Despite veto, CA lawmakers again push for abortion pill at public universities

In September, pro-abortion California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the bill that would have required all public universities in California to provide the abortion pill for its students. He reasoned in his veto, “…the average distance to abortion providers varies from between five to seven miles, not an unreasonable distance,” deeming the legislation unnecessary. But Sen. Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino) disagreed, and promised to pursue the legislation anyway. In October, she issued a statement, saying:

In the months and years ahead, I will continue fighting to make sure that college students have access to medication abortion on college campuses. I am hopeful that our incoming Legislature and Governor will agree that the right to choose isn’t just a slogan, but rather a commitment to improving true access to abortion for students across California.

And she didn’t wait long to make good on that promise. When Governor-Elect Gavin Newsom was on the campaign trail, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Newsom’s take on the bill Brown vetoed:

[Newsom] said he would have signed a bill to require public universities in California to offer abortion pills on campus. Brown vetoed the measure, saying such services are “widely available” to students at off-campus clinics.

“I would have supported that. I have long supported that,” Newsom said. “I subscribe to Planned Parenthood and NARAL’s position on that.”

Abortion seems in little danger in a state like California, so the push to ensure all of California’s public university students have immediate access to the abortion pill seems like overkill. To say it’s a burden for a person to have to go five miles for something is hyperbole in its own right.

READ: These babies were saved by abortion pill reversal. So were hundreds of others.

Live Action was an active part of the fight against SB320 at the time, making some of the following points about how the abortion pill regimen works and the risks women may face:

1st Trimester Medical Abortion: Abortion Pills

READ: Pushing the abortion pill on college campuses is dangerous to women

According to the Daily Californian, Sen. Leyva notes that “funding for the bill is ‘absolutely there.’ It provides a grant of $200,000 to be given to each public university student health center for ‘medical abortion readiness’ procedures such as purchasing equipment. The California State University system and the UC system would each get an additional grant of $200,000 for services including 24-hour over-the-phone assistance for medical abortions.

Leyva insists that women often don’t know they are pregnant until they are about six weeks along, and therefore, “it is important for women to be able to simply ‘walk across campus’ and get the pill when they need it.”

Sen. Leyva added, “California has always been a leader, and why shouldn’t we be a leader in women’s rights as well? We need to say to the rest of the country that we value women, we respect women, and they need to choose what to do with respect to their own body.”

Editor’s Note: If you have taken the first pill in the abortion pill regimen and regret your decision, there may still be help available to you. Visit AbortionPillRescue.com.