Calif. Assembly introduces bill requiring colleges to offer medical abortions at taxpayers' expense

The average distance between a public college and an abortion clinic is less than 6 miles. And abortion activists in California believe that distance is too inconvenient for female students who want to end their pregnancy, LifeNews.com reported.

Why is this coming up now?

Some California legislators have proposed legislation that would require public colleges and universities to offer medical abortions for free on campus.

“It’s necessary because it’s a constitutionally protected right, but just because it’s a constitutionally protected right does not mean you have access,” said state Sen. Connie Leyva, a Democrat who sponsored the bill.

KQED-TV featured a story about Jessica Rosales, who “recalls plunging into a downward spiral after discovering that her birth control had failed and she was pregnant."

The story said the financially strapped student inquired about getting an abortion at the campus student health clinic. She was then referred to private medical facilities off-campus. One didn’t accept her insurance and another didn’t offer abortions.

The report continues:

“Her grades slipped, she said, and she frequently slept the days away to escape her circumstances. Eventually she traveled six miles to a Planned Parenthood clinic that performed the procedure. Ten weeks had passed.”

“My situation could have been avoided if the student health center was there and provided medication abortion for students on campus,” Rosales said.

The proposed legislation — California Senate Bill 320 — would require public universities and community colleges to offer abortions drugs through up to 10 weeks of pregnancy at their student health centers.

Also, it would require the taxpayer-funded schools to cover the cost of the abortions through student health insurance plans. If approved, the law would go into effect in 2020.

What about students who keep their babies?

LifeNews.com noted that pro-abortion activists want to make it easy for women to abort babies, while ignoring the need to support students who want to keep their babies. Most college health care centers do not offer prenatal or childbirth services.

At first, colleges opposed the bill because of safety concerns, but they have since become more neutral, the report said.

The pro-abortion legislation passed the state Senate in January, and now is moving through the Assembly, according to the report.