Anti-abortion March for Life demonstrators rally at California Capitol

Kate Wolffe, The Sacramento Bee on Mar 31, 2025

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Hundreds gathered outside the state Capitol on Monday afternoon for the California March for Life, an annual event advocating for an end to abortion.

A break in the rain meant the sun shone over the many conservative Christian groups and other attendees who assembled to hear the day’s program, explore the various faith-based booths, and march the blocks around the Capitol. The march is a satellite version of the National March for Life in Washington, D.C., which was held in January, and included appearances from President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

Attendees were also there to bring lawmakers’ attention to their cause — no small feat in a state that leads in abortion access and availability, having enshrined the right to an abortion in the California Constitution in 2022.

“I believe it’s important that we have a voice, and the babies who don’t have a voice, we want to stand for them,” said Pastor Katherena Higashi from Rancho Cordova, one of several hundred marchers.

Speakers at the event were also not deterred by the Democratic supermajority in Sacramento that supports abortion access.

“Let our message, the Gospel of life, shake this building to its very foundations!” said speaker John Gerardi, executive director of Right to Life of Central California.

No legislators were present because of Cesar Chavez Day, a scheduling oversight California Family Council CEO Jonathan Keller said was “unintentional” and “unfortunate.”

Still, attendees were encouraged to make their voices heard by texting a number that would help them email their representatives in the Legislature. The target of the group was Assembly Bill 40, authored by Assemblymember Mia Bonta, D-Oakland.

AB 40 would require emergency departments in the state to conduct abortions “when a person is in danger of loss of life or serious injury or illness.”

Hannah Gautsch with National Right to Life led a texting effort and said the bill was “dangerous” and would “force doctors in emergency situations to prioritize treating women using abortions as opposed to using their best medical judgment for the treatment and stabilization of both mom and their baby.”

Bonta said abortions might be necessary if the pregnant person has “certain placenta-related conditions, preeclampsia, or eclampsia, and heart or kidney conditions.”

“Unfortunately, there have been instances where parents in the middle of a miscarriage, or other pregnancy-related emergency, have been turned away from an emergency room and told to go to a different facility,” she told the Assembly Health Committee during a hearing last week.

Several health coalitions, physicians’ groups and Planned Parenthood support the bill. It is opposed by the California Family Council.

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