"Free" Chemical Abortions on CA Campuses

SACRAMENTO, CA – The California Senate Health Committee recently voted 7-2 to force taxpayer-funded universities to continually appropriate the funds needed to provide “free” chemical abortions to students on campus by 2023. Introduced in December 2018 by state Senator Connie Leyva (D), SB 24 would require student health centers on all University of California and California State University campuses to offer chemical abortions to students up to 10 weeks of pregnancy, beginning in January 2023. To fund the mandate, the bill allocates $200,000 grants to each of California’s 33 public university student health centers, covering the costs of “medication abortion readiness” which includes the purchase of equipment, facility and security upgrades, and training staff members.

The legislation is a revived version of a similar bill that former Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed in September 2018 stating it was “not necessary.” SB 24 goes next to the Senate for a vote and Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would support the SB 24 bill if it reaches his desk. According to research from the pro-abortion Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, and the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, at the University of California, San Francisco, chemical abortions are already widespread among students. The groups estimate that California public college students undergo approximately 300-500 chemical abortions each month, and with serious risks. The drug Mifepristone/RU-486, which ends the life of the unborn child, and Misoprostol which causes severe cramping, contractions, and bleeding to expel the baby from the womb, are used together in chemical abortions. The drug Mifepristone has 19 pages of patient safety information with cautions and directions for those taking the drug. It includes risks of “serious and sometimes fatal infections and bleeding” and that the drug can cause uterine rupture. Approximately 3.4 million women have used Mifepristone in the U.S. for the medical termination of pregnancy through the end of December 2017, an increase of approximately 163,000 since June 2017. The FDA has documented at least 4,000 cases of serious adverse events, including more than 1,000 women who required hospitalization; in addition, at least 22 women died after using the drug. “California schools should be focused on educating students to make a positive difference in this nation, not handing out abortion drugs so it’s easy for them to end the lives of future generations,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “California laws already are some of the most hostile to unborn babies and young women in America. This horrendous bill would only ensure that more precious lives are ended,” said Staver.