[UPDATE] If You Think Gavin Newsom Should Be President, Halle Berry Would Like a Word

Newsom keeps pushing aside a key women's health issue, and she's not going to take it anymore

[UPDATE] Please see the pinned comment for an update on this. The news story states that Newsom attached the menopause bill to next year’s budget as part of a bill reconciliation process. h/t and thanks to Steve Cohen on this.

He’s the hero of the anti-Trump forces who have witnessed one Democratic politician after another issue strongly worded memos as a token of resistance. His memes furiously mocking the grifter in chief have become the standard for kicking sand in the face of maga troglodytes. His California redistricting plan to counter the Texas attempt to steal votes from non-whites has become a standard in political gamesmanship.

I’m talking about Gavin Newsom, of course, who has helped push some leading Democratic politicians away from strongly worded memos toward more useful forms of resistance.

But one person is not convinced. Not only is Halle Berry not convinced, but she’s furious, too. And her fury has nothing to do with the mad clown in the Oval Office.

Gabriel Hutchinson Photography, CC BY-SA 4.0

As Gavin Newsom, special guest at the recent New York Times Dealbook summit, was dusting off his lapels in preparation to wow the audience with a speech, Berry approached the same podium first and tore into him with a fury normally directed at Republicans:¹

“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,” she said. “But that’s OK, ‘cause he’s not going to be governor forever. And with the way he’s overlooked women, half the population, by devaluing us in midlife, he probably should not be our next president either. Just saying.”

I wasn’t there, but I’m imagining a Rodney Dangerfield style collar adjustment.

If you’re a guy, you’re probably thinking, “Menopause bill? I’m outa here. Where’s the damn unsubscribe button?”

And if you’re a woman, you’re probably anxious for the next sentence.

That, of course, is part of the problem of America in a nutshell. Women’s health issues are considered secondary policy considerations on a good day that only women seem willing to push for.

So, my fellow dudes, before you hit that unsubscribe link, I’d like you to keep reading with our lady friends to see what Halle Berry has to say, and maybe even check out the healthcare laws that she’s trying to promote on behalf of women.

What is this menopause bill Halle Berry speaks of?

It’s called the Menopause Care Equity Act. The act, introduced by California Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, was intended to expand insurance coverage for menopause-related treatments and provide statutory assurance that healthcare providers are properly trained for menopause-related issues.

Bauer-Kahan explains on her website why the bill is needed:²

“Women are half the population, and yet our healthcare system fails to provide us with the care we need as we age. This legislation closes the care gap, ensuring that menopause is treated as the critical health issue it is—not as an afterthought. We deserve comprehensive coverage and informed medical care, just like any other stage of life.”

Most men, I assume, will scoff at that notion, but if they’re honest, they’re like me.

I created an infographic below that provides a detailed summary of my knowledge about the menopausal issues women face:

This means we need to trust our lady friends when they tell us there’s a problem. In this case, they convinced enough California Assembly members to get the bill passed easily with votes from both parties.

Then, Newsom vetoed it.³

According to Bauer-Kahan’s office (her words):⁴

• 94% of women report being inadequately informed about menopause and other common female health issues.

• Up to 70% of women who seek medical care for menopause symptoms do not receive the necessary treatment.

• Only 19% of women aged 40-60 receive an official menopause diagnosis, despite experiencing symptoms.

• 73% of women are not treating their menopause symptoms, leading to unnecessary health risks and economic burdens.

• Women diagnosed with menopause incur 45% more healthcare costs annually than those without a diagnosis.

• The average woman undergoing menopause treatment faces $4,639 in additional healthcare costs per year, totaling $32,000 to $65,000 over the menopause transition.

Halle Berry and her co-authors for an article in Time Magazine are concerned that physicians are not properly trained for menopaus-related health issues:⁵

Around 75 million Americans are navigating perimenopause or menopause today. Yet most physicians are not trained to treat them. One in five residents in family medicine, internal medicine, and obstetrics and gynecology report receiving no instruction on menopause during medical school.

That neglect has real consequences. There are only about 4,100 menopause-certified providers in the entire country, a fraction of what is needed. As a result, the majority of women with menopause symptoms do not seek care. The message to women in midlife is clear: their pain is optional, their confusion acceptable. It isn’t.

So why did Newsom veto a bill that seems straightforward and non-controversial? Newsom claims that it will drive up insurance premium costs.

However, the costs are marginal given the returns. And it’s not like menopause is a disease. As Halle Berry points out, it’s “a universal transition, one that, when properly supported, can mark a time of strength, purpose, and renewed vitality. Women in midlife drive innovation and lead across every sector of society.”

And besides, if Newsom wants to run for president, he’s going to have to commit to Medicare for all, without premiums, without deductions, and without any other costs to the public, right? So those costs, which insurance companies always will want to pass on, will become moot. And traditional health insurance companies will disappear into the salt of the earth, where they belong.

Fun fact: most presidential candidates are centrist

Before the predator-in-chief took over the Oval Office the first time, the rule of presidential politics was simple: Centrists usually won presidential nominations. Progressive Bernie Sanders romped through a few states against Hillary, but was thwarted by the South (much more so than by the DNC).

Trump is a unicorn (a freak, actually, my apologies to unicorns), and when he leaves, the system will most likely shake itself back to the middle.

Gavin Newsom is a centrist, which gives him an advantage over his competition, whoever that might be.

Most Americans consider themselves centrist, even though polls consistently show they like so-called socialist policies such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicare for all, and food stamps (SNAP). So there’s not a lot of science behind why politicians think they need to veer towards the middle.

More than being a centrist, however, Gavin Newsom is a corporate centrist. Always has been.

