California Lt. Governor on abortion care: 'We're getting ready' for out-of-state patients

California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, enshrining abortion rights in the California Constitution, expanding capacity for out-of-state patients, and the outlook for reproductive care in the state.

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: Welcome back to Yahoo Finance Live. We are continuing to track the fallout from that landmark decision that came down last week with the Supreme Court overturning Roe versus Wade. California voters now expected to decide in the fall whether to enshrine the rights to abortion and contraceptives in the state constitution. This, of course, comes after that decision on Friday.

And to talk more about this, let's bring in the Lieutenant Governor of California. We've got Eleni Kounalakis joining us from Washington, DC today. And lieutenant governor, it's good to talk to you today. I'm going to get to that ballot measure that is officially going to be voted on in November in just a bit. But in the statement you put out last week following this decision from the Supreme Court, you said that you expect a 3,000% increase in the number of women coming to California to seek care. And I wonder to what extent you've already started to see that inflow as a result of what played out on Friday.

ELENI KOUNALAKIS: Well, we had started to see it over the course of the last few months. But we are expecting it to increase pretty dramatically. You were talking earlier about companies across the United States who are-- which are telling their employees that if they need access to care, they will get that assistance from their companies. So when we're already seeing this kind of mobilization, well, where are those women going to go? They're going to come to states like California.

So we are preparing the way to expand our capacity for women from other states to access care. And we're also doing other things. We're building a website so that women can go online to figure out if I need to go to California, how do I get there? What can I do? What kind of assistance, what kind of programs, what kind of philanthropic assistance exists?

And then we're also doing things, Akiko, like, if a woman comes here, what if her home state decides to subpoena her medical records to see what she was doing in California? So we're building the legal infrastructure that will also help protect women who come to California. So, yeah, we're getting ready.

AKIKO FUJITA: Let's talk about SCA 10. This is the legislation that you co-sponsored, which, essentially, would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. It's officially on the ballot for the November election now. Why take this route?

ELENI KOUNALAKIS: Well, it's a really big deal. Voters are going to go to the ballot in November and decide whether or not to change the California constitution to enshrine the right to access abortion and contraception directly in the state constitution. So we're really very organized and ready to bring this to the people of the state of California. And we expect that it will be broadly supported. And it will help us by taking this really pretty extreme step by putting something so explicit in our state constitution, that this is going to help us protect the right to access these things over time in our state.

Abortion is legal in the state of California. As we know, what the Supreme Court did is it put it to the states. So it is legal in California. But what we have heard from Mitch McConnell is that if Republicans win more power in Washington, win the Congress, win the White House, they're going to go after us in our state. And so we are going to get ready to fight for our states' rights.

But of course, we're also going to work hard to make sure that there are Democrats in the federal government to not just ensure that California women will be protected, but women across the country can get this right back to them as a protection under the Constitution, which, of course, we strongly believe that we have a right to that protection in our Constitution.

BRIAN CHEUNG: Lieutenant Governor, it's Brian Cheung here. I wanted to ask just kind of to elaborate on the first question about the infrastructure in California. It implies if there are people coming from other states, that there will need to be more doctors. There will need to be, perhaps, more supply chain of different types of products. You're already seeing rationing right now of Plan B and contraceptives, emergency contraceptives right now. Wondering how you're thinking in the immediate aftermath of last Friday's decision about what California needs to do to make sure that infrastructure is there for people that are trying to come in.

ELENI KOUNALAKIS: Well, Brian, it's actually not that complicated. We know what we need in order to be able to provide that care. What we have to do is have the resources to do it. So that's why the governor and the legislature are allocating funds in order to scale up the clinics and the providers that we already have in place. And we're going to continue to invest in that, again, not just for California women, but because in California, we believe that all American women should be protected by the Constitution in order to be able to make their decisions over their bodies.

And if the other states are not going to do it, if we have, as we do, this radicalized Supreme Court that is trying to strip away this fundamental right to-- that women have enjoyed for 50 years, have had for 50 years, we will do everything possible to scale it up to provide it and be a safe haven in California.

AKIKO FUJITA: And on that front, we did hear Governor Newsom last week talk about setting aside $20 million in the state budget over the next three years to specifically help women travel to California and pay for necessary abortions. How is that going to be distributed? How are you thinking about allocating that $20 million?

ELENI KOUNALAKIS: So we are the largest state in terms of population. We're a state of 40 million people. And we are the fifth largest economy in the world. We have the infrastructure. These funds are going to go to scale it up. You know, and here at Select USA, there are companies and investors looking at foreign direct investment into the United States from around the world. And what I'm hearing is that California is now being recognized and differentiated from other parts of the country because we believe in basic human rights. A basic human right is women having control over our bodies.

So this is what we're doing. We have the capacity to scale up and to fill this role. California is not the radical element here. But we really are going to continue to provide this access and this right that has existed for women in the United States for 50 years. We're going to keep doing it. And we know how.

BRIAN CHEUNG: And I want to rewind to what you had said earlier on about some of the other issues that are linked to this as well, like, for example, data privacy and data sharing. For someone that travels from a state that maybe has a trigger law now to California to get a procedure done and that state asks for things and data about what they've done in California, that maybe you won't share that data.

Also the same thing with the possibility of litigation for those that help women get legal abortions in the state. Do you worry that there will be federal challenges to what California might be doing on that front? And how do you actually codify those types of approaches from a state legislature standpoint?

ELENI KOUNALAKIS: Sadly, we are gearing up for any kind of related impact of this circumstance, which, let's face it, most people in the United States did not think Roe versus Wade would ever be overturned. Most people consider this to be settled law. We are in the 21st century. Women have had this right. And, you know, Brian, let's face it. Men are also part of who is impacted here. So women and our male allies need to work together to make sure that we are prepared for any eventuality. And yes, the legal infrastructure surrounding it is part of it as well.

A state that is driven by a radical religious notion around pregnancies that may decide to chase women to California to find their medical records and then prosecute them back home, these are scenarios that, just a short time ago, were really just inconceivable. And yet, here we are. And we have the tools. And we are going to be ready. And we're going to do what we can to protect women. And we need, of course, not just in our state, but in other states, we need to work together. We need the support of our male allies. And we'll be ready.

AKIKO FUJITA: And finally, lieutenant governor, California lost a lot of companies, at least their headquarters, during the pandemic to low tax states. I've heard the governor come out and say, we welcome those companies back. Is the state actively recruiting some of these companies that have publicly come out and said, we will pay for our employees to be able to travel to get abortions? Maybe those who used-- were started in California, used to be based there. I mean, is there an active recruitment process already underway?

ELENI KOUNALAKIS: You know, I'm so proud of the state of California. We are the place where the future happens first. And even though we have always had companies coming and going or building up and then moving, that's always been a reality that we face, because we are continually churning out more successful companies. 20 of the fastest growing companies in the world, according to Forbes, are headquartered in the state of California.

Unfortunately, we are a victim of our success in terms of our housing prices. The median home price last month in California surged to $900,000. In places like Texas and Florida, it's $300,000. So if everybody is leaving California, who's bidding up the prices of our housing? And the fact of the matter is that we have a very dynamic economy. It is constantly regenerating because more innovators are coming up and reaching success. But in terms of companies coming back to California, absolutely, our doors always open. We welcome companies back again. And if this is one of the factors that reminds them why they left California in the first place, then so be it.