California at the Center of New Legal Battles Over Abortion

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, California has aspired to be a national haven for abortion rights. But the reality is more complicated. Catholic hospitals in the state are refusing emergency care for miscarriages, major retailers have refused to stock abortion medications and federal lawsuits are targeting California doctors and pharmacies. We’ll talk about the cases reshaping reproductive healthcare and their potential impacts on both Californians and the nation. Guests: Mary Ziegler, professor of law, UC Davis School of Law Shefali Luthra, reproductive health reporter, The 19th, an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Support for KQED podcast comes from
0:01.9	SFBACO and Z-Space present the day the sky turned orange, a bold new musical coming this fall.
0:08.6	Tickets at SFBACO.org slash KQED.
0:15.2	Support for KQED podcasts comes from Stanford Continuing Studies.
0:20.4	This fall, joined five Stanford Medicine faculty
0:23.1	for the Stanford Medicine Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series,
0:27.2	exploring their research in health, aging, and the human experience.
0:31.5	Learn more at continuing studies.standford.edu.
0:36.6	From KQED.
0:38.0	From KQED in San Francisco. This is forum i'm mina kim a man in texas has sued a california doctor for prescribing abortion
1:01.7	medication to his girlfriend in a case that could have broad implications for access to miffipristone
1:06.7	meantime retailers like cosco under pressure from conservative groups, have declined to stock abortion medication.
1:13.7	As California tries to shield those seeking and providing abortion care from the actions of the federal
1:18.5	government and restrictive laws in other states, it's proving complicated. Five Planned Parenthood
1:24.7	clinics have closed since the passage of Trump's spending bill, as Catholic hospitals faced lawsuits were refusing emergency care for miscarriages.
1:32.3	How reproductive care is being reshaped in California. Join us.
1:40.5	Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim. An emboldened anti-abortion movement and other states' restrictive laws
1:47.3	are being felt here in California, even though Governor Newsom declared it a safe haven for abortion care
1:52.8	access since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Costco has decided it will not carry medication used
1:58.3	for abortion after pressure from conservative groups.
2:06.3	And a lawsuit against a California doctor who approved and mailed abortion pills to a Texas woman could threaten our laws that have shielded providers helping people end pregnancies in states with strict abortion bans.
2:13.3	We take a closer look at the case and the legal and political battles affecting access to abortion care here.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 9 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KQED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of KQED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.