Washingtonexaminer.com reports: There is almost a humor to it. Remember the time when even those who supported abortion could admit that it was such a grave option that it should be “rare?” Now they want to make it as available as Tylenol.

The proponents of California Senate Bill 320 have omitted pertinent facts in an attempt to promote and normalize abortion for young people, and to get the dangerous RU-486 abortion pill onto campus.

Proponents have lied about the dangers of a medication abortion, lied about fetal development, and lied about the accessibility of abortions. They have also failed their students by refusing to offer other solutions to unwanted pregnancies.

Planned Parenthood’s website describes the medication abortion as “kind of like having a really heavy, crampy period.” This is not true. The reality is, the procedure is gruesome. Students who take the abortion pill will find themselves in communal dormitory bathrooms in labor, expelling their preborn child alone — often in severe pain and with heavily bleeding for days — with no direct medical supervision on hand. This is the reality of taking RU486.

Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood manager, described her own medication abortion. The second day on the pill regimen, she was in excruciating pain, bleeding and vomiting for hours. She passed what she called several lemon-sized blood clots. When she called Planned Parenthood, the nurse told her, “That is not abnormal.” For eight more weeks, Abby bled heavily, had debilitating cramps, and experienced intense nausea.

According to the FDA, at least 22 women have died after taking the RU-486 regimen, and many others have had serious complications, with nearly 600 women experiencing such severe blood loss that they required transfusions.

At least one of California’s university systems, California State University, is reluctant to participate, and has rightfully expressed concern that its campuses are ill-equipped to deal with the risks of a medication abortion.

Another critical fact that those pushing SB 320 leave out is the level of development of the baby at this stage of pregnancy. The abortion pill regimen can be administered up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy. By 10 weeks, the preborn child has a beating heart, arms, and legs.

The bill’s supporters argue that the law is needed to save students hours of travel and to cover the cost of their abortion pills. They say that dispensing pills on campus will ensure that young women have easy access to abortions anytime they want, especially if they don’t have cars or have trouble fitting an appointment into their school schedules.

This argument is disingenuous, and an attempt to hide the truth. Research from Californians for Life shows that the average distance from each public campus to the nearest abortion pill provider is less than six miles (the longest distance for any of them is about 15 miles). With all of the Ubers, cabs, and public transportation available, “access” is a manufactured issue. Not to mention that these same students who go through with the medication abortion will need to get emergency medical help off campus if complications arise.

This bill also sends a demeaning message to female students that the only assistance their universities are willing to offer them if they become pregnant is abortion. As a former California public university student and current California native, I have been inside these university health clinics. They continue to promote abortion as the best option for pregnant students. The same legislature that is pushing to make abortions readily available has not even tried to put the same effort into pregnancy, parenting, and adoption support programs to help these women keep their babies. SB 320 does nothing for pregnant students who want to keep their babies and need help to do so.

SB 320 also flies in the face of California’s own progressive ideals by telling young women that the price for staying in school is to end the lives of their own babies. This is reminiscent of a dark time in our country’s history, when employers fired pregnant women unless they got abortions. Today, California is creating a similar environment, where college students are told that if they are pregnant, college will be too difficult for them, so they will make it easy to get rid of that baby.

True empowerment would include options and support for women, not all of these lies about how easy and safe abortion is; not this encouragement to take a life for convenience’s sake. SB 320, which has already passed the state Senate and is now moving through the Assembly, should be stopped.