Everyone who is anyone in the world of Hollywood, politics, or media was interviewed or featured at the New York Times summit last week in Manhattan. Before Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) took the stage, actress Halle Berry blasted the Democrat for not doing enough to help women, specifically pre- and post-menopausal women, through legislation she supported that he vetoed in October.

Berry was representing her company, Respin, a women’s health and longevity business that focuses on menopause care and provides easy access to data and coaches. During her presentation, Berry discussed Hollywood and culture as a whole devaluing women as they age and not prioritizing their medical and mental health needs. She continued by lambasting California’s liberal governor for not doing more to help women.

“At this stage in my life, I have zero f***s left to give,” Berry said. “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.”

“But that’s OK because he’s not going to be governor forever, and the way he has overlooked women, half the population, by devaluing us,” the Academy Award-winning actress added with a smirk and a shrug, “he probably should not be our next president either. Just saying.” 

The legislation Newsom vetoed would have required insurers to expand coverage for perimenopause and menopause care for the state’s female citizens. Newsom and his office responded that Berry “didn’t know” what she was talking about and that the legislation was too far-reaching and would have drastically increased healthcare costs for all in the Golden State.

The law would have also required that medical providers receive specific training regarding women’s health. Isn’t it kind of shocking that we’re almost in the year 2026, and that’s not already a requirement?

The actress has yet to respond to the governor’s office trying to mansplain to her what she does or does not know — or the attacks of Sonny Hostin, the liberal cohost on The View, who scolded Berry for her critique of Newsom. (Newsom now claims he was working on “fixing” the legislation.)

Berry is no conservative. She has had an open, friendly, and professional relationship with the Obama family, and she has a history of supporting “reproductive rights.” No one knows who Berry might be backing in the 2028 presidential race, but I don’t think it will be a conservative who could actually help lower medical costs and incentivize companies to fund better research for women’s health issues.

This is a real gender gap in our society that modern feminists and the Democratic Party would pay attention to if they actually cared. The medical field not studying, educating, or supporting women is a decadeslong problem in the United States. It’s unfortunate that Berry has overlooked all of the other ways leftist policies harm, and not help, women.

Newsom is hypocritical here, too. He claimed to have vetoed the bills because of costs. Yet, his statewide budgets are bloated with inappropriate spending policies, over-taxation, and restrictions and regulations that increase costs and hurt women in the state.

This entire intraparty battle on the Left has made it abundantly clear that liberals are unwilling to prioritize women’s health when they can’t score easy political points for supporting “abortion rights.” They could remove red tape, tout investment in women’s health, have state-funded healthcare plans that pay for lactation consultants, midwives, and birth centers, or even allow purchasing across state lines.

Maybe we should be incentivizing state-funded colleges and universities to study and discover solutions to major women’s health issues, from endometriosis to debilitating menopause symptoms. The erectile dysfunction drug market is estimated to exceed $2.46 billion; compare that to the $1.22 million market for endometriosis treatment.

JOE CONCHA PRAISES HALLE BERRY FOR ‘GUTS’ TO CRITICIZE GAVIN NEWSOM

In California, there’s a plethora of scientific programs that Newsom and the Democrats with a supermajority could encourage and support in developing strategies for helping women dealing with medical needs. But they don’t. 

Instead, they prioritize “reproductive issues” and spend tens of millions of dollars on abortion and birth control pills over the greater needs of women in the state, such as equal access to a doctor they like who is educated in women’s health and qualified to take care of them. Halle Berry is right on this point, at least: Women deserve better, and Newsom should not be our next president.

Elisha Krauss is a conservative commentator and speaker who resides in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and their four children. She is an advocate for women’s rights, school choice, and smaller government.

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