( CNN ) -- As more states pass measures tightening abortion laws , California is making abortions more accessible . Nurse practitioners , certified nurse-midwives and physicians ' assistants who complete specified training are now able to perform abortions in California . Gov . Jerry Brown signed the measure into law Wednesday . `` Governor Brown is making a commitment to Californians to continue working to make abortion services a human right and not a privilege in our state , and is also sending a strong message to the rest of the country that attacks on women 's health and rights stop in California , '' Laura Jimenez , executive director of California Latinas for Reproductive Justice , said in a statement . `` We are proud that California is the only state in the nation right now that is passing proactive legislation to improve access to abortion , and we hope that this law can further efforts to expand access to women throughout the country . '' California Assembly member Toni Atkins , who authored the bill , said the new law reduces obstacles for California women seeking abortions . `` Increasing the number of trained healthcare providers who can perform abortions on a timely basis without requiring significant travel will improve the lives of women and their families in many ways , '' Atkins said in a statement . But critics say they 're concerned the new law could undermine women 's health . `` This bill is not about helping women , it is specifically designed to trivialize what an abortion is , and its risks , '' said Anissa Smith , spokeswoman for the California ProLife Council . `` Reducing the medical standards for abortion ... defies logic for those who say they care about women . '' The Most Rev . Gerald Wilkerson , president of the California Catholic Conference , said even though California makes up 12 % of the nation 's population , it 's also where 29 % of abortions take place . `` The often repeated mantra of those supporting abortions rights is that abortions ought to be safe , legal and rare , '' Wilkerson said . `` With this change in California 's law , abortions are merely legal -- no longer safe and rare . '' Brown also signed six other health-related bills Wednesday , including one that repeals parts of the California Building Standards Code that treat primary clinics differently depending on whether the clinics provide abortion services . Against the grain . California 's decision bucks a trend of stiffer abortion laws across the country . Texas passed a new law this year that bans abortions after 20 weeks of gestation ; requires abortion clinics to upgrade facilities to become ambulatory surgical centers ; tightens usage guidelines for the RU486 , the so-called `` abortion pill '' ; and requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their clinics . Planned Parenthood filed a federal lawsuit last month seeking to overturn parts of the new Texas law -- specifically , the parts about doctors needing hospital admitting privileges , usage controls on RU486 and the upgrades to clinics . In July , North Carolina Gov . Pat McCrory signed a law requiring all abortion clinics be held to the same standards as outpatient surgical centers . Also in July , a North Dakota judge delayed the implementation of a new state law that threatened to shut down the state 's only abortion clinic by requiring doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles . The North Dakota law also requires those physicians to have `` staff privileges to replace hospital on-staff physicians at that hospital . '' CNN 's Joe Sutton , Greg Morrison and Nadia Kounang contributed to this report .
In California , some nurses and physicians ' assistants can perform abortions . They must complete specified training . California 's move bucks a national trend of tightening abortion laws .