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Abortion Search Nearly Derailed Her Graduation, But Abortion Pill Was Available At Student’s Campus
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• 37:50
Signage at California State University, San Bernardino. A California law implemented in January 2023 was supposed to provide medication abortion access to all students at public California universities.
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Corinne McCurdy/CSUSB
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Courtesy of EdSource
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Topline:
LAist Investigates: The Unknown Mandate - Accessing Medication Abortion at California Universities, breaks down Senior Health Reporter Jackie Fortier and Higher Education Correspondent Adolfo Guzman-Lopez’s investigation into the lack of awareness of abortion access at California’s public universities.
About the podcast series: Imperfect Paradise is a weekly series about hidden worlds and messy realities here in Southern California and beyond.
About the episode: When LAist Senior Health Reporter Jackie Fortier met Deanna Gomez, Gomez was a full-time student in her senior year at Cal State San Bernardino close to graduating. She was also working two jobs to pay her way through school. When Gomez found out she was pregnant, her challenging search for an abortion upended her schedule and her life. Gomez would’ve saved hundreds of dollars, hours of driving across Southern California, and nearly a month of missed classes, if she had known that medication abortion access was free and accessible to her on her campus. She was exactly the kind of student who was supposed to benefit from a California law implemented in January 2023 to provide medication abortion access to all students at public California universities.
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Why it matters: An LAist investigation found that a year after California became the first state to require its public universities to provide medication abortions, basic information and knowledge of where or how students can obtain abortion services is lacking, and in some cases, nonexistent. When you examine state data, there is a significant gap between the number of students who are seeking abortion access compared to those who utilize it on their campuses since California passed its law in January 2023.
Read the full investigation: California Universities Are Required To Offer Students Abortion Pills. A Lot Just Don't Mention It
How do I find the podcast? Imperfect Paradise from LAist Studios is available wherever you get your podcasts!
Listen
• 37:50
Listen
• 37:50
LAist Investigates: The Unknown Mandate - Accessing Medication Abortion at California Universities
Imperfect Paradise host Antonia Cereijido is joined by LAist Senior Health Reporter Jackie Fortier and Higher Education Correspondent Adolfo Guzman-Lopez to break down their investigation into why many students and faculty across California's public universities don't know that medication abortion is mandated on their campuses. This is the latest LAist Investigates episode on Imperfect Paradise that highlights reporting from our newsroom.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode includes first-hand description of an outpatient abortion procedure.
For additional information and resources, you can visit https://abortion.ca.gov/
CONTENT WARNING: This episode includes first-hand description of an outpatient abortion procedure.
For additional information and resources, you can visit https://abortion.ca.gov/
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