By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-30 23:12:13 | Updated at 2026-10-01 04:37:37
5 hours ago
Many community colleges in California will be required to provide abortion pills under a law newly signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that expands on the existing services on campuses within the California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) systems, if state funding for the schools is available.
Assembly Bill 2540, signed on Sept. 27 alongside a handful of other reproduction-related bills, requires CSU and UC student health centers to “promote awareness of the services for abortion by medication techniques that the student health center offers” beginning by Jan. 1, 2028.
In addition, any community college with a student health center must “offer access to abortion by medication techniques” by January 2029 and must promote awareness of these services and post information about them on college websites.
By January 2030, the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls will need to report to the state legislature data on how many community college health centers provide abortion pill services and how many such abortions are performed at or with assistance from the campus health centers.
“We are closing a critical gap and ensuring that community college students—one of the most diverse and economically vulnerable populations in our state—have the same access to care as their peers at four-year institutions,” said bill author Assemblymember Catherine Stefani in an April news release.
AB 2540 includes funding of $200,000 per CSU and UC campus to help cover costs such as equipment, facility upgrades, staff training, and telehealth.
The late implementation dates mentioned in the bill are due to a funding condition caveat.
The mandate for community colleges to offer abortion services is “contingent upon an appropriation for its purposes in the annual Budget Act,” according to the bill. This means AB 2540 cannot take effect unless the state budget includes specific funding for it.
Critics questioned the bill’s necessity, calling it a financial burden.
“Abortion is already widely available in California. The state has 180 abortion clinics, legal mail-order pharmacy dispensing, and no restrictions on medication abortion,” Michelle Buenrostro, a student parent attending a California community college, wrote in a commentary article published by National Right to Life.
“The financing appears to be an afterthought to such a massive and costly project,” Buenrostro wrote. “Will this increase students’ tuition or health fees? Do we as taxpayers foot the bill?”
She called for schools to instead offer more support for student parents to allow them to care for their children while in school.
AB 2540 follows a bill Newsom signed in his first year as governor to require CSU and UC campuses to provide abortions via pills.
That bill, Senate Bill 24, appropriated funding to CSU and UC to cover costs related to student abortion services. Since it took effect in 2023, these universities have spent millions of dollars in state grant funds, according to data presented in a bill analysis from lawmakers.
UC schools reported 72 abortions performed across all campuses in the 2021–2022 school year, increasing to 297 abortions in the 2024–2025 school year. This used around $657,000 in state funding in 2022, increasing annually to around $1.3 million in 2025.
Similarly, CSU campuses reported a total of 162 abortions performed in the 2022–2023 school year, increasing to 349 abortions in 2024–2025. These campuses used around $1.6 million to $3.3 million to cover costs.
The abortion totals account for less than a tenth of a percent of all students enrolled across all campuses in each university system.
In addition to AB 2540, the governor also signed bills that will expand the ability of certified nurse-midwives, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants to perform abortions; allow veterans and military families more access to abortion in the state; and increase the length of paid maternity leave for firefighters.
“Freedom means being able to make deeply personal decisions without elected officials inserting themselves in pursuit of a political agenda,” Newsom said in a press release.
The governor’s office states that the newly signed bills build on “existing laws and programs that have made California the leader in protecting reproductive rights nationwide.”
Newsom must sign or veto bills passed during this legislative session by Sept. 30. Any bills that the governor does not act on before the deadline automatically become law without the governor’s signature.
