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At a time when conservative states are severely restricting access to abortion, California has reported a new The border on abortion rights on Friday with the passing of a law that would require all state-run public universities to offer medical abortion on campus.
The law project, who would use funds raised from private donors to equip and train campus health centers, was born from a movement led by students from the University of California at Berkeley and which sparked the presentation of a similar bill in Massachusetts.
Anti-abortion groups say they risk challenging the law if Governor Gavin Newsom adopts it. He has a month to decide. A spokesman declined to say what he will do, but last year, during his campaign for the governor, Mr. Newsom said he was supporting a similar effort.
The bill would apply to 34 campuses across the state, with nearly 750,000 students enrolled – 11 under the auspices of the University of California and 23 in the University of California. State University of California. According to a study conducted in 2018, hundreds of students from these schools are seeking a medical abortion each month.
"We can show the rest of the country, especially as these crazy abortion bans sweep the country," said Zoe Murray, 23, a recent graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara, who asked for a medical abortion at the student health center she was in second grade, but had to leave the campus. "Going to college is very stressful and a lot of students have financial difficulties or, like me, I had mental health issues at the time."
Under the bill, starting in 2023, campus health centers would be forced to offer medical abortions – a process that involves taking two types of legally licensed pills to end pregnancies within 10 weeks following the gestation.
Private donations of about $ 10.3 million, which have already been collected and which, according to the organizers, would be used to train staff at university health centers and to buy ultrasound equipment. State legislation already requires insurers to cover the cost of abortion.
Both California higher education systems have not taken position on the bill. They worried about knowing they should bear the costs of logistics, liability or security, which they could then transfer to the students, and stated that they were working with lawmakers to resolve them .
The abortion pill method, approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000, now accounts for about one-third of all US abortions. Studies have shown that it is safe and effective in most cases. The F.D.A. requires that the first of two medications, mifepristone, be administered by a licensed health care provider after a consultation, but women can then take one or both medications at home.
Most health centers on campus now offer gynecological examinations and contraception, but refer students seeking an abortion to outpatient clinics. Proponents of the bill argued that sending students off campus in a process that usually involves medical visits before and after taking the drug posed problems.
"The obstacles are about the economy and the schedules, but also the stigma," said Marj Plumb, JustCARE campaign manager. "It's the idea that this procedure, which is really simple and really safe, means that there is something wrong, that they have to go somewhere else to get this medicine."
Opponents of the bill include the California Catholic Conference, whose president, Bishop Jaime Soto, urged Christians last month toPray with me a novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, patron of unborn children, to ask her to intercede forcefully to defeat this bill. "
Kristi Hamrick, a spokeswoman for Students for Life of America, said her organization was calling for medical abortion "abortion by toilet bowl," adding that "at rallies, we often bring in the seats as a visual. "Her group says that medical abortions are damaging women's health.
"We are also very concerned about people's right to conscience – students whose fees will be used to fund these health centers," she said.
A similar bill was introduced in Massachusetts by state representative Lindsay Sabadosa. "It sounds like a very win-win fight," she said.
The student health program of the University of Illinois at Chicago, which has about 33,300 students, currently offers a medical abortion.
"We are their usual doctor, they do not have to go through the protesters, there is no stigma," said Dr. Ariel Leifer, medical director of the university's family medicine center at University Village. "It works very well, they like to do it in the comfort of their own home, the pain is manageable, it's private."
Berkeley students, including Adiba Khan, organized Students 2015 for Reproductive Justice in Justice and began trying to get the university's health services to provide medical abortions.
They failed, but members of the Women's Policy Institute, a training program for activists led by the Women's Foundation of California, contacted students to ask them to work on legislation.
Tami Cate, a spokeswoman for Berkeley, said, "The university has discussed the issue of medical abortion services with students and other people, but it has not been discussed. not yet taken a position on this. "
Activists on both sides of the abortion debate see California's vote as a new step in the national abortion rights strategy.
Nick Reynosa, the North American coordinator of the anti-abortion party Students for Life of America, called the bill a "symbolic gesture against the success of the pro-life movement."
Ms. Murray stated that she thought the bill "will really change and begin to destigmatize abortion, so we can start talking openly about our experiences with abortion and pregnancy." on the campus".
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