A bill to expand access to medication abortion services for students at Washington’s public colleges and universities was heard in the Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee Monday.
Senate Bill 5321, sponsored by Sen. T’wina Nobles (D-Fircrest), would require institutions with student health centers to offer medication abortion services by the 2026–27 academic year, while campuses without health centers would provide telehealth access and referrals.
“Students face enough challenges balancing work, school, and family responsibilities — accessing essential health care shouldn’t be one of them,” Nobles said. “This bill breaks down the barriers that force students to travel long distances, wait weeks for care, or make impossible choices. It’s about giving students the support they need to thrive, protecting their right to make their own health care decisions, and ensuring no one’s future is derailed by lack of access.”
Medication abortion is an FDA-approved, safe, and effective option for early pregnancy termination, yet only two public college campuses in Washington currently provide this service. The bill aims to standardize reproductive health resources across campuses, ensuring all students — regardless of their location or institutional resources — have equal access to care.
It also requires institutions to maintain accessible websites with up-to-date information about reproductive health care and other student resources, making it easier for students to navigate their options.
Follow the bill’s progress here.
Those of us who lived through the years when abortion was illegal can remember the occasional sad stories in newspapers of young women who died from illegal abortions. And some of us may have heard our parents discussing why the US birth rate fell during the Great Depression: abortion. Some families knew they could not feed another baby without harming their beloved living children. Those were sad and scary times for many young people. It is even sadder that some places in our country and world insist on going back to those times.