CALIFORNIA SENATE VOTES FOR FREE ABORTION PILLS AT STATE UNIVERSITIES
BY MICHAEL TENNANT
SEE: https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/item/28161-california-senate-votes-for-free-abortion-pills-at-state-universities;
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The California Senate passed a bill Monday that would require
public institutions of higher learning to offer free abortion pills to
their students — a bill that, if it becomes law, will be the first of
its kind in the nation.
According to LifeNews.com, the legislation mandates that, by 2022, all Golden State universities and community colleges make abortion drugs available to students through the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, covering the cost of the drugs as part of their student health-insurance plans. In the meantime, reports the Daily Caller, schools would be required “to provide transportation to an abortion facility or to arrange an abortion for students requesting the procedure.”
The Associated Press describes the process of drug-induced abortion as follows: “One medication is administered in the clinic and a patient is given a second drug to take later at home. The medications induce bleeding similar to a miscarriage, according to legislative records.”
That sounds harmless enough, but as LifeNews points out, “The abortion pills are responsible for the deaths of dozens of women worldwide, including several in the United States; and they have injured at least 1,100 women in the United States, according to 2006 figures from the FDA. A Planned Parenthood study admits at least one woman is seriously injured from the abortion pills daily.” In addition, asserted California Family Council CEO Jonathan Keller, the drugs can cause “psychological anguish that could last a lifetime.”
The bill’s author, Democratic Senator Connie Leyva, told the AP, “I firmly believe that all students should be able to decide what to do with their own bodies and when to factor a family into their life. After all, women do not lose the constitutional right to end a pregnancy simply because they are a college student.”
There are a few false assumptions in Levya’s statement. First, abortion isn’t simply about a woman’s own body; it is about snuffing out the life of another human being within it. Second, the “constitutional right” to abortion was a fabrication cooked up by activist Supreme Court justices in 1973; even Justice Harry Blackmun’s former clerk Edward Lazarus has stated that the Roe v. Wade decision, which Blackmun wrote, is “basically indefensible.” Third, even if such a right did exist, it would not follow that taxpayers should be forced to pay for abortions, particularly if they are opposed to the practice.
According to the AP, “The bill’s sponsors estimate that 10 to 17 women would seek a medication abortion per month on each UC [University of California] campus, and nine to 15 at each CSU [California State University] school.” With UC having 10 campuses and CSU having 24, that works out to an estimated 316 to 530 taxpayer-funded abortions a month — and that doesn’t even include community colleges.
In order to become law, the bill has to pass the state Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats, and be signed by Governor Jerry Brown, also a Democrat. The bill therefore stands a good chance of finding its way onto the books, though cost considerations could possibly doom it.
According to the AP, the bill’s implementation costs have been estimated between $14 million and $34 million. However, three pro-abortion organizations — the San Francisco-based Tara Foundation, the Women’s Foundation of California, and a third that wishes to remain anonymous — have offered to cover those costs.
Long-term costs could pose a bigger problem. None of the UC and CSU campuses currently offers abortion pills; and “CSU officials worry the mandate would impose severe costs for liability insurance, safety improvements, medical training and round-the-clock phone support for medical emergencies,” wrote the AP.
Whether or not the bill becomes law, one thing is clear: It is not being pushed by college women who see a need for it but by pro-abortion ideologues. No other state in the union has such a law, and only one of 139 schools that responded to a 2015 survey from the American College Health Association offers onsite abortion drugs.
Still, it hardly comes as a surprise, because, in the words of LifeNews, “California laws already are some of the most hostile to unborn babies in the world.” They may well become even more hostile in the near future.
According to LifeNews.com, the legislation mandates that, by 2022, all Golden State universities and community colleges make abortion drugs available to students through the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, covering the cost of the drugs as part of their student health-insurance plans. In the meantime, reports the Daily Caller, schools would be required “to provide transportation to an abortion facility or to arrange an abortion for students requesting the procedure.”
The Associated Press describes the process of drug-induced abortion as follows: “One medication is administered in the clinic and a patient is given a second drug to take later at home. The medications induce bleeding similar to a miscarriage, according to legislative records.”
That sounds harmless enough, but as LifeNews points out, “The abortion pills are responsible for the deaths of dozens of women worldwide, including several in the United States; and they have injured at least 1,100 women in the United States, according to 2006 figures from the FDA. A Planned Parenthood study admits at least one woman is seriously injured from the abortion pills daily.” In addition, asserted California Family Council CEO Jonathan Keller, the drugs can cause “psychological anguish that could last a lifetime.”
The bill’s author, Democratic Senator Connie Leyva, told the AP, “I firmly believe that all students should be able to decide what to do with their own bodies and when to factor a family into their life. After all, women do not lose the constitutional right to end a pregnancy simply because they are a college student.”
There are a few false assumptions in Levya’s statement. First, abortion isn’t simply about a woman’s own body; it is about snuffing out the life of another human being within it. Second, the “constitutional right” to abortion was a fabrication cooked up by activist Supreme Court justices in 1973; even Justice Harry Blackmun’s former clerk Edward Lazarus has stated that the Roe v. Wade decision, which Blackmun wrote, is “basically indefensible.” Third, even if such a right did exist, it would not follow that taxpayers should be forced to pay for abortions, particularly if they are opposed to the practice.
According to the AP, “The bill’s sponsors estimate that 10 to 17 women would seek a medication abortion per month on each UC [University of California] campus, and nine to 15 at each CSU [California State University] school.” With UC having 10 campuses and CSU having 24, that works out to an estimated 316 to 530 taxpayer-funded abortions a month — and that doesn’t even include community colleges.
In order to become law, the bill has to pass the state Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats, and be signed by Governor Jerry Brown, also a Democrat. The bill therefore stands a good chance of finding its way onto the books, though cost considerations could possibly doom it.
According to the AP, the bill’s implementation costs have been estimated between $14 million and $34 million. However, three pro-abortion organizations — the San Francisco-based Tara Foundation, the Women’s Foundation of California, and a third that wishes to remain anonymous — have offered to cover those costs.
Long-term costs could pose a bigger problem. None of the UC and CSU campuses currently offers abortion pills; and “CSU officials worry the mandate would impose severe costs for liability insurance, safety improvements, medical training and round-the-clock phone support for medical emergencies,” wrote the AP.
Whether or not the bill becomes law, one thing is clear: It is not being pushed by college women who see a need for it but by pro-abortion ideologues. No other state in the union has such a law, and only one of 139 schools that responded to a 2015 survey from the American College Health Association offers onsite abortion drugs.
Still, it hardly comes as a surprise, because, in the words of LifeNews, “California laws already are some of the most hostile to unborn babies in the world.” They may well become even more hostile in the near future.