Newsom didn’t grow up with riches, even though he looks like he did. His divorced mother Tessa raised him and his sister while working jobs that didn’t offer much of a stepping stone toward a better life: waitressing, secretarial work, etc. His early years featured a lot of financial instability, which probably helps him remember the rest of us.

He also suffered from dyslexia, and still does.

His first taste of corporate connections came shortly after he graduated from Santa Clara University, where an injury ended a partial baseball scholarship. Two years after graduating, his friend, Gordon Getty, invested in a winery that Newsom started called the Plumpjack Winery.

Getty was one of the sons of one of the world’s first billionaires, J. Paul Getty, who made his first billion or so pumping oil. Gordon Getty sold the oil business to Texaco and pocketed $10 billion. He would eventually invest in ten Newsom companies, mostly centered around wine and food. Newsom became the archetype of the San Francisco business class. He established successful businesses all around the city, but seemed satisfied just making a good living from them.

Getty came into Newsom’s life through Newsom’s father, Bill, a successful businessman who was pals with Gordon in high school and helped deliver ransom money to free J. Paul Getty’s grandson, John Paul Getty III, who was kidnapped in 1973. So, yeah, that’s what you might consider a close family friendship.

This led to relationships with other rich people, including the Pritzker family, which made most of its billions in hotels and begat JD Pritzker, governor of Illinois, who has helped turn Illinois into one of the most progressive states in the country, offering proof, I suppose, that billionarism⁶ is not an incurable disease that forces you to suck everyone dry.

Newsom became successful, but not filthy rich. Not full of the greed that some of the tech bros he’d eventually find himself at odds with seem consumed by.⁷

Newsom then began his political march with a lot of help from his rich friends: Mayor of San Francisco, Lieutenant Governor, and now Governor of California.

As you observe Newsom over the next several months while he tries to convince you he should be president, keep this brief history in mind. Keep in mind, too, that shortly after his ill-fated marriage to Kimberly Guilfoyle and an icky relationship with a 19-year-old when he was in his late thirties, he received treatment for alcohol use disorder. I don’t know Guilfoyle, but I’ve seen enough of her to know that I’d probably start drinking heavily, too, were I to cross paths with her.

He’s been married to filmmaker Jennifer Siebel since 2008, and apparently has been on his best behavior since meeting her.

Maybe Newsom will change his mind and un-veto the menopause bill. He’s changed his mind before. And it’s not like he repeatedly gives women the finger. For example, he helped lead the charge fighting Texas-style attacks on body autonomy with a bill, introduced by Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, that provides statutory protections for “ access to essential reproductive care and help shield health care providers, patients, and lawyers from adverse legal action.”⁸

The bill also offers:

health care providers the option to prescribe abortion care medication to patients anonymously, ensuring California-regulated health plans cover mifepristone regardless of FDA approval status, and strengthening protections for health care providers from criminal prosecution and other legal action for administering medication abortion drugs.

Newsom also signed a bill “to shield attorneys assisting other states with access to reproductive care from State Bar discipline.”

Unlike the walking boil that now occupies the Oval Office, Newsom is not a terrible human being. Just flawed like the rest of us. He’s made mistakes.

But sneaking a veto in on an under-the-radar woman’s healthcare bill is not cool. Neither is yanking homeless people off the street, popular as it was, given the problems tent cities were causing.

This is also why we have primaries. Primaries are our opportunity to pick the best candidate. Those primaries are closer than you think. It’s never too early to start thinking about this stuff.

Newsom wouldn’t be my first choice in a primary, but my politics are left of Bernie, so it’s hard for me to find anyone who aligns with my thinking completely.

But, like I’m sure Halle Berry will, I’ll vote for him if I have to in a general election.

The one thing I’ve never done is use a litmus test on presidential candidates during a general election. I remember Obama saying he was a blank slate. I viewed him as a centrist who, if you dropped him into a hot tub time machine into the 1970s, would have been a moderate Republican.

I voted for him anyway.

Republicans haven’t given me a reason to vote for them for as long as I’ve been breathing, and I’m old enough to remember when seizing oil tankers on the high seas was considered an act of piracy, so that’s pretty old, I guess.

I hope Newsom makes nice with Halle Berry. The menopausal bill is an easy issue to support. Changing his mind in this case would show refreshing maturity and leadership.

Thanks for reading!

Footnotes

1. Sosa, Anabel. 2025. “Halle Berry Says Gavin Newsom Has ‘Overlooked’ Women’s Health.” SFGATE. December 5, 2025. https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/halle-berry-gavin-newsom-dealbook-summit-21225782.php‌

2. “Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan Introduces AB 432: The Menopause Care Equity Act | Official Website - Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan Representing the 16th California Assembly District.” 2025. Asmdc.org. February 5, 2025. https://a16.asmdc.org/press-releases/20250205-assemblymember-bauer-kahan-introduces-ab-432-menopause-care-equity-act.

3. https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AB-432-Veto.pdf (PDF)

4. Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, ibid

5. Berry, Halle, Juliana Stratton, and Dr Pauline Maki. 2025. “Newsom Dropped the Ball on Menopause, but Other States Are Ready to Lead.” TIME. Time. November 17, 2025. https://time.com/7333740/newsom-menopause-legislation-halle-berry-illinois/.

6. Grammarly gives me a red underline here, which means I made up this word. “Add to dictionary,” Grammarly!

7. During most of his political career, he got along just fine with tech bros.

8. “Governor Newsom Signs New Landmark Laws to Protect Reproductive Freedom, Patient Privacy amid Trump’s War on Women | Governor of California.” 2025. Governor of California. September 26, 2025. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/09/26/governor-newsom-signs-new-landmark-laws-to-protect-reproductive-freedom-patient-privacy-amid-trumps-war-on-women/.

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