Another Bill Passes!

SB320 Public Univeristy student health centers: medication abortion readiness; abortion by medication techniques: College Student Health Center and Sexual and Reproductive Health Preparation Fund

This bill requires each public university student health center to offer abortion by medication techniques starting on or after Janauary 1, 2022. It passed 9/10/18 and is on the Governor's desk for signing.

As for funding the abortion services, SB 320 doesn't specify the use of any state or university money. A private consortium that includes the Women's Foundation of California, Tara Health Foundation and a private donor has agreed to pay for implementation. The estimated cost is about $14 million, says Dr. Ruth Shaber, president of Tara Health Foundation. That figure "includes the training, any type of new equipment that's necessary, and training in the processes, billing for the procedure, and making sure that the clinics are really prepared to implement the procedure and to offer the care well," she says.

Campus health clinics currently provide reproductive health care like testing for sexually transmitted diseases and contraceptives. The risk of complications from medication abortion is low. A University of California, San Francisco study of more than 50,000 abortions provided between 2009 and 2010 found that 0.31 percent of medicated abortions resulted in major complications.

As for funding the abortion services, SB 320 doesn't specify the use of any state or university money. A private consortium that includes the Women's Foundation of California, Tara Health Foundation and a private donor has agreed to pay for implementation. The estimated cost is about $14 million, says Dr. Ruth Shaber, president of Tara Health Foundation. That figure "includes the training, any type of new equipment that's necessary, and training in the processes, billing for the procedure, and making sure that the clinics are really prepared to implement the procedure and to offer the care well," she says.

Campus health clinics currently provide reproductive health care like testing for sexually transmitted diseases and contraceptives. The risk of complications from medication abortion is low. A University of California, San Francisco study of more than 50,000 abortions provided between 2009 and 2010 found that 0.31 percent of medicated abortions resulted in major complications.

Read the bill directly here: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB320

Sources: Legiscan and NPR