Students Worry About Reproductive Health As Uncertainty Looms

Published
During his presidential campaign, then Republican candidate Donald Trump said that if he signed laws restricting abortion in the United States, women who still choose to have them should face “some form of punishment.”

Throughout his campaign, Trump had made clear his anti-abortion stance, bolstered by promises to defund Planned Parenthood. Surely enough, on March 6, President Trump threatened to defund the organization — either they stop providing abortion services or they risk losing federal funding.

“If I weren’t able to get an abortion, I would have a fucking 3-year-old child right now! I’m 19!” yelled Rose Lee, a sophomore at Lang, when asked about her thoughts on his statement.

Although abortion may seem hypothetical for women who have not needed abortion services [previously], it’s actually [a part] of our reality and our community

“[Trump] can’t claim to support women’s health services and at the same time neglect women that need and choose their abortions,” Lee said. “In stripping and outlawing abortion services [he’s] condemning millions of women to unsafe practices.”

Lee is covered by her family’s health plan, but went to Planned Parenthood because she was worried her family would find out about her abortion. The organization provided her with health services, such as regular OB/GYN check-ups, birth control prescription, and HIV testing, for almost three years — until this past month when she stopped going. Although she’d prefer staying with Planned Parenthood, Lee switched to a private practice as she was wary about the organization’s uncertain future and wanted a more secure health care provider.

Lee’s experience reflects the fear, worry, and anger many women throughout the country, and on campus, feel in response to the rhetoric and proposals from the Trump administration and Congress with regards to women’s reproductive health.

“Although abortion may seem hypothetical for women who have not needed abortion services [previously], it’s actually [a part] of our reality and our community,” said Julia Garrigan, a sophomore at Lang.

Jenny Assaf, a freshman at Parsons, said she didn’t think that Trump’s proposed policies would affect her until recently, when she had a realization during a conversation about unprotected sex with a sexual partner. “He said something like, ‘We have to be extra careful now because you [might not] be able to get some birth control, or have your second option — it’s not going to be so easy anymore.’”

Assaf went as far as to say that “sex would be more terrifying” if concrete changes began to occur to current reproductive health policies.

Bella Vega, a freshman at Parsons, is also currently coming to terms with the new reality in Washington. “It’s just hard to believe that it’s even real — why are we restricting women’s rights? It seems so backwards, but I think because we’re in this bubble, we’re not going to see the bad effects as much [as other states],” she said.

Vega emphasized how important Planned Parenthood is to her when it comes to reproductive health. “When I think of getting access to all of this, I just think of Planned Parenthood — I always have, and that’s just what I’ve been told,” she said.

According to Planned Parenthood, about 2.5 million people in the U.S. visit their centers annually for services and information. And despite the anti-Planned Parenthood rhetoric common amongst the Trump administration right now, the organization is widely supported. According to a survey from Quinnipiac University published on March 23, 61 percent of American voters oppose cutting off federal government funding to the organization.

Although abortions only accounted for 3.4 percent of all the services provided, according to the organization’s 2014 to 2015 annual report, Planned Parenthood is known as a trustworthy and safe abortion provider.

I am imagining if I was living in a world last year where Planned Parenthood was defunded — I have absolutely no idea how i would have funded [the abortion]

“I didn’t tell my mom about it. Planned Parenthood funded it entirely for me,” said a Lang sophomore about her abortion. She asked to remain anonymous because her family and friends don’t know about her experience.

The sophomore went to the organization last year for their abortion services after researching and concluding that it was her best and most trustworthy option, since the organization is so widely used. “I am imagining if I was living in a world last year where Planned Parenthood was defunded — I have absolutely no idea how i would have funded [the abortion],” she said.

The student, similarly to Lee, went to the organization for privacy and confidentiality reasons.

“The main reason I didn’t go to my mom about this is because she had a teen pregnancy [with me],” the sophomore said. “So for me to have followed in those footsteps was like the end of the world in my eyes, and I never wanted to disappoint her in that way.”

“Currently as a student, there’s no way I can raise anything for success other than myself,” she said.

Many of the women interviewed were either unaware or unfamiliar with abortion rights history and current abortion laws, and were surprised that this wasn’t knowledge they already had.

A systematic review of women’s awareness and knowledge of abortion laws from March 2016 concluded that “correct general awareness and knowledge of the abortion law and legal grounds and restrictions amongst women was limited.”

The 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade extended the constitutional right to privacy, making it a woman’s basic right to make her own personal medical decisions – including abortions. States, however, have a lot of leeway when it comes to regulating abortion.

Although abortion is legal, there are already many restrictions to how abortions can be funded. The Hyde Amendment, for example, has prohibited using federal funds for abortions since the ‘70s; this prohibits the almost 16 million low-income women covered by Medicaid from using their insurance to cover abortion services. The Hyde Amendment has been attached to annual funding bills, and has therefore had to be passed every year. However, Congress is currently pushing to make it a permanent law, therefore making it much harder to repeal in the future.

A Pew Research Center survey published on Jan. 3 showed that 69 percent of Americans oppose overturning Roe v. Wade, the highest support it has had since Gallup began polling opinions on the subject in 1989.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, 75 percent of abortion patients are poor or low income, 49 percent of which live under the federal poverty level, making Planned Parenthood a crucial resource for those unable to financially support their own medical services, including abortions.

On March 6, the GOP introduced the American Health Care Act, their plan that would have replaced former President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Although the bill failed to be passed by Congress in late March, among the bill’s many changes to healthcare, its implications for abortions rights — and the rhetoric behind the proposals — still worry pro-choice proponents.

Jayne Jordan, The New School’s director of Medical Services, said that although the ACA remains in place for the foreseeable future, there are a number of things the Trump administration can do to undermine the law.

“[The GOP] may do this by making changes to Medicaid, weakening the individual mandate, and/or allowing the end to certain subsidies provided to insurers, which would likely cause insurers to pull out,” Jordan said. “It is unclear at this point what the administration intends, but I would watch closely.” All of these possible changes to health care policy would have implications for reproductive health care.

The failure of the proposed American Health Care Act — which would have heavily curtailed access to abortion services — doesn’t put an end to the risks for Planned Parenthood.

Currently, the organization still receives federal funding because of a temporary spending bill that Obama signed in December. The spending bill keeps the current funding of the government, including federal funds for Planned Parenthood until April 28.

we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure these services continue to be covered

However, since the AHCA didn’t pass, a priority for the current majority Republican Congress is to defund Planned Parenthood, which will likely be part of Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill to fund the government past April 28, according to House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Jordan said that there is a lot of understandable worry and anxiety among students about what will happen to health care access given all of the possible policy changes that may occur in the near future. “In New York at least, Governor Cuomo has guaranteed contraception and abortion will continue to be covered. Additionally, for students who have the Aetna Student Health Plan, we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure these services continue to be covered,” she said.

For students who may have any questions or concerns regarding reproductive health questions, The New School’s Health Services will be creating an FAQ on sexual health in the current political climate.

Additional reporting by Latecia Joiner.