The NYU Student Health Center began stocking mifepristone, a common abortion medication, in September following criticism from on-campus student groups last spring. 

In a written statement to WSN, SHC executive director Carlo Ciotoli said the university signed an agreement with the Food and Drug Administration in April to expand abortion access on campus, allowing it to dispense mifepristone to students with outside prescriptions at the SHC pharmacy.

“The SHC refers students to health care providers who are experts in providing abortion services,” Ciotoli wrote. “If a provider prescribes mifepristone to a student, we do carry it at the SHC pharmacy, and the student can come to our pharmacy and have the prescription filled here.”

The center began planning to dispense mifepristone in the spring, when it first considered pursuing FDA certification. Students were originally only able to access the medication through referrals to outside abortion providers, and also had to be covered by Wellfleet, the university’s sponsored health insurance program. In response, students on campus held demonstrations calling for expanded and equal abortion access for the entire student body.

NYU has since removed its referral requirement for mifepristone for students covered under Wellfleet as well as New York-based insurance plans, according to Ciotoli. However, Ciotoli said policies may differ for students with health insurance plans from other states.

“[The SHC] covers a lot of other things,” sophomore Atticus Basso-Schricker said. “When I went in for a sports physical, they said, ‘we have STI testing and blood testing that’s covered by the university so you don’t have to pay for it.’ Why can they cover that and not an abortion?”

The university, however, has made progress in expanding reproductive care access over the past few months. Recently, NYU installed five vending machines stocked with a generic version of Plan B, a widespread contraceptive, around campus. The move came months after the university announced that all in-network abortion services would be fully covered for students enrolled in Wellfleet starting in the 2023-24 academic year. 

Bruna Horvath contributed reporting.

Contact Quinn Sental at [email protected].