When California State Sen. Christine Kehoe proposed a bill that would allow more qualified medical professionals to be allowed to perform pregnancy terminations, reproductive rights advocates across the country heralded the news as one of the few potential victories for expanding access to women in rural areas.

But pressure from the state’s nursing organization, as well as a committee leader worried about his campaign for higher office first drastically reduced the number of providers the new bill would allow, and then killed the proposal off altogether.

Via The L.A. Times:

Kehoe acknowledged that she still did not have the votes to get the proposal through the next committee, the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee.

“The issue of access to early abortion care for women across California remains an important issue and we will continue to review our options for ensuring that all women have access to care by providers they know and trust in the communities where they live,” Kehoe said in a statement, announcing that she was pulling the bill.

When it’s this difficult for California to expand access to providers, it’s difficult to feel optomistic about undoing so many of the roadblocks placed in other much more conservative states in the last few years.