Newsom vetoes bill to expand school health clinics

A bill that would have doubled the number of health clinics at California schools died Friday when Gov. Newsom vetoed it.

AB 1940 would have set aside $100 million to create or expand health clinics on school campuses, offering free medical and dental care, reproductive health care and mental health services to students and in some cases, the local community.

Foes of abortion rights fought the bill, saying that students would have been able to obtain medical abortions or referrals to outside clinics that offer surgical abortions, without the school notifying parents.

School health care and on-campus clinics are already a key part of Newsom’s community schools initiative. The Community Schools Partnership Program allots $3 billion to create hundreds, even thousands, of community schools in California over the next seven years.