Governor Brown Vetoed SB320 and Here’s Why You Should be Mad Too

You probably haven’t heard what SB320 is all about but I am here to further inform you and if you think it doesn’t apply to you, it does.

 

Senate Bill 320 is a proposed law that would require all public universities in California to provide medication abortion for students on campus. Access to abortion is available but that doesn’t mean that’s its a breeze. Some of the challenges students face when needing abortions are access to the right healthcare, distance from locations that provide these services, and even facing harassment because of the services they need.

 

Talking about abortion and even thinking about needing one is not always the easiest topic to discuss. The last thing someone needs when having to face this decision is dealing with criticism or blame.

 

This proposed bill would provide confidential, easier access to abortion since it would be in pill form and could be taken right away in a health center office, and on campus. Sounds great, right?

 

Well, Governor Brown didn’t think so. Students from all over California prepared to lobby for this bill and he vetoed the bill with his reason being that these services are “widely available” off-campus.

 

Now I don’t know about you but if I was looking for these services I don’t exactly know where I’d be comfortable or find access, at least in Chico, so hearing about his reasoning only made me feel even more targeted.

 

In a time where it seems like we are regressing as a country, you would think the most liberal state in the country would have a little more consideration for the way young women are being neglected.  In my opinion, this not only shows neglect towards young women but towards students in general.

 

As students, we’re usually told that our voice matters and that we should use all the resources that we can to push for what benefits us. However, sometimes it feels like we’re not taken seriously and no matter how much we speak up, the older generation still gets their way.

 

I’ll tell you what though, this isn’t the end for SB320. Everyone deserves equal access to medical services that affect our age group and most importantly, everyone deserves to have the opportunity to show our government that our voice matters and you can’t keep us quiet.

 

This was a great push, however, since it made it through many stages of the process to land in our Governor’s hands. Now, we don’t just need people to support the cause, we need people to believe in the cause.

To be Feminist is to be against all other forms of oppression. So if you’re against any other form of oppression then we hope you’d help resist against this too.

 

For more information on how to get involved, you can check out http://justcarecalifornia.org/.

You can also check out their social media platforms for how to get more knowledge and if interested, you too can join the group of students that lobby in Sacramento and tell Governor Brown that our voice matters!