California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to media Thursday, September 23, 2021 in Sequoia National Park before signing a $15 billion climate package into law that will help bolster the state's response to climate change. Drought Wild Fire Prevention
Sacramento, California – Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a sharp rebuke of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after Kennedy called for the Food and Drug Administration to conduct a “complete review” of mifepristone, a widely used abortion medication that has been FDA-approved since 2000 and is used in over 60% of abortions nationwide.
Newsom criticized Kennedy’s request as being based not on scientific evidence but on politically motivated misinformation. The push stems from claims made by the Ethics & Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank known for its longstanding opposition to reproductive rights. Despite more than two decades of clinical data and a well-documented safety record, Kennedy is seeking a reevaluation of the drug’s approval status.
“This is yet another attack on women’s reproductive freedom and scientifically-reviewed health care from an HHS Secretary who just yesterday said in a Senate hearing: ‘I don’t think people should be taking medical advice from me,’” Newsom said in a statement. “California will continue to protect every person’s right to make their own medical decisions and help ensure that mifepristone is available to those who need it.”
Governor Newsom has made access to reproductive health care a priority since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. California has implemented sweeping protections to ensure reproductive freedom for both residents and those traveling to the state for care. In the 2025–2026 May budget revision, Newsom proposed expanding CalRx’s authority to purchase brand-name drugs, a move designed to shield the state from politically motivated disruptions to essential medications like mifepristone.
Newsom’s administration has taken several concrete steps to safeguard abortion access. In May 2024, he signed SB 233, allowing Arizona abortion providers to temporarily practice in California following Arizona’s revival of a near-total abortion ban. Earlier, in January 2024, Newsom’s Reproductive Freedom Alliance filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the FDA’s original mifepristone approval — a position the Court upheld.
The state has also stockpiled alternatives like misoprostol, pressured pharmacies to clarify access to abortion medications, and launched the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, a 22-state coalition defending abortion rights. In 2022, California voters approved Proposition 1, enshrining reproductive freedom in the state constitution.
