On Thursday, school officials announced that Barnard College, a private women’s college in New York, will give students access to abortion pills next fall.
Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the college’s chief health officer Marina Catallozzi and the college’s dean Leslie Grinage decided to ensure that students received access to abortion health services regardless of the future.
“Barnard applies a reproductive justice and gender-affirming framework to all student health and well-being services, particularly reproductive healthcare. In the post-Roe context, we are bolstering these services,” Catallozzi and Grinage said.
Last year, the Food and Drug Administration lifted long-standing restrictions on mifepristone, a drug used to induce early-pregnancy abortions, permitting mail-order sales.
The University of California and California State University campuses will begin providing medication abortions in January 2023 by state law.
Even though the school is located in New York, where abortion access isn’t illegal, officials still want the college to be prepared.
“While our students have access to high-quality reproductive health services in New York and particularly at [Columbia University Irving Medical Center], we are also preparing in the event that there is a barrier to access in the future, for any reason,” Catallozzi and Grinage said.
