The College Fix

Ivy League school offering free abortion pills on campus, despite safety concerns

Columbia University’s decision to begin handing out abortion drugs on campus could lead to serious health problems, according to a pro-life student organization.

The New York Ivy League university has been providing abortion drugs for almost a month now through on-campus facilities, according to a news release.

The Columbia Health website states the new “service enhances access to a service that is already—and will continue to be—available to students through expedited referrals to Columbia Doctors; an off-campus network of abortion providers; and coverage of pregnancy termination for students on the Columbia Student Health Insurance Plan.”

The university has a medication abortion team consisting of three abortion providers and four nurses. Students who have paid the full-time Columbia Health and related services fee as well as spouses or domestic partners on the university’s plan can request abortion pills on campus, according to the website.

“The added offering enhances access to care and reaffirms our commitment to supporting students’ reproductive rights,” the university stated in the news release.

Columbia University’s media office did not respond to several requests for comment from The Fix in the past two weeks. The Fix asked why it decided to begin offering abortions on campus, what medical services it provides to pregnant students who choose to parent or make an adoption plan, and how it responds to concerns about safety risks.

Kristi Hamrick, vice president of communications at Students for Life of America, warned the expansion of abortions to college campuses is dangerous for students and their unborn babies.

“In too many schools across the country we’ve seen the same sad decision play out: tuition dollars or taxpayer funds are funneled into programs that put preborn lives and the lives of mothers at risk from Chemical Abortion Pills, all in the false name of ‘healthcare,” Hamrick told The College Fix in a recent email.

Medication abortion, also referred to as a chemical abortion or abortion pills, is supported by the Biden Administration and approved by the FDA.

However, pro-life advocates, including doctors and researchers, contend these abortions can result in serious complications, including excessive bleeding and infections that can lead to death. Pro-life doctors also recently challenged the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug in a U.S. Supreme Court case, and the decision is pending.

MORE: Journal faces ‘legal action’ for pulling pro-life research papers

Columbia Health’s website includes an abortion page with information detailing the experience and expectations.

“During the in-person visit at Medical Services, your provider will give you a dose of mifepristone, which is the drug that starts the pregnancy termination process. They will discuss what to expect and give you the follow-up medication, misoprostol, which you must ingest at a specific time,” the website states.

The website also states the abortion itself “occurs at home” or a student’s dorm, “rather than in the clinic setting.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, “Mifepristone is used in a regimen together with misoprostol to end a pregnancy that is less than 70 days in duration. It works by stopping the supply of hormones that maintain the interior of the uterus. Without these hormones, the uterus cannot support the pregnancy and the contents of the uterus are expelled.”

Hamrick with Students for Life raised concerns about this, saying chemical abortions result in “chemically tainted blood, placenta tissue, and human remains” being flushed “into America’s waterways.”

“For an environmentally conscious generation, abortion pollution is another consequence” of Columbia’s decision, Hamrick added.

She told The Fix these and other risks are being disregarded and the safety of students and their unborn babies ignored.

“… the suffering and death caused by these drugs are staggering, and if any other drug or substance caused that kind of havoc on a college campus, it would rightly be called a mass casualty event,” she said.

“Schools like Columbia, when they bring this poison unquestioningly onto their campuses, all but ensure that women bear all the burdens and risks of Chemical Abortion Pills alone, while the pill manufacturers and abortion industry take the money and run,” Hamrick told The Fix.

The school’s decision to offer abortion medication follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision in 2022, overruling the formerly standing Roe v. Wade decision.

The Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion, states medication abortions now account for more than half of abortions nationwide, and more schools continue to provide them on campus.

Last year, California became the first state to begin requiring that all public colleges and universities provide abortion pills on campus, The Fix reported. New York and Massachusetts recently passed similar laws.

MORE: New California law results in 400 abortions on campus

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