New state bill would require public colleges to provide abortion services

Should California's public colleges and universities offer free access to medical abortion services for students?

A bill proposed by Senator Connie Leyva of Chino would do just that.

The new state bill will benefit college students who may become pregnant and seek to terminate their pregnancy within the first ten weeks. Many on-campus student health centers on public colleges already offer reproductive health services, including contraception, pregnancy options counseling and other critical services for both women and men.

Unfortunately, many students seeking early pregnancy termination are not able to receive that health care service on campus. Some students may have to travel several hours on public transportation to a clinic that provides medical abortion services, pay out of pocket and miss class or work obligations in order to access these constitutionally protected services.

Susan Hirasuna got reaction to the effort.

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