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Newsom Signs Law Shielding Lawyers Over Out-of-State Acts
Bill Protecting Attorneys From Discipline Over Rendering Services Relating to Abortion, Gender-Affirming Care in Jurisdictions Where Procedures Are Illegal Is Approved
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill shielding attorneys from disciplinary consequences for providing services relating to abortion or gender affirming care in jurisdictions where such procedures are illegal.
Assembly Bill 1525, signed by the governor on Friday, creates a single exclusion to the provisions of the State Bar Act, which provides, in Business and Professions Code §6101, that “[c]onviction of a felony or a misdemeanor, involving moral turpitude, constitutes a cause for disbarment or suspension.”
Other sections make clear that a licensee’s having been found culpable of misconduct in another jurisdiction may serve as the basis for discipline in California.
The bill specifies that notwithstanding governing sections of the State Bar Act, “an excluded event shall not be grounds…for suspension, disbarment, or other disciplinary action, nor shall it require an attorney or applicant to report the excluded event to the State Bar, supply evidence that an attorney is culpable of professional misconduct in this state, nor serve as grounds to deny admission for any applicant for admission to practice law.”
Excluded Event
An “excluded event” is defined in the bill as a civil judgment, sanction, criminal prosecution or conviction relating to conduct “committed in the course of the practice of law,” or discipline imposed, if any such action is “based on the application of another state’s law that interferes with any person’s right to receive, provide, recommend, enable, or advocate for” services relating to abortion or gender-affirming care “that would be lawful” in California.
In legislative comments to the bill, the Senate Judiciary Committee shed light on the motivations for the bill, saying:
“As a result of the [2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson], people in roughly half the country may lose access to abortion services….In addition, a growing number of states have been passing laws putting residents who seek essential gender-affirming care at risk of being prosecuted….California has enacted laws to protect health care professionals providing sensitive healthcare services from disciplinary action by their licensing entity. This bill seeks to provide similar protections for attorneys providing legal advice and other services related to the provision of [such] services.”
Other Legislation
On Friday, the governor also signed Assembly Bill 260, which excludes mifepristone, the so-called “abortion pill,” from regulations requiring that medication labels include the name of the patient and prescribing doctor, while also prohibiting criminal, civil, or licensure consequences for health care professionals relating to the transportation of the drug.
Assembly Bill 260 also prohibits health insurance plans from limiting or excluding coverage for the medication, which was originally developed only for first-trimester abortions, relating to off-label uses, such as the termination of later-term pregnancies.
Pro-life groups have flagged the bill as expanding access to abortion for minors, who are not required to be seen in person by a doctor before the drug is prescribed for in-home use. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced last week that the Food and Drug Administration will be reviewing the safety of mifepristone after critics have raised concerns over possible health risks associated with its use.
The secretary accused the Biden administration during a Senate hearing earlier this month of “twisting the data” on mifepristone to “bury one of the safety signals” and last week signaled that “potential dangers may attend offering” the drug “without sufficient medical…supervision.”
In a press release, Newsom said:
“California stands for a woman’s right to choose. I’m proud to sign these bills to protect access to essential health care…in the face of amplified attacks on the fundamental right to reproductive freedom.”
Copyright 2025, Metropolitan News Company