By now, you’d think the abortion industry would be out of ideas that endanger women. And yet, they are pushing Senate Bill 24 in the California legislature, which would require student health centers (SHCs) in California’s 34 public universities to dispense abortion pills for free. This bill is so radical that then Democratic Governor Jerry Brown vetoed it last year.
In addition to other flaws, turning college campuses into abortion mills also disempowers and endangers women.
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that over a quarter of all undergraduate students are raising dependent children. Women make up 71 percent of all student parents and are disproportionately likely to be balancing college and parenthood, many without the support of a spouse or partner. If the state really wanted to advance women’s interests, they should find ways to support these brave women who are parenting while in college.
Federal law already does this. Title IX protects single parents in school from discrimination in educational programs and activities.
Instead, the campus abortion mandate suggests to women that parenting while in college is impossible.
If this bill becomes law, California would go out of its way to provide abortions to pregnant students, but provide them no support if they choose to keep their baby, or even inform them of their rights under Title IX.
The abortion pill is also chock full of dangers – especially for a young woman living in a dorm room. Chemical abortions are a multi-day severe process that runs the risk of an incomplete abortion up to 10 percent of the time. The risk increases after the 9th week of pregnancy. The events reported to the FDA clearly demonstrate the danger of the abortion pill regimen, Mifeprex®. Between 2000-2018, the total number of adverse events was 24 deaths, 97 ectopic pregnancies, 1,042 hospitalizations, 599 blood transfusions, and 412 infections (including 69 severe infections), with a total of 4,195 adverse events reported. Mifeprex ® is used for aborting babies that are up to 10 weeks old.
There is nothing simple and safe about the abortion pill, and women are coming forward with their stories. A pro-abortion advocate shared her experience in Marie Claire:
“Nothing--not the drug literature, not the clinic doctor, not even my own gyno--had prepared me for the searing, gripping, squeezing pain that ripped through my belly 30 minutes later…For 90 minutes, I was disoriented, nauseated, and, between crushing waves of contractions that I imagine were close to what labor feels like, racing from the bed to the bathroom with diarrhea... I bled for 14 days.”
As Family Research Council explained in a more extensive analysis, this California mandate shows a reckless disregard for the safety and health of young women and creates considerable liability for the universities and all those involved.
Even pro-abortion legislators have acknowledged that “this bill is silent as to what can be considered a key policy question. Should the legislature mandate a specific health service to be provided at each UC and CSU SHC when the state does not provide any form of financial assistance to these centers?”
They also acknowledge that all SHCs are supported entirely by student health fees and there is no known case of the legislature mandating any sort of required health service to SHCs.
Despite all these dangers and other reasonable concerns, the bill continues to sail through committees.
Dispensing abortion pills from SHCs does not help women, but it does profit the abortion industry. The industry can expand the number of abortion facilities without incurring any cost for additional facilities or staff.
Of course, it’s pretty clear that the abortion industry is all about the business model, not about caring for women. In fact, making the abortion pill an over-the-counter drug so abortions can be completely self-managed is a stated goal of the abortion industry.
Abortion is a profit-motivated industry, and women’s safety is in the way of their profit. Visit our action page to learn more about how to stop SB24.
Patrina Mosley serves as the Director of Life, Culture, & Women's Advocacy at the Family Research Council.