CALIFORNIA, October 1, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – In a surprise eleventh hour move, California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have required university student health centers to dispense abortion pills.
Known as the “College Student Right to Access Act,” the controversial SB 320 would have essentially transformed state universities into abortion facilities by mandating that campus health clinics begin providing abortifacients no later than 2022.
“The average distance to abortion providers in campus communities varies from five to seven miles, not an unreasonable distance,” said Brown, explaining his rationale for vetoing the measure. “Because the services required by this bill are widely available off-campus, this bill is not necessary.”
Although the governor’s veto is pragmatic, it remains a win for the pro-life movement.
“Today’s veto is a victory for all women, students, and taxpayers in California,” said Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America. The group held numerous rallies, tabled on campuses, and met with university administrators, as well as lobbied and testified in Sacramento against the bill.
SB 320 “would have required our university student health centers to become abortion clinics,” noted a statement from Californians for Life, part of the coalition opposed to the bill.
Other coalition members include the California Family Council, Right to Life Kern County, Right to Life Central California, Pro-Life San Francisco, Concerned Women for America, and the California Catholic Conference.
“Students for Life of America is proud to have worked…to protect students from the dangerous RU-486 abortion drug,” said Hawkins, who has noted previously that “the deadly drugs end the lives of preborn children by causing horrific bleeding and have also ended the lives of women.”
“The Pro-Life Generation will continue to fight against all efforts to bring dangerous abortion drugs to college campuses,” added Hawkins.
Pro-abortion Democrats have already threatened to reintroduce the bill in 2019.
“I am truly disappointed that Governor Brown vetoed the ‘College Student Right to Access Act,’” said the bill’s author, Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, in a statement.
“This very important bill would have ensured access to medication abortion services on California public university campuses for students seeking to end their pregnancy,” added Leyva.
Leyva believes that college students have a “constitutional right to access abortion care promptly and without delay.” She says that because the Trump Administration is unraveling “critical health care protections and services for women, legislation such as this is urgently needed to make sure that Californians are able to access the full range of reproductive care regardless of where they may live.”
Governor Brown, who declined to sign the bill into law, views abortion as a “long-protected right” in his state.