Meet the Suburban Moms Helping Arizonans Get Abortions in California

SACRAMENTO —

Facing the state’s budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom needed money quickly to finance his latest ambition for California.

So he turned to an influential, fundraising-savvy voting bloc: Midwestern suburban moms.

The Democratic governor on Thursday signed into law a bill temporarily allowing Arizona abortion providers to practice in California to accommodate an influx of patients crossing the state border in the two years since the Supreme Court ended abortion rights nationwide.

As soon as Newsom unveiled it last month, Red Wine & Blue — an Ohio-headquartered organization dedicated to engaging suburban women in progressive causes — rushed to fund the initiative with the launch of the Arizona Freedom Trust. Participants nationwide have so far raised more than $100,000 for the cause, enough to help more than 200 Arizonans get abortions in California, they estimate. Their goal is half a million dollars.

“This is our largest and most direct effort to help women affected by the abortion ban,” Red Wine & Blue founder Katie Paris said in a video as she sits in front of her children’s watercolors in her home in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

“Creating the types of communities we want to live in means extending our hands and hearts to our neighbors. When we come together to care for and support each other, nothing can stop us.

Since Newsom announced the initiative, abortion concerns have calmed somewhat in Arizona: Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a bill that repeals an April court ruling that reinstated an 1864 law that would have bans most abortions in the state. Arizona Atty. Gen. Kris Mayes, a Democrat, cautioned that abortion access in the state remains “evolving” because the repeal cannot yet take effect.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruling is the impetus for Newsom’s bill, but his office said it would serve as a “critical safety net” no matter what because abortion providers Californians have reported an increase in patients since abortion access was rolled back in 2022, including Arizonians. . Even without the Civil War-era law, Arizona limits abortions to 15 weeks of pregnancy and makes no exceptions in cases of rape or incest. California generally allows abortions up to 24 weeks.

“To Arizonans of childbearing age, and those who love and support them, we stand with you, at least until you have the chance to reverse this attack on your rights on the ballot. November in Arizona,” said Assembly Member Cecilia Aguiar-Curry. (D-Winters), author of SB 233, said Tuesday after the bill was approved by the Senate.

Newsom’s decision to rely on a grassroots organization headquartered 2,400 miles from Sacramento speaks to the political power of suburban women — and the governor’s gaze beyond California.

This is not the first time Newsom has attacked other states’ abortion policies as he works to re-elect President Biden and raise his own national profile. Last month, he launched television ads in Alabama, accusing the state of banning abortion. He also signed a law last year allowing doctors from states where abortion is banned to train in California.

This time, he is embarking on a project that will allow him to break through to residents of key states. This approach also allows Newsom to advance a new initiative without dipping into California’s budget, as he makes tough decisions about how to close the state’s massive budget deficit.

Newsom spokesman Omar Rodriguez said the new legislation aims to “step in to help others” and that Red Wine & Blue is equipped to “mobilize suburban women and others across the country who are affected or deeply concerned by the regressive policies of other states.”

Even though white suburban women were among the voters who helped elect Republican Donald Trump in 2016, that same demographic shifted to help elect Biden in 2020.

Today, Biden and Trump are competing for suburban voters — and the future of abortion access is critical. A recent Wall Street Journal poll of battleground states including Pennsylvania and Georgia found that 39 percent of suburban women consider abortion issues central to their vote and most believe that Trump’s positions are too restrictive.

Sara Sadhwani, a professor of politics at Pomona College who specializes in voting behavior and interest groups, said suburban women are increasingly having influence in elections. She pointed to research that shows suburbs are becoming more racially diverse and more women are going to college. Polls have shown that college-educated voters are more likely to lean Democratic.

“The suburbs are changing. Suburban women, in particular, are becoming incredibly more diverse, which has real policy implications,” Sadhwani said. “We certainly have many more educated and outspoken women today. The feminist movements had an incredible effect on women voters… There were so many stories about how suburban women listened to who their husbands wanted them to vote for, when today we know that women Women are very independent-minded and make these choices for themselves.”

The governor’s national outreach on abortion has been criticized by Republicans who say he should pay more attention to California, which is struggling with homelessness and the cost of living. California Senate Republicans this week questioned the need for Arizona’s bill.

“Abortion is already free and ubiquitous in California,” the California Catholic Conference, which opposes SB 233, said in a statement.

In Arizona, Republicans are already working to thwart a push to put the issue of abortion rights before voters in a vote, as California did with Proposition 1 in 2022.

Arizona Rep. Rachel Jones, a Republican who voted to maintain the more restrictive abortion ban, said she was “disgusted” by Hobbs’ reversal. “Life is one of the principles of our republican program. Seeing people come back to this value is blatant to me,” she said.

Paris, the Ohio activist tapped by Newsom, founded Red Wine & Blue after the 2018 midterm elections with the aim of helping Democrats consolidate their power, a reflection of female voters who were both dismayed and inspired to getting involved after Trump’s presidency.

Since then, the organization has expanded to states like North Carolina and Michigan and tackled Republican-backed issues like book bans and LGBTQ+ school debates, in addition to rights reproductive.

“Suburban women are tired of others speaking for us, and we want to speak for ourselves,” Paris said. “We don’t all look the same, think the same, or drive matching minivans. Our lives are more complicated than that. And we’re tired of pundits and politicians telling us what we need.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn abortion rights has pushed more women to take action, Paris said. She saw hundreds of thousands of women across the country share their own abortion stories, as well as their political fears and frustrations on a massive private Facebook page run by Red Wine & Blue.

“We don’t care what’s in the glass of wine,” Paris said, referring to the name of his organization. “The important thing is that when women get together, it’s over.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.