New Colorado law requires public, private universities to provide abortion drugs 

Colorado has joined a coalition of left-wing states in requiring all universities to provide abortion drugs to students.

HB 1335 was sponsored by 50 Democrats, signed by Gov. Jared Polis and is set to take effect Aug. 1, 2027.

The bill states, “Gender equality is fundamental to ensure full participation in society for all individuals, and true equality cannot be achieved without access to reproductive health care, including abortion.”

College health centers, it continues, serve “a diverse student body, including women, transgender men, and nonbinary individuals, all of whom may require abortion medication services as part of their reproductive health care.”

HB 1335 applies to all Colorado universities with a student health center – both public and private. However, it grants an exemption to schools if providing abortion drugs violates their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”

All other health centers are required to “provide access to abortion medication to all students,” including by keeping abortion drugs on-site.

Colorado Rep. Lorena Garcia, D-Adams County, one of the bill’s sponsors, said college students shouldn’t have to leave campus to “access a constitutional right.”

“They should be able to access the full breadth of their health care right there on campus when they’re already doing so for other things,” Garcia said in April. “Abortion care should not be something that someone has to go to some other clinic to access.” 

Colorado now joins four other states – California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York – in mandating public universities provide abortion drugs. However, Colorado is the only one to extend the requirement to private universities.

Nevertheless, critics of HB 1335 denounced the bill for using tax dollars and student tuition to indirectly fund abortions.

“As Christians, financial participation in abortion violates our faith. Colorado would be better serving the common good by prioritizing policies that provide assistance to women, children and families, especially in unexpected pregnancy,” Emma Ramirez, director of Respect Life Denver, told Campus Reform.

Ramirez added HB 1335 disregards the “millions of students on non-religious campuses whose student tuition and fees will be used for abortion medication or the college faculty and staff who will be forced to permit or even prescribe the medication.”

Others criticized the bill for narrowly promoting abortion, instead of providing students with comprehensive information on pregnancy.

“There is no requirement to give women information on adoption or that abortion drugs can be reversed,” observed Colleen Enos, director of government relations for Christian Home Educators of Colorado, which also promotes religious liberty.

“There is nothing in the statute to affirm a health care worker’s right to refuse to provide abortion pills or prescriptions according to their deeply held religious beliefs.”

On the federal level, the Trump administration has taken a hard stance against states mandating abortion access in taxpayer-funded systems.

In March, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) began investigating 13 states – including Colorado – mandating that state-regulated insurance providers include abortion procedures.

HHS cited the Weldon Amendment, which says state and local governments that receive federal funding cannot discriminate against health care providers who refuse to promote abortion.

The Trump administration has also made moves to defund Planned Parenthood, and recent HHS documents shifted the rhetoric on in vitro fertilization by calling frozen embryos “children who already exist.”