AT A GLANCE
• Halle Berry blasted Gov. Gavin Newsom for vetoing a menopause care bill.
• Newsom said he admires her advocacy but argues the bill would have raised costs for women.
• Berry suggested Newsom “should not be our next president.”
• Newsom insists the issue is being fixed and included in next year’s budget.
Halle Berry Recently Criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom for Vetoing a Menopause Care Act, Suggested He “Probably Should Not Be Our Next President”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is trying to quiet the noise after Halle Berry publicly accused him of “devaluing” women by vetoing a menopause care act she’s been pushing for two years. In a statement responding to the backlash, Newsom’s office praised Berry’s advocacy while defending his decision to block the legislation.
The governor “has deep admiration for Ms. Berry’s advocacy on women’s issues,” the statement read, according to People magazine.
It added that Newsom vetoed the bill because it “would have unintentionally raised health care costs for millions of working women already stretched thin,” something he said he wasn’t willing to risk. His office insisted that by working with Berry and other supporters, they expect to expand access to menopause treatment without increasing the financial burden on women.
Berry made headlines after taking the stage at The New York Times DealBook Summit, where she didn’t mince words. The Oscar-winning actor and longtime women’s health advocate criticized Newsom for rejecting the Menopause Care Equity Act two years in a row, which she has been fighting to move through the state Legislature. Then she aimed directly at the chatter around his presidential ambitions.
“Back in my great state of California, my very own governor, Gavin Newsom, has vetoed our menopause bill, not one, but two years in a row,” Berry said. “But that’s okay, because he’s not going to be governor forever, and the way he has overlooked women, half the population, by devaluing us, he probably should not be our next president either. Just saying.”
Newsom, who also spoke at the summit, addressed her remarks later at Newark Airport in New Jersey. He insisted his veto wasn’t dismissive of women’s health and said the administration already had plans underway to revise the bill.
“We have the ability to reconcile that, so we’re reconciling. I’ve included it in next year’s budget,” he told a reporter, according to People. “We already were in the process of fixing it. She didn’t know that.”
