Last year, the California Senate passed SB-24, requiring colleges and universities in the state to provide abortion pills to students free of cost. Recently, the bill went into effect while at the federal level, the Biden FDA is recklessly deregulating the drugs.
SB-24 states that “each student health care services clinic on a California State University or University of California campus [must] offer abortion by medication techniques.”
It goes on to say that abortive “medication techniques” do not need to occur at affiliated hospitals, but can occur on campus and “by providers on staff at the student health center.”
The bill also claims that abortion is a “constitutional right” and “an integral part of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care.”
Firstly, this bill violates the conscience rights of taxpayers who will be forced to pay for abortion pills and campus health care employees who will have to administer them. Taxpayers have every right to refuse to fund this, and healthcare employees have the same right to refuse to participate in it.
Further, California women would be much better served if they were given more options that allow them to keep and raise their baby while they finish college, instead of giving them a dangerous abortion pill. California’s pro-life work must focus on reaching vulnerable women on campuses and encourage them to choose life. Having a child doesn’t mean that their education or careers have to end, and they need to know what there are people and organizations willing to help them.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is expanding the distribution of abortion drugs. The FDA not only rolled back several requirements for women to obtain the drugs, but it also authorized local pharmacies to begin dispensing them.
The two largest pharmacies in the nation, CVS and Walgreens, announced that they plan to carry mifepristone, the first of two drugs needed to perform a chemical abortion. The pharmacies are already able to carry the second abortion drug, misoprostol.
Chemical abortions already account for more than half of all abortions. This number will skyrocket if local pharmacies and universities begin distributing the pills just like any other medication.
While the abortion industry and abortion giants such as Planned Parenthood would like women to believe it is a harmless pill, the truth is that painful side affects are common. One study of over 42,000 women found that chemical abortions are four times more likely to cause serious complications than surgical abortions. Health risks include severe bleeding, infection, retained fetal parts, need for emergency surgery, hemorrhage, and even death.
Thankfully, the FDA is being accountable for endangering women’s lives. On behalf of four national medical associations and four physicians, the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit against the federal government, seeking to reverse FDA approval for abortion drugs and claiming that they were approved illegally. Seventy-five pro-life congressmen are also taking action by demanding that the FDA take the abortion pills off the market.
California women deserve real healthcare and compassionate solutions to crisis pregnancies, not dangerous drugs that kill one life and traumatize another. Hopefully, these pro-life efforts are successful, and women everywhere, including those on California college campuses, are encouraged to choose life.
