California's 2026-27 state budget includes $5 million in one-time funding for the UCLA Center for Reproductive Health, Law and Policy, Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair Rick Chavez Zbur, D-Hollywood, announced.
Zbur said he championed the investment throughout this year's budget hearings. The money will let the center continue providing legal expertise, policy analysis, research and strategic support as other states restrict access to reproductive health care.
"California has a responsibility not only to protect reproductive freedom within our own borders, but to lead the nation in developing the legal strategies, research, and policy solutions that will safeguard those rights for generations to come," Zbur said. He said the funding ensures the center can remain "a national hub for innovation, legal scholarship, and reproductive justice" at a time when providers, patients and advocates face "unprecedented attacks."
Founded in 2022 with seed funding from the state, the center brings together lawyers, policy experts, scholars and researchers. It provides free legal help to patients and providers, supports government attorneys and policymakers, convenes experts to develop legal frameworks, and trains reproductive justice advocates. Its work extends beyond abortion access to contraception, maternal health equity, family-building policy, racial and economic disparities, and issues such as menopause.
Melissa Goodman, executive director of the center, said the funding "fuels our work to develop new legal frameworks and data that move from academia into courtrooms and legislatures." She said the center is "leading the way towards legal innovation" on abortion, maternal health, pregnancy criminalization, infertility and menopause while providing urgent legal services.
Angela Pontes, senior vice president of government affairs for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, called the center "a critical partner in the fight to protect reproductive freedom" as the Trump administration and congressional Republicans move to strip health care access, including efforts to "defund" Planned Parenthood. She thanked Zbur and the Legislature for the investment.
The funding was included in the final 2026-27 state budget approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Edited by SMDP Staff