By Joelle Boxer
Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of nine reproductive health care bills, following the passage of fifteen such bills in 2022. While the state should be lauded for its efforts, it has come up short. Recent legislation largely excludes up to 25% of the adult population: Californians with disabilities.
People with disabilities in the U.S. experience wide disparities in accessing reproductive health care, rooted in a long history of oppressive reproductive control. California should take action now to address these disparities and fulfil its goal of becoming a “reproductive freedom state” for all.
This article will examine recent movement on reproductive health care legislation in California, explain its failure to meet the needs of Californians with disabilities, and suggest a path forward in line with principles of disability reproductive justice.
Where did the legislation come from?
The 2022 and 2023 reproductive justice bill packages in the California Legislature were based on recommendations from the California Future of Abortion Council (CA FAB). Created in September 2021, CA FAB brings together organizations to “identify barriers to abortion services and recommend policy proposals supporting equitable and affordable access to abortion care for Californians and all who seek care here.”
What does the legislation say about disability?
Very little. Of the fifteen CA FAB-recommended bills that became law in 2022, only three meaningfully mention disability. Of the nine bills passed last month, only two mention disability, but in a manner unrelated to reproductive health care.
SB 1142 is an important example here. Under its mandate, California’s online abortion portal launched in September 2022, with information on abortion, legal rights, providers, and financial support. While the bill required the website to comply with accessibility standards, a coalition of groups representing people with disabilities wrote a letter to Governor Newsom in November 2022 to describe its failings. The coalition outlined user issues for blind people, deaf people, people with intellectual disabilities, people with mobility disabilities, and people who are higher weight. These included a lack of: screen readability, signing by a deaf interpreter, written language provided at or below secondary level, videos in simple spoken English, and information specifying which providers maintain physically accessible buildings and equipment.
The portal was inaccessible despite a meeting between disability advocates and Governor Newsom’s office in July 2022. The coalition requested solutions to these problems, “periodic, disability-specific stakeholder meetings,” and “a regular opportunity” to provide input into the state’s abortion rights efforts.
Neither Governor Newsom nor the California Health and Human Services Agency has publicly responded to the letter. CA FAB wrote in a follow-up report in December 2022 that “immediate improvements must be made to address accessibility issues” with the portal. These improvements have seemingly not materialized.
How can California do better on disability reproductive justice?
California can make its reproductive health care legislation more inclusive and avoid the accessibility failures of SB 1142 by pursuing disability reproductive justice. As articulated by Professor Robyn Powell, this framework encompasses five principles: 1) disrupt intersecting oppressions; 2) center disabled people as leaders; 3) protect autonomy and self-determination; 4) ensure accessible and available services and information; and 5) guarantee rights, justice, and wellness.
The most obvious step the state can take now falls under the second tenet. Of the fifty-seven CA FAB members (listed below), zero have disability in their name or mission statement. Only four, none of which are steering committee members, mention disability on their website’s “About Us” page. These dismal numbers prove that organizations representing people with disabilities are missing from CA FAB’s ranks. “Nothing about us, without us” has long been a philosophy of the disability rights movement. If CA FAB is serious in its commitment to an intersectional reproductive justice framework, it must heed this approach.
CA FAB Steering Committee Members
| ACCESS REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE | Black Women for Wellness Action Project |
| CA Coalition for Reproductive Freedom | CA Latinas for Reproductive Justice |
| Essential Access Health | NARAL Pro-Choice CA |
| National Health Law Program | Planned Parenthood Affiliates of CA |
| Office of Sen. Toni G Atkins, Senate President pro Tempore | Training in Early Abortion for Comprehensive Healthcare (TEACH) |
CA FAB Participatory Members
| ACLU CA Action | Citizens for Choice | PP of Northern CA |
| ACLU of Northern CA | Essential Access Health | PP Orange and San Bernardino |
| ACLU of Southern CA | FPA Women’s Health | PP Pacific Southwest |
| ACT for Women and Girls | Hollywood NOW | PP Pasadena San Gabriel Valley |
| ANSIRH | Ibis Reproductive Health | Plan C |
| Advocates for Youth | If/When/How | Reproductive Health Equity Project |
| All* Above All | LA Public Health Dept. | Roots of Labor Birth Collective |
| ACOG District IX | MYA Network | TEACH |
| CA Abortion Alliance | National Ctr. for Youth Law | UC Davis Health |
| CA Attorney General’s Office | Office of Asm. Rebecca Bauer- Kahan | UCLA Law Ctr. on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy |
| CA Nurse-Midwives Association | Office of Governor Gavin Newsom | UCSF Bixby Ctr. for Global Reproductive Health |
| CA Medical Association | Office of Sen. Lena Gonzalez | UCSF ACTIONS |
| CA Women’s Law Ctr. | OC Women’s Health Project | UCSF HIVE and Team Lily |
| Chico Feminist Women’s Health Ctr. | Planned Parenthood (PP) CA Central Coast | Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project |
| Choix | PP LA | Women’s Health Specialists |
| PP Mar Monte | Women’s Foundation CA |
CA FAB must add organizations that are founded by, run by, and principally focused on people with disabilities to its membership in leadership roles. Sponsors of the November 2022 letter, including Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, and Disability Rights California, are strong candidates for these positions. These groups can work with existing members to identify and implement opportunities for inclusion in CA FAB’s agenda.
As Powell puts it, people with disabilities are “the experts of their lives.” It is only through their leadership that CA FAB can achieve California’s lofty reproductive justice goals.
Research for this post was conducted with the support of Professor Michael Ashley Stein in the course Disability Rights Law. It was inspired by one of the course’s guest speakers, Professor Robyn Powell.
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