Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new bill expanding abortion rights in the state on Friday.

Newsom described himself as “pissed, resolved, and angry” when he signed the law.

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“Never would this happen if men were the ones having babies – ever – and you know that, and I know that. Every damn person knows that. And that’s the elephant in the room,” Newsom stated. “Because women are treated as second-class citizens in this country. Women are treated as less than. Women are not as free as men. That’s pretty damn sick.”

California’s new law, enacted by the state legislature on Thursday, will safeguard anybody performing, helping, or obtaining an abortion in the state from any prospective legal action originating outside the state. AB 1666 protects not only California residents, but also anyone visiting the state in search of reproductive health care.

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The new law is one of more than a dozen bills being considered by the legislature to strengthen and safeguard abortion access. Other proposed legislation would strive to address the core causes of reproductive health disparities, strengthen privacy safeguards, and allow qualified nursing staff to perform first-trimester abortions.

The outrage over the court’s decision was not restricted to Newsom.

“This decision is unique. It is historical. It is unprecedented in a horribly tragic way,” Rob Bonta, California Attorney General stated. “This decision is an attack on privacy, on freedom, on self-determination on equality. This decision is an attack on women. It’s an attack on women’s equality. It’s an attack on pregnant people.”

Other lawmakers accompanied Bonta and Newsom in their efforts to tighten the state’s legislation and ensure that women in other states with more restrictive rules know they may travel to California for health care.

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“California is a safe haven for those who seek abortion care. Abortion remains fully legal in California. Today’s decision does not impact our state’s laws. You have the right to an abortion here,” Bonta declared. “In California, we refuse to turn back the clock and let radical ideologies exert control over your body.”

“This is a dark day for our little girls and all our children who will now come of age in a nation with fewer rights, fewer freedoms and fewer protections than the generations before them,” Bonta’s voice trembled as he said. “That is not progress.”

California has also sponsored an amendment to the state constitution that would make reproductive health care a basic right, which will be voted on by the people in November.

Also read: Republican states pull the ‘trigger’ on abortion ban after Roe v Wade overturn

The amendment reads as follows, “The state shall not deny or interfere with an individual’s reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives. This section is intended to further the constitutional right to privacy guaranteed by Section 1, and the constitutional right to not be denied equal protection guaranteed by Section 7. Nothing herein narrows or limits the right to privacy or equal protection.”

“I hope if nothing else, this decision wakes people up,” the California governor stated.

“This is not just about choice, it is not just about reproductive freedom,” Newsom persisted, citing marriage equality, interracial marriage, and transgender rights as examples. “They’re coming after you next,” he alarmed.