California Will Require All of Its Public Universities to Offer the Abortion Pill On Campus

California becomes the first state nationwide to require all of its public universities statewide to offer medicinal abortion at on-campus student health centers after signed into law on Friday, October 11 by Governor Gavin Newsom. All California State University and the University of California on-campus student health centers or services must offer or provide medicinal abortion choices or options.

All the University of California and California State University schools statewide have until January 2023 to comply with the new law. In medicinal abortion, a woman within the first 10 weeks of her own pregnancy or can take two prescription drug pills, mifepristone and misoprostol, to induce or cause a miscarriage. Medicinal abortion differs from the morning-after pill, which prevents pregnancy from occurring altogether.

Since the late 1960s and the early 1970s, California has had one of the most progressive liberal abortion laws nationwide. Between 2014 and 2017, there has been a 16% decrease in the abortion rate in the state of California from 19.5 to 16.4 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age. Abortions in the state of California represent more than 15% of all abortions performed across the United States of America.