Published by Higher Ed Dive
Since the Supreme Court struck down Roe vs. Wade nearly one year ago, access to abortion on college campuses has taken on heightened importance.
In the aftermath, some states are mandating that public colleges provide students with access to medication that ends pregnancy. In August, New York will join California and Massachusetts in requiring certain public colleges to provide abortion medication to students.
“Young people are always on the front lines of attacks on bodily autonomy,” said Niharika Rao, a senior at Barnard College who has been campaigning for the law through advocacy groups.
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Research suggests that policies broadening students’ reproductive access could influence where they choose to go.
One-quarter of students said they would rule out institutions based on the political leanings or policies in the states where they are located, according to a survey from Art & Science Group, a higher education consulting firm. For liberal students, the second most-cited reason for ruling out colleges was conservative state policies on reproductive health and abortion.
An April study from the Lumina Foundation and Gallup found 72% of students said reproductive health laws in the state where they attend are at least somewhat important to their decision to stay enrolled.
Among adults who were not enrolled and had no degree, 60% said those laws were at least somewhat important in their decision to enroll at a specific college. Of that group, surveyed adults overwhelmingly preferred more access and less restriction on reproductive health services.
Polled students indicated they would be more likely to attend schools in states with greater abortion access, said Courtney Brown, vice president of impact and planning at Lumina.
“That was true across gender, across age, and most importantly, across party lines,” Brown said. “Today’s students have multiple responsibilities, and they want to make sure they have access to the health services that they need.”
Brown said lawmakers should consider the impact of their reproductive health policies on enrollment.
“We’ve seen a decline in enrollment over the past ten years and a huge decline over the pandemic that has now just stabilized,” she said. “If states are serious about getting more students to enroll, which they need to fulfill their labor market needs and bring in more business to their states, then this is something that is really important to look at.”
But David Strauss, principal at Art & Science Group, said that students’ choices will likely be more complicated than one single policy.
“To some extent, it’s going to be an amalgam of political issues to which students are reacting,” he said via email. “It’s also not clear to us whether passing any particular legislation alone around one of the issues or concerns would necessarily affect the number of people reporting ruling out schools.”