The California governor said decisions about honoring extradition requests belong to the executive branch rather than the Legislature.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed legislation that would have further restricted the state’s cooperation with extradition requests involving abortion and gender-related medical procedures performed legally in California.
Assembly Bill 2164 sought to expand California’s existing protections for reproductive and gender-affirming care. Among its provisions, the legislation would have prohibited the governor from recognizing certain extradition demands arising from medical activity protected under California law.
Newsom said in his veto message that the authority to evaluate extradition requests is an executive function and that discretion over individual cases should remain with the governor.
Supporters argued that the legislation was needed to protect patients and medical providers from prosecution by states with more restrictive abortion and gender-treatment laws. Reproductive Freedom for All condemned the veto, saying providers and patients need stronger assurances that California will not assist out-of-state prosecutions.
Critics of the bill argued that it would further insulate abortions and gender-transition procedures from legal scrutiny in other states and could intensify disputes over whether one state should frustrate another state’s criminal laws.
California already limits cooperation with certain out-of-state investigations and court actions involving care that is legal within the state. Newsom’s veto leaves those existing protections in place while preventing AB 2164’s additional extradition restrictions from becoming law.
Related: Newsom Veto Keeps Manufacturing CEQA Exemption in Place.
