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Despite California’s financial struggles, Governor Gavin Newsom and the state’s Democratic leadership are prioritizing funding for abortion services.
In a recent decision, Governor Newsom allocated $90 million in public funds to Planned Parenthood. This move aims to compensate for recent federal funding reductions. Critics suggest that with abortion being a significant issue for liberal leaders, they could potentially secure these funds from private sources.
This financial support for abortion services comes amid California’s ongoing fiscal challenges, marking the fourth consecutive year of budget deficits. Lawmakers have openly recognized these persistent financial shortfalls.
While projections can vary, the economic trend is clear.
Advocates for the Planned Parenthood funding argue it was crucial. They point out that clinic closures were already impacting access to “reproductive health care.” According to them, California had to act to prevent further reductions in essential services.
But this was never about a funding emergency. In truth, it was about priorities.
In January, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the Trump administration over a reported $10 billion freeze on federal funds for social services. The lawsuit warned of real harm. Programs would be strained. Vulnerable populations would be at risk. California, Bonta argued, couldn’t absorb such a blow.
And yet, only weeks later, Sacramento found $90 million. Not for foster care systems already stretched thin. Not for wildfire prevention ahead of another brutal season. Not for water storage, infrastructure repairs, or relief for families struggling with rent, fuel, and food.
The money was found for abortion services, declared so essential that no fiscal restraint could touch them.
Newsom’s record leaves little ambiguity. In October, he announced more than $140 million in emergency state “investment” to prop up Planned Parenthood, keeping more than 100 clinics open after federal cuts — even as California staggered through another red ink cycle.
On Wednesday, as he signed the new bill, Newsom revealed the depth of his commitment to abortion. “Planned Parenthood is an extraordinary organization,” Newsom said, calling it “a point of pride” to step in and confront what he described as “assault and attacks on women.”
The message is clear. California will subsidize abortion, shield its providers, and challenge other states’ rules restricting the practice — regardless of cost, or moral difficulties.
There’s a distinct difference between tolerating something and promoting it, between allowing and underwriting. Once the state moves from neutrality to sponsorship, the ground shifts.
Abortion ceases to be framed as a tragic last resort and becomes something closer to an essential public service — endorsed, defended, and insulated from budget discipline.
There are also unanswered questions about oversight. Planned Parenthood operates as a national institution, backed by deep political ties, steady funding streams, and decades of coordinated advocacy. It maintains a virtually permanent presence in statehouses and courtrooms. It shapes legislation as much as it responds to it — commanding media, legal, and fundraising operations that place it among the most influential nonprofit actors in American politics.
Meanwhile, California carries an enormous debt load. Medi-Cal faces growing gaps. Education spending is protected, while classrooms keep failing. Families and businesses continue to leave, shrinking the tax base that supports everything else.
The cruelty lies in the contrast. Californians facing daily strain are told there’s no money to spare. Roads crumble. Insurance retreats. Schools deteriorate.
But when a favored political cause demands funding, the money appears. The same state that warns of disaster from frozen federal funds quickly finds millions when priorities align.
This moment signals a dark direction: a state edging away from compromise and toward compulsion, where disputes are settled not through debate but through snap decisions on taxation and spending.
That direction matters because it’s unfolding in a state where abortion has already become routine and expansive. California records more than 183,000 abortions each year, averaging around 500 every single day. That means thousands each week, tens of thousands each month.
The numbers point to an entrenched system shaped by culture, policy and repetition. The new infusion secures it further.
For anyone who believes unborn life has value, California’s decision is particularly appalling.
Budgets reveal values. California has revealed its own.
Life in the Golden State is no longer treated as something to defend, but as a problem to dispense with at public expense.
Even when there is no money to spend.
John Mac Ghlionn is an essayist and commentator who covers politics and culture.