California Passes Bill Allowing Omission of Patients' Names From Abortion Pill Bottles

Source: NYT

California legislators have passed one of the strongest measures so far to protect health care providers who send abortion pills to states with abortion bans and the patients who receive them.

The bill, approved by wide margins in the State Assembly Wednesday night and the Senate Tuesday, is expected to be signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. It would allow health care providers to mail abortion pills with only a minimum of identifying information: Medication labels and paperwork in the packages could omit the name of the patient, prescriber and pharmacist. The legislation is expected to have broad national impact because a majority of medication abortion services across the country use pharmacies based in California to dispense and ship the medication.

The measure is intended to make it harder for states with abortion bans to develop evidence to make legal cases against doctors and others operating under shield laws that were adopted by many states to protect abortion pill prescribers after the Supreme Court revoked the national right to abortion. It is also intended to reassure women in states with bans who seek abortions and who may be afraid to obtain prescription pills, fearing they could be identified by the authorities if their name is on the bottle.

The abortion shield laws in at least eight states prevent officials from obeying subpoenas, extradition requests and other legal actions that states with bans take against abortion providers. That is a stark departure from typical interstate practices of cooperating in legal matters.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/health/california-abortion-pill-protections.html