{"id":249590,"date":"2021-07-22T06:40:15","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T11:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=249590"},"modified":"2021-07-21T17:07:02","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T22:07:02","slug":"ban-funding-colleges-abortion-pill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ban-funding-colleges-abortion-pill\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers introduce bill in effort to end abortion pill distribution on college campuses"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(National Review<\/a>) R<\/span>epublican<\/span>\u00a0lawmakers in the House and Senate will introduce legislation today to prohibit colleges and universities from receiving federal funding if they provide chemical-abortion drugs to students.<\/p>\n

The Protecting Life on College Campus Act of 2021 will be rolled out […] by lead sponsors Senator Steve Daines (Mont.) and Representatives Mary Miller (Ill.) and Chip Roy (Texas).<\/p>\n

According to the draft bill, a copy of which was obtained exclusively by\u00a0National Review<\/span>, the legislation would prohibit federal money from either directly or indirectly funding \u201cany institution of higher education that hosts or is affiliated with any school-based service site that provides abortion drugs or abortions to students of the institution or to employees of the institution or site.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Though it\u2019s far less likely that a student would seek a surgical abortion at a campus health center \u2014 as opposed to chemical-abortion drugs, which are the primary method for abortions in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy \u2014 Roy\u2019s office has confirmed that providing either chemical abortions or surgical abortions on campus would violate the law.<\/p>\n

To remain eligible for federal funding, institutions of higher education that host a health clinic would be required to send an annual report to the Departments of Education and of Health and Human Services, \u201ccertifying that no such site provides abortion drugs or abortions\u201d to students or employees.<\/p>\n

Thus far, the bill has garnered the support of more than 50 cosponsors in the House and of a handful of Republican senators: Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Marco Rubio of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas, Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and Josh Hawley of Missouri.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Who benefits most from abortion pills on college campuses? Not who you think.<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The GOP effort to draft this new legislation came about first and foremost as a response to a California law that requires every public university in the state to provide chemical-abortion pills to female students \u2014 or, as the law puts it, \u201cpregnant persons.\u201d<\/p>\n

The California statute, first enacted in 2019, will take effect starting in 2023, spurring this response from federal lawmakers concerned that the policy might be replicated in blue states across the country. In fact, the state senator who sponsored California\u2019s law explicitly said she hoped her bill would jump-start a nationwide movement to make chemical abortions more widely available on campus.<\/p>\n