Two months ago, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which was a landmark decision where the court ruled that the Constitution did not confer the right to an abortion.
With the overturning, federal protections for a woman’s right to access an abortion is now inaccessible. These laws regarding this matter have now been completely left up to the states, with 13 of them having trigger laws to come in place to ban abortion.
Considering it has now been two months since its overruling, women in many states, predominantly in the south, have now found themselves in a position to have to travel far distances to seek medical attention for an abortion. Considering it’s early September, and fall semesters for colleges have now begun, including at Citrus, it’s concerning how this decision will affect female students nationwide in the long run.
Something that could be widely questioned is how the overturning could widely affect students with their academic decisions. Since Aug. 2, abortion has fully been banned by 10 states. Considering that this happened a month ago, we must face the fact that many students will likely transition from one of those states to another one that has protections and accessibility to an abortion.
Nicole Lynn Lewis, founder and chief executive officer of Generation Hope, a nonprofit focused on increasing economic mobility for student-parents, expressed concern about the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s decision, stating that “this decision will impact populations that have historically been cut off from resources, information, support and educational opportunities.”
With the overturning, it created another instance in which the SCOTUS targeted areas where people have broadly no resources or educational opportunities. Due to that being the case, someone seeking help, support or an opportunity to find protection. Not just with Roe v. Wade being overturned, but with there possibly being other medical procedures tossed out the window for people to access.
Considering the majority of states that recently banned abortion have historically been deficient at a socioeconomic level and haven’t had strong protective measures for women accessing abortions prior to Roe v. Wade being overturned, it would make an awful lot of sense for there to be a massive transition of female students from these states to places like California, Oregon or Washington, where protection is granted and even being made easier to access.
Another thing that people need to consider is how having little to no access for an abortion is that if that scenario were to occur could add on to the ongoing youth mental health crisis.
According to The Jed Foundation, a nonprofit organization that protects the emotional health of young adults and prevents suicide, “One in three young adults between ages 18 and 25 has experienced a mental, emotional, or behavioral health issue in the past year.”
Suicide is the third leading cause of death for people of the age 15 to 24. The concerning thing about this tying in with the overturning two months ago is how the majority of people having abortions in the United States are in their 20s, according to the Guttmacher Institude, a research and policy non-government organization aiming to improve sexual and reproductive health rights worldwide.
A very troublesome scenario is the mental health of students being driven down, especially with the fall semester beginning. Though this may be more stressful for people who live in the states where there have been bans on abortion, this still leads into the fear for students collectively around the country. The train of thought of students could be led away from their education to the fear of a slight possibility of getting pregnant with access denied for an abortion or help if that instance occurred.
The impact of Roe’s overturning may not be so effective for students here in Citrus or any other college within California where access is being expanded, but this does lead most Americans into asking several questions of how many college students this will affect nationwide. We are left wondering how many students may possibly transfer here to be assured that they will be protected if a circumstance of needing access to an abortion occurs.
Something that we could take from the overturning is how it reassures us to be mindful of the students we attend school with and to always be mindful and willing to help out or support any student who has been sexually assaulted, finds themself with an unwanted pregnancy, or anyone who finds themself in a scenario where they’d need to seek help in that regard, whether it’s a fellow student or Citrus College itself providing help or support.
