Classes, textbooks, and abortion pills

When Mary Rose Short talks to college students about abortion, she says many assume that unplanned pregnancy and abortion are a natural part of college life. “Students think abortion is essential for student success and that you can’t be a parent and a successful student,” said Short, the director of outreach for California Right to Life. “They have this sense that abortions are happening every day and everybody’s fine.”

Short believes a California state law that went into effect in 2023 further desensitized students by requiring public university health clinics to offer abortion drugs on campus. While she noticed no significant changes in student behavior—which she blames on pro-abortion messaging on social media and the widespread availability of mail-order chemical abortion drugs—she said the law enforced students’ beliefs that abortion is a necessity.

“If they know [abortion drugs] are available on campus, it just plays into that idea of this is a critical part of being a student,” Short said.

Now, California lawmakers are eyeing a bill that would expand the program to the state’s community colleges, where more than 2 million students were enrolled last year. Supporters of the bill say abortion is necessary for college students’ reproductive health, but pro-lifers argue the policies are actually a tactic to further normalize abortion and convince young women it is their only option if they get pregnant.

The measure would put abortion drugs on the roughly 92 community college campuses that have student health centers. Democratic state Rep. Catherine Stefani, who introduced the bill in February, claims some students still face roadblocks in obtaining an abortion.

In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the first-of-its-kind law requiring the California State University and University of California systems to provide abortion pills at student health centers across all 32 campuses. The measure allocates taxpayer dollars to fund the programs. According to the school systems, more than 772,500 students were enrolled in classes last year.

Since fully implementing the program in early 2023, the school systems have provided 1,699 chemical abortions. Some reports claim the numbers are lower than expected.

Short has not encountered any student who has obtained the drugs on campus, which she said shows that students were already finding ways to kill their unborn babies without visiting a school health office. “You would have to be at a pretty remote campus to not have same-day or next-day access to abortion,” she said.

California has permissive mail-order abortion pill laws and houses more abortion facilities than any other state, with 175 abortion centers as of late last year.

Some pro-abortion state community college officials have raised concerns about the bill. Both the Chief Executive Officers of the California Community Colleges and the Health Services Association of California Community Colleges oppose the measure in its current form, arguing that many schools are not equipped to provide that level of medical care. According to the Health Services Association, many campuses do not prescribe any medication and some only have one registered nurse.

“These clinics are healthcare clinics, but they do not have ultrasound. They do not have a physician on staff,” said Karen Pennington, Colorado state director of Concerned Women for America. A registered nurse, Pennington testified against a similar measure that Colorado lawmakers approved this spring. That bill requires any public higher education institution—including community colleges and four-year institutions—with an on-site pharmacy to stock abortion drugs.

Colorado does not protect babies from abortion at any stage of pregnancy. In 2024, voters there approved a constitutional amendment that enshrined the right to abortion and allowed public funds to be used for the procedure. “Now all taxpayers in Colorado pay for abortion anywhere for anybody—legal, illegal, from another state, trafficked victims that get pregnant, all of it,” Pennington said.

Pennington and other pro-lifers worry the bill and others like it will leave young women vulnerable to potentially life-threatening complications from abortion drugs if they unknowingly have an ectopic pregnancy or are further along in pregnancy than they thought. The policy could also enable abusers and traffickers to cover up their crimes. “We’ve removed any safeguards to protect women through these bills,” Pennington said. “It sends one strong message to young women—your only option if you get pregnant is abortion because that’s all we’ve got to offer.”

Since California passed its 2019 law, Massachusetts, New York, and Illinois have followed, requiring public institutions to provide abortion drugs or referrals for abortions through their health clinics. The University of Oregon also plans to offer the pills this fall.

Clare Ath, a senior policy analyst for the pro-life Human Coalition, said universities and colleges are failing to properly inform pregnant students of the academic support they are already federally required to offer.

Many young women who get pregnant in college fear they could lose scholarships or be unable to complete their degrees, Ath said. But under the federal law known as Title IX, pregnant students are entitled to keep scholarships, have excused absences for medical appointments, and receive academic accommodations. “These are things that an 18-year-old girl is just going to be scared and not know about,” Ath said.

Ath was pregnant with her and her husband’s first child when completing her master’s degree. Because of her work, Ath knew to request assignment extensions and was able to finish her program while caring for her son.

“I knew what my rights were,” Ath said, adding that many schools do a poor job of advertising those accommodations. “Think of a girl on a college campus who’s maybe 19, 20 years old. She’s not by her family and she thinks that this pill is going to fix the problem. … What they really need is people to be there and walk with them through the pregnancy.”

In December, Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, reintroduced the Pregnant Students’ Rights Act in the U.S. House of Representatives to require colleges and universities to actively inform students of their rights under Title IX. The following month, Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., introduced a Senate version of the bill. House lawmakers passed the bill, but its counterpart stalled in the Senate.

Back in California, Christian Alan tries to connect women with existing support systems. As the western campus formation coordinator for Students For Life of America, Alan uses the organization’s Standing With You platform to ensure college-aged women know about nearby pregnancy and parenting services. “You put in your ZIP code, you set your mileage cutoff, and then it’ll populate whatever is nearest to you with all the information you need,” he said.

Alan was a senior at the University of California, Los Angeles, when the law requiring the school to carry abortion pills took effect and when voters passed the constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion in the state constitution. Now, with abortion more accessible than ever, Alan and his team try to make options like financial support, resources for new moms, and adoption networks just as easy to find. He says lowering barriers to information helps women trust that pro-lifers are sincere in their desire to help and that the resources they offer can truly help.

“I believe that someone should have equal opportunity in pursuing every option and support system or program that they can before an abortion is ever considered,” he said.