The Daily Emerald, a UO student-led news organization, first reported on the university’s decision to provide mifepristone and misoprostol to students on campus stating in the 2026 fall semester.
UO is the second university in the state, following Portland State University, to offer medicated abortions to its students and is also one of several universities in the country to voluntarily implement the service.
In some states, public universities are required to provide abortion access to their students. California was the first state to do this with Senate Bill 24, which went into effect January 2023 on all 33 of its public university campuses. Massachusetts, New York and Illinois have passed similar laws within the last several years.
The push to make mifepristone available at the University of Oregon main campus in Eugene came from various student body organizations: Young Democratic Socialists of America, Students for Choice, Blossom Empowerment Project and Associated Students of UO.
Students for Life America, pro-life organization on multiple college campuses across the nation, is one such group that did not support the move. Their vice president of media and policy said that “it makes no educational sense for schools to prioritize ending the lives of future students and the grandchildren of parents often paying tuition.”
After a previously failed campaign in 2024, the movement finally passed because of a couple factors.
Margret Trout, hired in 2025 as the director of UO’s University Health Services (UHS), was open to implementing the abortion pill, moving quickly after her hiring to meet with one of the student groups heavily involved in the abortion pill campaign.
Meanwhile, over 2,300 petition signatures were collected in favor of the service, and 200 student survey responses showed preference to UHS over the closest Planned Parenthood clinics due to accessibility and familiarity.
Live Action reports that Trout admitted that UHS did not already carry the drug because they did not have the ability to safely respond if the pill failed. “Medical staff at UHS decided to fulfill the students' wish despite knowing the staff is not prepared to handle complications,” the Live Action report notes.
Anna Hejinian, medical director at UHS, is one of the people overseeing the new abortion pill program. She says the school has advanced its capability to provide appropriate assessments on campus.
The abortion drug will be free to students with Oregon health insurance, but Trout says school officials are working on funding for students from out-of-state who may not have full coverage.
Thomas W. Jacobson, founder of Global Life Campaign and co-author of the Abortion Worldwide Report, spoke with Jody Hice on “Washington Watch.”
There are negative impacts on universities, such as UO, and other entities complicit with providing abortion pills or responding to those who have taken the pills, he says.
“I have a deep concern for them. One day they will wake up and realize what they've done. But a nurse or a health professional, a father of a child that wants to eliminate the child, the mother of the child, the government who made the policies, they're all complicit in the murder of that child,” Jacobson said.
Conflicting numbers on harm
UHS claims that an average of 1-6% of patients experience complications from medicated abortion. The statistic contradicts a report from the Ethics and Public Policy Center that says a little more 10% of women experience “serious adverse events” after taking mifepristone.
While abortion drugs become more available, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is dragging its feet on a mifepristone study that’s supposed to assess its safety, Jacobson said. AFN reported previously that some believe the FDA will never complete the study.
Meanwhile, according to the Daily Wire, the Department of Justice is blocking a Missouri lawsuit against the FDA for not halting mail-in mifepristone. The DOJ claims the lawsuit would interfere with the FDA’s study, but Jacobson doesn’t understand how a pro-life state trying to enforce its laws would thwart the agency’s capacity to conduct research.
“I think the Lord gave us an opportunity with the Dobbs decision to change the course of our history, but this has really brought out what's in the hearts of many Americans in both ways. There are many of us, millions of us, who are fighting for life and to protect life, and yet, there are enormous efforts to unleash the abortion pill upon our nation,” Jacobson said.
