Sexual and reproductive health care.

Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry's comprehensive reproductive health care legislation aims to strengthen access to medication abortion and protect providers who offer these services in California. The bill removes outdated criminal penalties related to abortion while establishing new protections for health care practitioners who prescribe or dispense medication abortion drugs.

The legislation prohibits disciplinary actions against providers who prescribe mifepristone or other medication abortion drugs for uses that differ from FDA approval, except when necessary to address immediate safety concerns. It also prevents health plans and insurers from limiting coverage based solely on how these medications are prescribed. Pharmacists gain authority to dispense medication abortion drugs without including prescriber names or pharmacy addresses on labels, provided they maintain confidential dispensing logs.

For incarcerated individuals and juveniles in detention facilities, the bill eliminates restrictions on obtaining abortions beyond those in existing state law. It updates Medi-Cal provider enrollment procedures to accommodate reproductive health care services delivered via telehealth, allowing providers to establish new patient relationships through asynchronous communication for these services when requested by patients.

The measure includes provisions shielding California-licensed providers from out-of-state legal actions related to lawful medication abortion services. Health plans and insurers are prohibited from taking adverse actions against providers based on medication abortion services that comply with California law, regardless of other states' restrictions.

To enhance privacy protections, pharmacist dispensing logs for medication abortion drugs cannot be accessed by law enforcement without a valid court-issued subpoena. The bill also updates labeling requirements under California's food and drug laws to provide flexibility for medication abortion drugs while maintaining safety oversight.