A group of Republican lawmakers has introduced a bill that would pull taxpayer funding from universities that offer abortion pills to their students. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) co-sponsored the legislation.
“A college dorm room is no place to have a do-it-yourself abortion, and the American taxpayer should not be paying for the destruction of innocent human life on our college campuses,” Roy said. “The Protecting Life on College Campuses Act is about guarding young college women and their unborn children from the predatory abortion industry’s radical and reckless push for universal access to abortions.”
The bill is a direct response to a 2019 California bill requiring public universities to provide chemical abortion pills to students by 2023. Signed into law by Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, California’s law was the first in the nation to require abortion medication on campuses.
According to NBC News, the law will only be implemented if a state commission can raise more than $10 million in private donations to pay for it.
Sponsors of the Protecting Life on College Campuses Act hope to stop laws like the one in California from steamrolling throughout the rest of the country. The bill explains for states to remain eligible for federal funding, their institutions of higher learning will be required to submit an annual report to the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Health and Human Services certifying that no site provides abortion drugs or abortions to students of the institution, according to Roy’s office.
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For the bill’s supporters, it’s about stopping taxpayer dollars from going to fund the destruction of unborn children. But more importantly, it’s about protecting the unborn and their mothers.
“Schools should not be in the business of ending the lives of future students. Students who find themselves pregnant should be lovingly embraced by their campus communities,” said Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life Action. “Abortion not only ends the life of an innocent pre-born child but can also lead to lifelong physical and emotional repercussions. There is no legitimate reason for college and university campuses to provide abortions, especially at the expense of fellow students and taxpayers.”
Marilyn Musgrave, former congresswoman, now vice president of government affairs with the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, summed up the bill’s argument.
“The Protecting Life on College Campus Act will stop the flow of taxpayer money to universities that endanger their students by distributing unsafe drugs that could result in severe bleeding, intense pain, infection, physical and emotional trauma, and even death in some cases,” Musgrave noted. “We strongly support this bill and will never stop working to expose the brutality of abortion.”
The Daily Wire reports that chemical abortions have become increasingly more common among women in the past 20 years. In 2001, 5 percent of abortions occurred by women taking abortion pills. As of 2017, that number jumped to 39 percent.
The abortion pills are ingested in two stages. The first pill is called Mifepristone, which blocks the hormone progesterone, destabilizing the uterine wall and effectively starving the baby. The second pill, Misoprostol, is taken a few days later at home and causes contractions, according to the Daily Wire.
Then a woman proceeds to expel the baby and deliver her aborted child at home. Or, as the California law would make more likely, in her dorm room.
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