The University of Oregon announced it will begin offering abortion drugs through its campus health clinic this fall, following sustained pressure from pro abortion student organizations, The College Fix reported.
"UHS is committed to ensuring students have access to timely, comprehensive reproductive care," spokesperson Angela Seydel told KLCC. "Expanding our services to include medication abortion is the next necessary step in that commitment."
Groups including the Young Democratic Socialists and Students for Choice pressured the university through petitions and activism. The student government also pushed for the drugs to be made available on campus.
The university had previously declined to offer the pills, which are designed to end pregnancies before 12 weeks gestation, citing safety concerns. The Daily Emerald reported that University Health Services noted it did not have a full time staff member on call around the clock to assist students experiencing side effects.
Experts have raised alarms about the risks these drugs pose to women. Oregon Right to Life Communications Director Ashley Sadler previously told The College Fix that the move was "deeply irresponsible."
"Chemical abortion is lethal for unborn babies and very dangerous for women, as recent research has shown," Sadler said in January.
She pointed to a study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center which found that more than one out of every ten women, or 10.93 percent, experiences a severe adverse event after taking Mifepristone. The study also found an abortion pill related emergency room visit rate of nearly one in 20, or 4.7 percent.
The same think tank released a report on March 10 which further confirmed its findings. The group noted an increase in serious adverse events after the Food and Drug Administration under President Joe Biden removed the requirement that women see a doctor in person before taking the drugs.
Handing out abortion drugs on college campuses as if they were aspirin represents a grave moral and medical failure. Every barrier that once existed to protect both preborn children and the women pressured into these procedures has been systematically dismantled by pro-abortion activists more interested in ideology than safety. Restoring legal restrictions on abortion and rebuilding a culture that values life at every stage must be a priority for any serious effort to renew American society.
