BUZZ
A California bill sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk on Thursday will require public community colleges to provide abortion pills on campus, expanding a mandate that already applies to state universities.
The pro-abortion legislation, Assembly Bill 2540, passed its final hurdle in the California Senate on Aug. 31 in a 61-17 vote. Newsom, a Democrat, is expected to sign the bill.
Sponsored by Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, the bill requires all public community colleges with student health centers to offer and advertise abortion pills, also known as medication abortions. Colleges without health centers on campus will be required to refer students to outside abortion providers. The bill will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2029.
Typically, abortion pills are used up to about 10 weeks of pregnancy. The abortion process, which a student undergoes on her own after receiving the prescription, involves taking one set of pills that block the life-sustaining pregnancy hormone progesterone, followed by a second set of pills a day or two later that induce contractions and expel the baby’s body.
The bill expands a 2023 state law that mandates abortion pills be provided at public universities throughout California.
Since it passed, nearly 1,700 abortions have been performed on California State University and University of California campuses, according to a recent College Fix analysis of data from the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.
However, pro-abortion lawmakers want universities to do even more to get the word out.
Under Stefani’s bill, public universities will be required to “promote awareness of the services for abortion by medication techniques that the student health center offers, provide information on those services to students, and post the availability of those services on its internet website.”
That portion of the bill will go into effect at the beginning of 2028.
Supporters previously told The College Fix that the bill will increase students’ access to “reproductive healthcare” while opponents said it will put more pressure on students to abort their unborn babies.
Testifying at a hearing in July, Leandra Wells with the California Family Council urged lawmakers to oppose the bill. She shared her experience facing an unplanned pregnancy as a poor college student.
“I was overwhelmed and afraid …This bill tells women that an abortion pill is the easiest solution, but fear is not a reason to end a life, and ending a life is not health care,” the policy engagement coordinator said.
“What I needed was real support,” she told lawmakers. “A local pregnancy center gave me food resources, free ultrasounds, affordable baby essentials, accessible childcare, and parenting classes.”
Wells said she finished her degree three weeks after her son was born.
“This bill tells women they cannot have an education and be a mother, but we all know women are far more capable than that,” she said.
However, Democrats backing the bill believe it will expand access to a “critical” service.
“Reproductive health care is essential health care. We can no longer allow access to this care to depend on where a student is enrolled,” Assemblymember Stefani stated in a news release.
“… we are closing a critical gap and ensuring that community college students—one of the most diverse and economically vulnerable populations in our state—have the same access to care as their peers at four-year institutions,” she stated.
MORE: Every public Illinois university must offer abortions. None provide prenatal care.
