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October 11, 2018
Pro-life advocates applauded Gov. Jerry Brown’s veto of SB 320, short-circuiting legislation that would have required every California state and University of California campus health center to stock and prescribe the abortion pill.
Life Legal Defense Foundation called the veto “a victory for tiny humans in California.”
SB 320 would have required each UC and California state campus health center to stock RU 486 or medication abortion by 2022. The two-part regime can now be administered up to 10 weeks gestation, according to Federal Drug Administration guidelines.
“We are extremely grateful that Gov. Brown vetoed this legislation which would have institutionalized a bias toward abortion as women’s health care on campus by requiring every campus health center to dispense medication abortion commonly known as RU 486,” said Valerie Schmalz, director of the Archdiocese of San Francisco Office of Human Life & Dignity. “RU 486 can have life threatening complications, and without 24/7 medical care on campus, the legislation would not only have led to babies’ deaths but it would have endangered students’ health.”
The California Catholic Conference had made stopping SB 320 a top priority of this legislative session, working closely with Californians for Life and Students for Life of America. Feminists for Life America president Serrin Foster wrote an editorial published by feminist Naomi Wolf, opposing SB 320.
“Because the services required by this bill are widely available off campus, this bill is not necessary,” Brown wrote in his veto message, noting abortion is available from five to seven miles from the college campuses.
“No one expected Gov. Brown to veto this legislation,” said Alexandra Snyder, executive director of Life Legal Defense Foundation. “Planned Parenthood paraded hundreds of young women before legislators to testify in favor of chemical abortion on demand. I can only attribute this victory to pro-lifers who have prayed faithfully for the defeat of this dangerous bill.”