A new bill, approved by California State Senate Health Committee last week, will force health clinics at California State University and University of California campuses to provide abortion pills. (plannedparenthood.org)
California Democrats approved a bill last week that will force health clinics on college campuses to provide abortion pills.
Senate Bill 24, or the “College Student Right to Access Act,” was approved in a 7-3 vote last Wednesday by the California State Senate Health Committee.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the same bill in October. He argued that abortion services were already “widely available off-campus,” making the bill unnecessary.
But state Sen. Connie Leyva, the bill’s chief sponsor, argued that “students should not have to travel off campus or miss class or work responsibilities in order to receive care that can easily be provided at a student health center.”
At the time, Gavin Newsom, the former lieutenant governor who succeeded Brown as governor in January, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he “would have supported that [bill]” and subscribes to “Planned Parenthood and NARAL’s position on that.”
Newsom’s outspoken position has assured the bill’s proponents of its guaranteed passage.
According to the legislation, the bill would kick in beginning 2023 and would require $10.2 million in private funds to cover equipment and training, the Washington Times reported.
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Per California law, abortion is covered by health insurance policies. Health clinics on college campuses offer birth control services but not the abortion pill itself.
Opponents argue that the bill will turn colleges into “abortion vendors,” and that students will inevitably go up to cover the costs. Others are concerned about the health risks involved.
To become law, the bill must pass through the state Senate’s education and appropriations committees before a full Senate vote. But with Democrats controlling both chambers, the bill’s passage is all but guaranteed.
