The California State Assembly today approved a dangerous bill that would require colleges and universities to offer abortion drugs on campus.

The legislation, which passed the state Senate in January, is a radical, first-of-its-kind bill that would push college students to abort their unborn babies.

Senate Bill 320, sponsored by pro-abortion Democrat Sen. Connie Leyva, would require California public universities and community colleges to provide abortions drugs up to 10 weeks of pregnancy at their student health centers. It also would require the taxpayer-funded schools to cover the cost of the abortions in their student health insurance plans. If passed, the pro-abortion mandate would go into effect in 2020.

Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins called the passage today of SB 320 in the State Assembly a tragedy

hawkins told LifeNews after the vote to pass the bill: “California politicians put the interests of the abortion industry ahead of the needs of both students and the colleges and universities with this shortsighted vote today.”

“Schools should be focused on educating the next generation, not ensuring that it’s easy to end the lives of future generations,” said Hawkins. “We call on Governor Jerry Brown to put the safety of women and the preborn ahead of this abortion industry push to get on college campuses and to veto SB 320.”

Hawkins is worried the idea will spread to other states.

“But this is not the end of our efforts to protect women from abortion industry attempts to infiltrate school health centers. Students for Life of America will work tirelessly to prevent this misguided effort from going to other states, and we will stand with healthcare workers whose conscience rights may be violated when the state forces them to distribute the deadly RU 486 drugs,” she added. “We are also already hearing from students who do not want to see their school fees support abortion on campus, and we will work with them as they fight to prevent that misuse of their resources.”

Leyva and other abortion activists claim the bill would provide better access to abortion for young women. However, Californians for Life research found the average distance between a California public college and an abortion facility is less than 6 miles.

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The Office of Life, Justice and Peace for the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles urged pro-lifers to contact their Assembly members and urge them to vote no. The office said the destruction of unborn babies is one of many problems with the bill. It also expressed fears about women’s safety.

It stated: “26% of students are parents, but few are informed of their rights or the resources available to them. Offering abortion on campus will encourage unwanted abortions for young women and coerce the reproductive choices of students who may feel they have no other choice.”

Student parents want better support, such as housing and child care, not more abortions, the archdiocese noted.

Leyva’s bill does nothing to provide support for pregnant and parenting students who want to keep their babies. According to KQED, most campus health centers do not provide prenatal care or childbirth services.

Campus health centers do not provide weekend or evening services either – a concern that California public colleges and universities voiced against the bill.

Complications from abortion drugs include excessive bleeding, infection, incomplete abortion requiring surgery and death of the woman. A Food and Drug Administration report in 2017 found that 22 women died, more than 1,000 were hospitalized and nearly 600 experienced severe blood loss that required transfusions after taking the abortion drugs.

Others concerns include that college health centers do not have the equipment to provide abortions. Ultrasounds are vitally important in determining an unborn baby’s gestational age and the possibility of an ectopic pregnancy, which can be deadly if not detected; but the centers typically do not have the expensive machines.

Writing for the Washington Examiner this week, Lila Rose, president and founder of Live Action, said the bill is the opposite of progress.

“… what it really means is serious problems for both students and the universities, not to mention the destruction of more human lives,” Rose wrote, pointing to the numerous health and safety concerns.

“SB 320 also flies in the face of California’s own progressive ideals by telling young women that the price for staying in school is to end the lives of their own babies. This is reminiscent of a dark time in our country’s history, when employers fired pregnant women unless they got abortions,” she wrote.

If the bill becomes law, California would be the first state to force public universities to provide abortions to students. Abortion activists hope the bill will become “a model across the country, for every state.”