The Guttmacher Institute reported that more than half of all abortions in the United States are obtained by women in their 20s. The Alabama Department of Public Health reported that Louis Payne at the West Alabama Women’s Center – located just up the street from campus – committed 3,503 abortions in 2012 alone. That’s nearly 40 percent of all abortions in the state.
The prevalence of abortion in Tuscaloosa is an indication that our community has failed young mothers. Choosing to parent a child or place a child for adoption shouldn’t be a choice only available to the privileged, and no mother should feel forced to choose between her child and continuing her education.
Many students don’t know about local pregnancy resources, so Bama Students for Life started the Pregnant on Campus Initiative and launched uapregnancy.org, a website about resources for pregnant and parenting students. We want to make as many people as possible aware of all of the options available to students facing unexpected pregnancies.
In order to make this initiative more effective, we hope to learn from students who have balanced parenting with continuing their educations. And we hope that a student awakening to support pregnant and parenting students cuts across every boundary that divides campus.
We want to work with others. We hope other groups will join us in our competition to collect more maternity items, diapers and material supplies than Auburn Students for Life. Pro-lifers should welcome this opportunity to put their pro-woman values into action; those who aren’t pro-life should still welcome this opportunity to support courageous young mothers. It lasts through the Iron Bowl.
Even if you consider yourself pro-choice, you can still stand with Bama Students For Life in advocating for meaningful adoption reform, exploring ways to provide more affordable childcare and changing campus culture to be more tolerant and accepting of young mothers.
We welcome everyone’s voice. It doesn’t matter if you’re from the Crimson Secular Student Alliance or a campus ministry, the Alabama Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Justice or College Republicans, Crimson Kindness or the Women’s Resource Center, a greek organization or Mallet Assembly. We would like to invite you to join us tomorrow in the Ferguson Center room 305 at 6 p.m. for a much-needed dialogue about making campus friendlier to pregnant and parenting students.
Claire Chretien is a junior majoring in public relations and American studies and is the president of Bama Students for Life. Her column runs biweekly on Tuesdays.
