Students want NYU to provide on-demand abortion

New York University (NYU) is considering students’ calls for on-demand abortion and medicated abortion pills. 

NYU’s Student Health Center Pharmacy could carry mifepristone, or medicated abortion pills, according to the student newspaper, the Washington Square News. 

While the university’s health insurance currently covers abortions deemed medically necessary, a university spokesperson told Washington Square News that NYU “is going to look at the issue” of requiring co-pays for elective abortions. 

[RELATED: Texas students held campus walkout for ‘on demand’ abortion]

The considerations follow changes to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) policies that allow pharmacies to issue mifepristone, according to Washington Square News. FDA policies note requirements for pharmacies dispensing mifepristone, including filling prescriptions within four days of receipt. 

The students demanding abortion access are invoking the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling, which ended the constitutional protection for abortion.  

One student group, the NYU chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, launched a petition demanding “abortions for NYU community members on demand without question, without delay, and without cost.” A list of signees specifies that NYU YDSA wants abortions “provided regardless of reason for seeking abortion, health insurance status, or previous abortion history.” 

Additional demands include abortions that are “provided for free for students and other NYU community members regardless of insurance status” and are “accessible without referral process, extensive wait times, or paperwork other than a consent form.” 

If NYU follows through on its considerations, it will join other universities providing its students with access to mifepristone. Barnard College announced that campus providers will offer students medicated abortions by the fall 2023 semester. California’s Senate Bill 24, which went into effect in January 2023, requires student health centers at public universities to provide medicated abortion. 

[RELATED: Texas A&M student organization holds event teaching ‘self-managed abortions’]

In Republican-led states, access to medicated abortion remains contentious. 20 attorneys general recently sent letters to CVS and Walgreens, the major pharmacies that announced their plans to issue mifepristone, according to Newsweek. 

A spokesperson with CVS told Campus Reform that the pharmacy “will seek certification to fill mifepristone prescriptions written by authorized providers where legally permissible” and will “follow all FDA safety protocols regarding the medication.”

The letters from the attorneys general, however, referenced federal and state laws that “prohibit using the mail to send or receive abortion drugs.” 

“Abortion pills are far riskier than surgical abortions, according to established scientific consensus,” attorneys general from Alabama, Missouri, Florida, and other states argued. 

“We emphasize that it is our responsibility as State Attorneys General to uphold the law and protect the health, safety, and well-being of women and unborn children in our states. Part of that responsibility includes ensuring that companies like yours are fully informed of the law so that harm does not come to our citizens.”

Campus Reform contacted all relevant parties listed for comment and will update this article accordingly.