California passes bill to require state universities to offer abortion pill

If California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill passed by the state Senate Friday, state university clinics will be required to offer abortion pills to students as of 2023.


California’s legislation comes as several other states are moving to tighten abortion restrictions or to ban them with very limited exceptions.


Giving students access to abortion by medication means students won’t have to “choose between delaying important medical care or having to travel long distances or miss classes or work,” Leyva said.

If it becomes law, the initiative would be funded by “nonstate entities, including, but not necessarily limited to, private sector entities and local and federal government agencies,” the bill says.

There are more than 400,000 women students at California’s state university campuses, according to the bill.

Former California Gov. Jerry Brown last year vetoed a similar bill. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Newsom said last year he would have signed that one.
