We were all born and we will all die. How can we alleviate the pain and prevent the harm we experience in between?
I appreciated issue two’s op-ed “The 5Cs support abortion but not pregnancy — what about choice?” for making me dwell on a topic I’m scared of — pregnancy. I agree with the author’s argument that the Claremont Colleges should support pregnant students. However, presenting the Claremont Colleges as having bad prenatal care and good abortion care is a false binary. It is incorrect to imply, as the title of the op-ed does, that the Claremont Colleges provide adequate support for abortion or claim to be pro-choice at all.
The Claremont Colleges’ insufficient support for pregnant students, whether they carry a pregnancy to term, have a miscarriage or seek an abortion, is both indicative of and an inadequate response to the American legal and medical system. The Claremont Colleges must ensure that its Title IX and Accessibility offices are involved in shaping the healthcare available at SHS, given the changing landscape of pregnancy in the United States.
The United States has the highest rate of maternal mortality of any high-income nation, with Black, Native American and low-income mothers at the greatest risk of dying.
We are also living in a post-Dobbs America in which thirteen states have complete bans on abortion. This list includes my home state of Tennessee, in which Republican lawmakers have recently introduced a bill that would allow prosecutors to pursue the death penalty for women who have an abortion. Restrictive abortion policies act as a dangerous double bind: The states with the most restrictive policies also have the least comprehensive and inclusive public infrastructure to support children, women and families.
In light of this context, the SHS’s limited information on pregnancy services appears even more lacking. The portal’s links to websites about abortion and a five bullet point list of what expenses students can or cannot get a reimbursement for when seeking an out-of-state abortion, which seems more like an imperfect attempt made by SHS and the student insurance provider to provide care after the overturning of Roe v. Wade rather than the “carefully mapped and funded” plan which the author of the op-ed describes it as.
While other academic institutions have acted to support abortion rights, the Claremont Colleges have chosen not to act in accordance with California’s College Student Right to Access Act, which requires student health services at public California universities to provide on-campus access to abortion pills.
Let’s not be afraid to acknowledge that the systems we’re part of can harm multiple groups of people at once. When advocating for more comprehensive healthcare, it is crucial to recognize commonalities and build solidarity among those harmed by the system, which encompasses people with various medical conditions. Expanding support for pregnant students goes hand-in-hand with expanding support for all students.
Though pregnant people are not automatically protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act, pregnancy can be disabling. Symptoms of pregnancy, including frequent vomiting and nausea, shortness of breath and back pain, would make attending college and participating in daily activities difficult. The resources the author of the op-ed wants to make easily available for pregnant students — excused absences, medical leave, mobility accommodations and mental health services — are helpful for a variety of students dealing with challenging circumstances. Although I don’t think I’ve met a pregnant student at the Claremont Colleges, I know students who have benefited from each of these resources. I also know that accessing these resources is not necessarily easy.
I agree with the op-ed’s author’s argument that the SHS should support students’ Title IX rights. But, more expansively, I believe that the Title IX and Accessibility offices at the Colleges themselves must play an active role in shaping how students navigate the healthcare system.
The Title IX and Accessibility offices ought to collaborate with SHS to ensure that students, regardless of whether or not they carry a pregnancy to term, are able to access relevant resources and comprehensive healthcare. In order to be successful, these initiatives must seek student input and have the backing of college administration. A step in the right direction would be advocating for the Claremont Colleges to bring California’s College Student Right to Access Act to our schools.
Considering how we should support pregnant people is not only about pregnant people — it means considering how we all would like to be treated when we are in pain. We must ask ourselves how comprehensive and available we want the healthcare, anti-discrimination, disability and accessibility policies that shape our lives to be.
Thinking about pain is difficult, at least for me. But only once we acknowledge and attempt to understand pain can we begin to treat it.
Vivian Fan PO ’28 stayed up really late to write this. She hopes you will also read other things she wrote, and that you take a Gender and Women’s Studies course.
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