SACRAMENTO – As states across the country continue to impose archaic and dangerous laws to outlaw abortion and criminalize patients and providers, Governor Gavin Newsom today granted a posthumous pardon to Laura Miner, a courageous provider of reproductive health services in California from 1934 to 1948, and lifted up the state’s continued work to expand and protect reproductive rights and health care access for all.
Laura Miner dedicated her career to providing safe and accessible elective abortions at a time when punitive restrictions forced women to seek unregulated and often medically risky abortions. She was respected in the medical community as a highly skilled practitioner and served patients in need on a sliding scale. In 1949, Miner was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison for the felony crimes of abortion and conspiracy to commit abortion.
“In California, we’re never going back to a time when women were forced to seek basic health care in back rooms and underground clinics,” said Governor Newsom. “Laura Miner’s story is a powerful reminder of the generations of people who fought for reproductive freedom in this country, and the risks that so many Americans now face in a post-Roe world. Miner paid a price for taking a stand, and today we’re taking a step to right this injustice and reaffirm California’s commitment to defending the hard-won progress made by countless advocates and health care providers over the decades.”
A copy of the pardon certificate...
The incumbent Republican Congressman’s campaign told the Federal Election Commission Tuesday that the independent candidate is making false allegations to the federal agency, which is illegal. C...