Berkeley abortion bill reflects national need

Students for Life of America have claimed that college campuses are the next abortion battleground, and they’re not wrong. Last month, the student government of UC Berkeley unanimously passed Resolution 69 urging its administration to make non-surgical medical abortion available to students on campus. Despite the federal legality of abortion established under the 1973 court case Roe v. Wade, abortions have been notoriously hard to come by in many parts of the nation, and the demands made by college students are indicative of a larger need for widespread abortion access beyond the average clinic.

The medical abortion method in question is a combination of two orally administered pills, Mifepristone and Misoprostol, which boast a success rate of up to 98 percent and a safety risk lower than Tylenol and Viagra and even giving birth. While this medical procedure is simple and effective in the first nine weeks of pregnancy, elective abortions in the United States have been sequestered into freestanding clinics rather than hospitals at large, due in no small part to anti-choice legislation. The claims made by the UC Berkeley students pushing the resolution show discontent with the current limited availability of abortion services, the distance of providers and the monetary cost shouldered by those seeking help, and also make a case for the expansion of services to university health centers as well as general hospitals.

When 44 percent of abortion seekers are ages 18 to 24 and only 1.3 percent of American universities offer medical abortions in their campus health centers, a supply and demand problem ensues. Unplanned pregnancy is also strongly correlated with dropout rates, especially for students in financial need and those attending community colleges. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, pregnancy prompts one in 10 dropouts among female community college students and 7 percent of dropouts among both men and women overall. Of all community college students who are unable to obtain an abortion or do not want one and carry their pregnancies to term, 61 percent do not graduate, and the vast majority of them who manage to stay enrolled take over six years to complete a bachelor’s degree. The ill effects of unplanned pregnancy in college are enough to warrant widespread abortion reform.

One of the obstacles to obtaining abortion services is the distance of clinics. The closest Planned Parenthood to UC Berkeley’s campus is almost four miles away, which makes for a long excursion for which students must sacrifice going to class. The distance issue is arguably the worst in Texas, the birthplace of Roe v. Wade, where clinics are few and far between and constantly facing threats of closure. Texas law requires women to make four separate clinic visits in order to obtain abortion pills. Since distance is a major factor in the outcome of unwanted pregnancies, allowing college campuses to distribute these drugs is only right, considering the busy college lifestyle and the unpredictability of clinic locations.

Another major disadvantage to keeping abortion services limited to specialized clinics is the constant danger patients and providers face from vocal opposition, namely in the form of picketing and anti-abortion violence. The National Abortion Federation has compiled a staggering list of attacks since the legalization of abortion more than 40 years ago; attackers have employed all types of methods from bombings and shootings to acid and anthrax exposure. If colleges tout their commitment to student safety — USC included — the vulnerability of their female students seeking clinic abortions should be a topic of grave concern. The threat of violence from reactionary terrorists can be circumvented by making discreet abortion services available to college students and eventually subsuming these services into hospitals in general.

For young women, especially those in college, the cost incurred when obtaining an abortion is a significant barrier. Planned Parenthood can charge up to $800 for the abortion pill, and even more for in-clinic vacuum aspiration procedures that occur after nine weeks of pregnancy. The more dangerous but cost-effective alternative to the clinic route is purchasing through online pharmacies — a simple Google search will yield results for Misoprostol tablets sold for as cheap as one dollar under the guise of being ulcer medication. Unfortunately, the legitimacy of these drugs is uncertain, and they may put patients’ lives in danger. The final price tag for off-campus abortions under the Cal health insurance comes out to $400, and USC’s own Aetna health insurance states that “services and supplies incurred for an abortion” remain uncovered. The close proximity of the Los Angeles Planned Parenthood clinic to USC’s campus is rendered useless when the ultimate cost is taken into consideration.

For reasons including convenience, safety and universally high prices of abortion services, Resolution 69 may be the first spark that ignites schoolwide pushes for abortion access everywhere. The fact that it was passed unanimously by a mixed-gender student government is even more significant, as it reflects the current college atmosphere of solidarity surrounding abortion access. If the bill is formally approved by the school’s administration, UC Berkeley could not only set a precedent for universities, but also hospitals and health centers in general, by mainstreaming abortion and integrating it into the gamut of medical services routinely and justly offered to patients.