Chico State offers abortion pills to students

Molly Myers, Editor-in-Chief|March 7, 2023

How will the abortion pill affect Chico State students? Photo credit: Carolyn Allen

WellCat Health Center at Chico State is now offering abortion pills to students. Chico State media relations coordinator Sean Murphy said the pills are available in “limited quantities” and that the school only offers medication, not surgical abortions.

Students are responsible for the cost of the prescriptions, Murphy said. The two-step regimen includes the following:

The move comes after California passed a bill in 2019 requiring University of California and California State University campuses to provide access to these services by January 2023.

The bill has come to provide a safety net for abortions in the UC and CSU systems, passing nearly three years before the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The overturning of this case gave states the power to craft their own individual abortion legislation, with many revoking access.

Accounting for 54% of all abortions, the medication option is the most commonly used method in the U.S. 

Abortion in California has been legal at varying levels of access since 1967. To ensure abortion access after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, California voters passed legislation to explicitly grant access to abortion in the California state constitution. 

Outside of California, access to abortion varies greatly by state. A potential landmark case regarding access to abortion pills is underway in Texas, and could impact abortion legislation throughout the country. 

The anti-abortion group, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration claiming that it did not follow all the necessary protocols to approve the abortion medication, mifepristone.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk is set to rule on the case any day now. 

Outside of WellCat Health Center abortion can be accessed in Chico at Women’s Health Specialists and Planned Parenthood.

For more information on this service contact WellCat Health Center at [email protected] or 530-898-5241. 

Molly Myers can be reached at [email protected]