As cash continues to flow from blue states’ coffers into the hands of abortion activists, lawmakers in Democrat-led California found a way to keep taxpayers from finding out where their hard earned money is actually going.
California’s $20 million Abortion Practical Support Fund (APSF), approved shortly after Roe v. Wade was reversed, shields organizations receiving taxpayer-funded grants from public disclosure through an explicit exemption.
The Daily Caller News Foundation’s public records request seeking grant recipients was denied due to the exemption Democrats wrote into the law.
“It is shameful that Governor Gavin Newsom and California Democrats are concealing how taxpayer dollars are being spent to fund their abortion agenda,” Katie Glenn Daniel, director of legal affairs and policy counsel at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told the DCNF. “They are doubling down on extremism — promoting abortion tourism while abandoning women who are seeking real help and life-affirming alternatives.”
Democrats argued the exemption should be included because the privacy of patients outweighs the public’s right to information about the grantees, according to a California Senate Judiciary Committee memo from April 2022.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged the state would be a “safe haven” for women seeking abortion after the Supreme Court’s decision in 2022.
A public report on California’s APSF from January 2025 details services grant-funded organizations offered in the first year — including pharmacy expenses like pain medications to 1,343 patients, case management to 2,668, transportation to 1,172 and lodging to 630 — but does not include organization names.
“We were able to hire two part-time positions with this grant [including an] abortion services coordinator,” one unnamed organization that received a grant said in the state’s report.
California also allocated $40 million in 2022 for an Uncompensated Care Fund, which provides grants for healthcare providers to offer abortions to low-income patients, and $20 million for the Los Angeles County Abortion Safe Haven Grant Program. A nonprofit called Essential Access Health (EAH), which runs all three programs, is co-led by a former Planned Parenthood public affairs employee.
“California’s aggressive defiance of other states’ protections for babies and moms is helping drive the national toll of unborn American lives lost to at least 1.1 million a year,” Daniel told the DCNF. “At the same time, California has become one of the most dangerous places in America for unborn children — and one of the most isolating for women in need of true compassion and support.”
States “should not hide the use of tax-payer funding, especially where the state has determined that it is their public duty to intentionally end a human life in the womb,” Sarah Zagorski, senior director public relations and communication at Americans United for Life, told the DCNF.
“Unfortunately, California is not alone in trying to hide abortion behind the cloak of bureaucracy,” she said. “Numerous states have created so-called Shield Laws to keep the public in the dark and to remove accountability for abortion physicians.”
California’s Department of Health Care Access and Information and EAH did not respond to requests for comment.
Government Funded Abortions
When Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, Republican-led states instituted laws restricting or banning abortion, while Democrat states became destinations for women seeking to end the life of their unborn child.
Several Democrat-run local governments have channeled public funds to pay for abortions and related expenses.
Maryland established a “Public Health Abortion Grant Program,” which took effect July 1 and will draw on $25 million set aside from a surplus of Obamacare insurance fees. The state can now steer $2.5 million annually to assist nonprofit abortion funds whose resources have been depleted by an influx of women crossing state lines, according to NPR.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott announced in 2022 that the city would award a total of $167,900 to five organizations that facilitate access to abortions or birth control, including the Baltimore Abortion Fund and Planned Parenthood of Maryland.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) announced in January that $1.8 million would be awarded to groups promoting the availability of abortions, including the Abortion Rights Fund of Western Massachusetts, Tides for Reproductive Freedom and the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.
Jane’s Due Process, a group that helps underage girls in Texas access abortions without their parents, has received $409,430 from the City of Austin since 2020, according to city data.
The funds come from several contracts, including sexual wellness education and a birth control information text line.
Austin “has a goal of improving health and wellness outcomes among vulnerable communities and assisting low-income people with healthcare access,” a city spokesperson told the DCNF.
Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Austin in April for launching an out-of-state abortion travel fund, which also lists Jane’s Due Process as a recipient. The group claims in 2024 it helped 68 teens access abortions out-of-state and received 6,000 contacts from teens looking for abortion support or birth control.
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