California bill on 'abortion pill' access at public universities goes to governor's desk

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California lawmakers passed a bill Friday that would require on-campus clinics at all public universities in the state to offer the “abortion pill” to students seeking to terminate their pregnancy at up to 10 weeks, according to reports.

The state Senate in Sacramento approved SB24 on a 28-11 vote during the final day of the Legislature’s session, the Sacramento Bee reported. The measure now heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. The Democrat has one month to decide if he’ll sign it into law. It would take effect in January 2023.

SB24 would require campus health services at all 34 public campuses throughout the state — 11 under the University of California system and 23 under the California State system -- to make available the Food and Drug Adminstration-approved pills.

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The bill’s author, state Sen. Connie Leyva , D-Chino, said access to abortion drugs at campus health clinics would prevent students from having to “choose between delaying important medical care or having to travel long distances or miss classes or work.”

“In a time when states across our country are rolling back women’s health care and access to abortion, California continues to lead the nation to protect every individual’s right to choose,” Leyva said in a statement. “SB 24 reaffirms the right of every college student to access abortion.”

The bill would use money from private donors to train staff and equip campus health clinics with ultrasounds and other equipment in order to provide medication abortion to students. If private funds run out, the state would have to cover the cost or universities would have to raise student health fees.

Pro-life activists, meanwhile, said the concerns of students who oppose abortion matter as well.

“We also are very concerned about the conscience rights of people — students whose fees will be used to underwrite these health centers,” Kristi Hamrick, a spokeswoman for Students for Life of America, told the New York Times.

“We also are very concerned about the conscience rights of people — students whose fees will be used to underwrite these health centers.”

— Kristi Hamrick, spokeswoman, Students for Life of America

The state Department of Finance opposed the bill, estimating the cost to implement the measure across all public university campuses could not be sustained by private donations alone, the Bee reported. Republicans in both chambers opposed the bill Friday and some Democrats abstained from a vote in the General Assembly.

Former California Gov. Jerry Brown voted down a similar bill last year. Newsom campaigned on the promise that he would support legislation that requires public universities to provide the abortion pill to students on campus before he was elected in 2018, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

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More than 400,000 female students attend California’s state university campuses, according to the bill. Most campus health services centers in the state offer gynecological exams and contraception but refer students seeking abortions to off-campus providers, according to the Times.

Medication abortion involves a woman taking two different pills within two days that prompt cramping while the uterus expels the pregnancy. The method is more than 90 percent effective and is less invasive when compared to other abortion procedures, according to Planned Parenthood.