SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A bill sent to Gov. Jerry Brown would extend a pilot program allowing non-doctors to perform abortions in California.
The Senate approved SB623 on a 22-16 vote Thursday. It extends until Jan. 1, 2014, a program that lets nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives and physician assistants provide aspiration abortions.
The process involves using a tube to empty the uterus with suction. The statewide program has provided for 8,000 first-trimester abortions. Without the extension, the authority will expire this year.
Several Republican senators objected that letting non-doctors perform abortions endangers women.
Democratic Sen. Christine Kehoe of San Diego says the program has had a complication rate of less than 3 percent since it began more than five years ago.
