In response to a new California law requiring public colleges and universities to provide abortion pills to students, a U.S. senator has introduced legislation that would ban federal funding of any college or university whose health centers perform abortions or offer abortion pills to students.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, on Wednesday introduced the Protecting Life on College Campus Act of 2021 in the Senate. Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Mary Miller (R-Ill.) introduced a version of the bill in the House.
"For too long the abortion industry has been taking advantage of vulnerable women and now, blue states like California are beginning to require campus clinics to provide chemical abortions on demand,” Daines said at a press conference Wednesday. “These do-it-yourself abortions put young women in dangerous situations that they are oftentimes forced to deal with alone in their dorm room. This not only ends the life of an unborn child, it endangers the mother’s life as well. We cannot allow campus health centers to turn into abortion clinics.”
It’s unlikely, however, that advocates of the bill will see a floor vote in this Congress, which is controlled by Democrats.
Still, Daines is adamant that “the craziness in California” not become “the mainstream in America.” His office said that other states are beginning to follow California’s example.
“What is on the fringe of a far-left position suddenly can become mainstream in this country and we’ve got to stop it,” he said.
