The private women's college in New York City will start selling abortion pills next year.
The decision to take effect in September signals how the nation's colleges and universities are becoming another front in the nation's pitched battle over abortion.
"We want to do everything we can to support our students, and I think we're putting a stake in the ground that we believe that health and wellbeing is the institution's responsibility for students."
According to an email sent out to the campus, the overturn of the abortion law will likely decrease college accessibility, result in lower graduation rates, and derail employment trajectory. In the event that there is a barrier to access in the future, we are preparing, according to the email.
Massachusetts enacted a law this summer that requires the state's public colleges and universities to provide abortion pills to students either through their campus health centers or through a local service that is easy to access. California's public colleges and universities will have to offer the pills by January.
In states with abortion bans or strict restrictions, colleges are trying to restrict campus reproductive health services.
The general counsel of the University of Idaho sent a memo to all employees last month telling them that they couldn't refer patients to abortion services because of Idaho's ban on abortion. The memo said that if employees do that, they could be charged with a felony and lose their jobs.
According to the memo, the Idaho law prevented employees from giving out emergency contraception, except in cases of rape, and that the university should not provide standard birth control.
According to the memo, condoms can only be given if they are used to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
Colleges and universities are cautious when it comes to the question of whether to offer medication abortions. The reproductive rights task force of the American College Health Association is discussing the issue with colleges.
Some schools don't have enough resources to provide such a service. It can be due to location, the needs of their student population and many other factors.
Before this year's Supreme Court decision on abortion, a few colleges decided to sell abortion pills. The University of California, Berkeley has been doing it for a while.
322 to519 students at California's public universities sought medication abortion each month and many faced obstacles of cost, travel distance to providers and long waits for appointments according to a study.
According to a survey by the American College Health Association in 2020, 2.5 percent of college health centers said they provided medication abortion on campus.
Adding medication abortion was already on the college's radar before some students met with health services officials to ask the school to provide it.
According to Dr. Catallozzi, this is a natural step in caring for a group of college students who are at risk of pregnancies.
She said that they wanted to make sure that students had all of the options when it came to reproductive health decisions.
In order to spend the next several months training staff, developing protocols and working out logistical issues, the officials decided not to give the pills immediately. They said that the pills would be covered by the college's health insurance plan and that there would be emergency funding available for students who don't have insurance.
In the United States, abortion can be done with two drugs: mifepristone, which blocks a woman's hormones, and misoprostol, which expels the fetus. Patients can take the pills at home or anywhere they choose, even if they don't have a certified provider.
Bleeding disorders are not a reason for patients to take abortion pills. Data shows that medication abortion is safe and effective for many patients who are medically eligible, with a small percentage of patients requiring a procedure to fully remove pregnancy tissue and an even smaller proportion of patients experiencing serious side effects.
In the last few years, there have been very few abortions sought by students at the school. The relationship between Columbia University Irving Medical Center and those who do is likely to continue. The medical center for surgical abortions, which do not involve the days of bleeding that typically follow taking the pills, may be a better option for some students who live in dorms.
In case New York's abortion services become overwhelmed with patients from states with restrictions, the college wanted to give the option. The landscape is changing all over the country. She told them to make sure they were prepared.
The president of the college will be named in the fall of 2023. She said she would like to get to know the community better. I am the president of Barnard and I am working with our experts to figure out what is best for the organization.
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