Bill Would Require California Community College Health Centers to Provide Access to Abortion Pills

A proposed bill would require community colleges in California to provide access to abortion drugs through campus health centers. 

Assembly Bill 2540 is an extension of a 2019 law that already requires the dispensation of abortion drugs at University of California and California State University student health centers and went into effect in 2023. The new bill, which would be contingent on state legislature funding, would go into effect in 2029, CalMatters reported. 

The bill is authored by San Francisco Democrat Assemblymember Catherine Stefani and would apply to approximately 92 campuses statewide. 

“We are closing a critical gap by ensuring that community college students, one of the most diverse and economically vulnerable populations in our state, have the same access to care as their peers at four-year institutions,” Stefani said in April during an Assembly Health Committee hearing.

The bill would also make campuses promote abortion drug services by providing information to students and posting the services online. The promotion mandate would extend to universities, which were not previously required to do so under the previous version of the law. 

Implementing the bill is estimated to cost millions to start up and millions more to annually maintain services, and would be conditioned on state funding, per the report.

According to the report:

The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office estimates implementing the bill could cost between $7 million and $27.9 million in one-time startup costs across all 93 community college health centers, plus between $5.6 million and $9.3 million annually to maintain services. Those estimates are not limited to the cost of medication. The appropriations analysis says the expenses could include staffing, training, equipment, telehealth services, billing support and other infrastructure needed for campuses to provide or coordinate care.

The bill was referred to the Senate Health and Education committees on June 10 and was re-referred on July 2 to the Senate Appropriates Committee with additional amendments. 

“The latest amendments further define how community colleges could comply, including through referrals, ‘warm handoffs,’ written partnerships with licensed providers or a statewide provider agreement through the Chancellor’s Office,” according to the report. “They also clarify that state funding could support costs such as telehealth, staffing, training, billing support, outreach and reporting.”

An earlier version of the bill would have made community colleges with student health centers provide abortion drugs onsite. Amendments added to the bill allow them to begin providing the drugs in 2029 and allow campus staff or external agencies to provide the pills through telehealth. The amendments also allow partnerships with “community health providers,” per the report.

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.