Can there be shared goals between those who are pro-life and those who are pro-choice? According to one group of committed feminists, there can.
Recently, I attended a Capitol Hill briefing hosted by Feminists for Life. The briefing was attended by students and graduates on both sides of the abortion debate, who met to discuss the lack of resources and support on campus for pregnant and parenting students. Could it be that these two groups share more common ground than we might first suppose?
First we heard from Chaunie Brusie, recent graduate and student mother who discovered she was pregnant a few weeks into her senior year of college. Her experience was an all-too-rare success story because she challenged the status quo on her campus, finding, gathering and advocating resources so that other pregnant students would have more support than she did. She faced many challenges, but with support from her family and friends, Chaunie was able to graduate on time and deliver her daughter a week later. She now works to transform other campuses as FFL’s College Outreach Program Coordinator.
Facing similar challenges and a lack of support from university administrations, it is easy to see why many women do not feel they have any “choice” at all. Regardless of our philosophical differences and opposing views about abortion, we should all be able to agree that women who choose to continue their pregnancies, whether they raise their children themselves or make an adoption plan, deserve better than that.
Cayce Utley, the National Program Director at Feminists for Life, reviewed findings from FFL’s groundbreaking study “Perception is Reality,” confirming that Chaunie’s experience was, unfortunately, all too common. On many campuses, if resources including financial aid, health insurance that included maternity coverage and the option for additional riders, and affordable housing even exist for student parents, they are usually difficult to navigate or hidden entirely beneath a mountain of bureaucracy. How can a student facing an unplanned pregnancy feel that she has any options at all when such necessary resources are hidden or nonexistent? Or when policies are not officially established or widely publicized? When there is no central place on campus campus to which student parents can go for assistance?
Is it surprising that women feel that they cannot keep their children without sacrificing their education? As one student reported to Ms. Utley about her school, “it feels like an unspoken rule at my school that if you do get pregnant, your college experience here is over.”
Serrin Foster, the president of Feminists For Life, hosted the first of many FFL Pregnancy Resource Forums in 1997. At the briefing, she asked student activists from across the country for a show of hands: How many campuses have family housing? About one in six raised a hand. How many have child care options? Maybe one in four. When Serrin asked if students had maternity coverage in their student health care plan, not a single hand went up. “We should all be outraged by the lack of resources for pregnant women,” she said. “This is not the 1600s when only white single men went to college. And yet little has changed from the time when my father graduated from college with me in his arms. We can’t gloss over our shared goals any more.”
Serrin and others highlighted progress made at schools across the country. Most of this work was initiated by students who heard Feminists for Life’s message and advocated meeting the needs of pregnant and parenting students on their campuses. Serrin also spoke of the need for all colleges and universities to establish clear policies and communication procedures in order to support of “the rest of the choices” for pregnant students.
Although those of us in attendance at the Feminists for Life briefing may have had ideological differences, we were able to put them aside to talk about truly pro-woman solutions for pregnant students. Several interns from the Feminist Majority Leadership Association had interesting questions and helpful suggestions, and together we discussed ways to improve pregnancy support and services on campus. One Feminist Majority intern offered advice on ways to publicize resources and support for pregnant and parenting students through peer to peer counseling. We were all invited to visit a local pregnancy resource center, and I hope we are able to go together.
Rather than an aggressive debate that leads nowhere, Feminists for Life promotes collaboration between the pro-life and pro-choice camps. RH Reality Check and FFL are both creating venues where those on both sides of such a contentious issue can work together to explore real-world solutions.
As Chaunie said, we cannot allow a lack of resources and support to terminate a pregnant student’s education. The commitment of activists on both sides of the abortion debate who attended FFL’s Capitol Hill briefing convinced me that we are ready to work together, and we must.
