancy centers,” facilities run by anti-choice organizations that pose as comprehensive reproductive health clinics but work to block women from accessing abortion care. The bill is sponsored by NARAL Pro-Choice California, Attorney General Kamala Harris, and Black Women for Wellness.
In the lead-up to passage, NARAL Pro-Choice America organized a letter to Gov. Brown from 23 national women’s groups and 100 faith leaders called for the passage of the Reproductive FACT Act into law.
NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all Americans. NARAL works to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”
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