California universities will not be required to offer medical abortions, according to one of the governor’s last ever vetoes.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed and vetoed a slew of his last bills as California’s leader on Sept. 30, and Senate Bill 320 didn’t make the cut.
The bill, which would have required each of the state’s public university student health centers to offer abortions via medication by Jan. 1, 2022, was deemed “not necessary” by Brown in his veto message.
“Access to reproductive health services, including abortion, is a long-protected right in California,” Brown wrote in the message. “According to a study sponsored by supporters of this legislation, the average abortion providers in campus communities varies from 5 to 7 miles, not an unreasonable distance.”
Although supporters of the bill said it would have toppled financial and transportation barriers college students often face when seeking abortions, university leaders worried medical abortion services would have been expensive and time consuming to implement.
Toni Molle, director of public affairs for the CSU’s Office of the Chancellor, said in a previous statement to the Sun that while student health centers do provide many reproductive health care services, campuses would have needed funding for the implementation of additional medical equipment, medication, and other needs associated with offering abortion medication.
Each student health center would have been provided with a privately funded $200,000 grant to cover costs associated with the implementation of SB 320, but Molle said that “one-time” funding would not have addressed the need for ongoing staff training and maintenance.
Claire Doan, director of media relations at the UC’s Office of the President, said in a statement on Sept. 5 that UC leaders shared similar concerns about funding. It would have continually impacted the university budget, she said, and possibly student fees.
Neither the UC or CSU systems took a stance on the bill, and Doan said UC health centers would continue its already existing reproductive services, including referrals to nearby facilities for abortions.
“The University of California believes that students should have access to affordable and convenient reproductive health care of their choosing,” Doan wrote in a statement to the Sun on Oct. 1.
This article appears in Oct 4-11, 2018.