How to Support Students in Anti-Abortion States: Four Things College Leaders Can Do Now

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2022

Publisher

The Chronicle of Higher Education

Abstract

Between the time that female students left our campuses last semester and when they began to return for the fall term, they lost a constitutionally protected right that women had enjoyed for 50 years — autonomy and freedom to make reproductive health-care decisions. The loss of that right, thanks to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, weakens the very foundation of women’s existence in our country, from their health to their educational and economic opportunities. Colleges in states where lawmakers have already used or plan to use the court’s decision to further restrict access to abortions must be proactive in supporting their female students.

I am not advocating that college leaders break the law or become a test case, and I fully understand that college leadership’s fiduciary responsibilities limit their tolerance of risk. But there is much that leaders can and should do for their students, all well within the bounds of the law.

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