Paola Ordonez Sanchez experienced an unintended pregnancy in October during the fall semester of her senior year at Colorado State University. 

The logistical, financial and emotional burden she faced while trying to access abortion care would have been significantly reduced if she could have received that care at her school’s student health center, she told the Colorado House Education Committee Thursday.

“Accessing care meant coordinating transportation, missing classes, dealing with long wait times, and trying to figure out how to afford everything while already dealing with immense emotional stress,” Sanchez said. “For students who may not have transportation, supportive environments, or flexible schedules, these barriers can feel overwhelming and isolating.”

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Since colleges already offer essential health care services on campus — recognizing the “unique challenges” students face when seeking care off campus —  reproductive health care “should be no different,” she said. 

A Colorado bill that intends to increase that access for college students passed its first hearing Thursday. 

House Bill 26-1335 would require higher education institutions that have student health centers to provide medication abortion services on-site. The House Education Committee approved the bill on an 8-5 vote along party lines, with Republicans opposed.  

Any institution that has a pharmacy on-site would need to maintain a stock of abortion medication for students enrolled at the school. If an institution does not have a pharmacy, it would be required to send a prescription to a pharmacy off campus or dispense the medication through the health center if it has proper licensure to do so.

Schools with “sincerely held” religious beliefs against abortion would be exempt from the requirements of the bill.

The right to access abortion care is enshrined in the Colorado Constitution after voters approved Amendment 79 in 2024. Public workers and Medicaid recipients can have abortion care covered as of 2026 because of the amendment. 

When a measure like Amendment 79 passes at the ballot box, said Representative Lorena García, an Adams County Democrat and sponsor of HB-1335, there are typically steps that must be taken to realize access for people, and her bill would do that for university students in Colorado.

“Your life is on campus when you are in college, and that limits the ability to access certain services that might not be available on campus when you’re there,” García said. “Given the fact that now we have a constitutional right to abortion care in this state, it’s imperative that we make sure that all of our institutions ensure that that right exists.”

‘It’s about increasing abortion’

California, Massachusetts, New York, Illinois and Delaware have similar policies that require student health centers to provide abortion medication or referrals to clinics that can offer it, Representative Kenny Nguyen, a Broomfield Democrat and sponsor of the bill, said.

Some members of the committee doubted the bill’s claims that it doesn’t cost any money from the state budget. Bill sponsors clarified that the bill does not mandate institutions cover the cost of the abortion pills, and students would still have to pay for the medication out of pocket or through their health insurance like with any other medication. 

A few amendments passed the committee, the first of which clarifies that the bill does not force health centers that receive federal grants to violate their grant agreements with the federal government by complying with the bill. Others clarified language around prescriptions and the state’s protections for personal identifying information, as well as the bill’s religious exemptions. Three Republican-backed amendments from members of the committee all failed. 

Organizations that testified in support of the bill included Cobalt, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, the ACLU of Colorado, New Era Colorado, the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, and Soul 2 Soul Sisters.

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Shan Lagard, Black civic engagement and policy coordinator at Soul 2 Soul Sisters, said women aged 20-24 had the highest rate of unintended pregnancies in 2024, which is “the prime age range for college students.” With abortion continuing to be restricted throughout the country, Lagard said Colorado will continue to see an influx of people seeking abortion care, including college students.

“The statistics are showing how the right to abortion access is not just about bodily autonomy, but is also about lessening gender gaps in higher education, considering women are the ones more likely to disenroll from school once finding out about an unintended pregnancy,” Lagard said. “This impact is felt even more by Black women, especially when we consider that historically, Black women were not always granted the opportunity to pursue higher education in this country.”

Anti-abortion groups and religious advocates, including Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Colorado Right to Life, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists Colorado, and the Colorado Catholic Conference, testified against the bill in the House Education Committee. 

“Colorado law already provides broad access for abortion in Colorado, for those in it and outside of it,” Nathan Fisher, associate director of the Colorado Catholic Conference, said. “This bill’s not about access, it’s about increasing abortion, forcing the institutions (in) higher education to be complicit in abortion.”

Representative Chris Richardson, an Elbert County Republican who voted against the bill, said it mandates and compels universities to offer abortion services. He said while the bill says it won’t cost the state any money, those costs will actually be shifted elsewhere.

“Amendment 79 may prevent the government from blocking abortion, but this bill goes further than just simply not interfering,” Richardson said.

Senator Katie Wallace, a Longmont Democrat, is the Senate sponsor of the bill. It will need to pass two votes on the House floor before it goes to the Senate for approval.