The Future of Higher Education After Roe vs. Wade

The repeal of Roe v. Wade in the United States has hugely impacted American society. The decision of the Supreme Court Justices to grant states the autonomy to regulate reproductive rights as they see fit has left millions of people with pregnant capacity in a critical situation. States like Texas, for example, will be able to exercise a law that will incentivize citizens with a $10,000 reward to report anyone seeking to terminate their pregnancy after the sixth week. A time frame in which most pregnant people do not even realize that they are pregnant.

Georgia is one step away from entering into law Bill number HB 481, or the “heartbeat law,” prohibiting abortions while the fetus is undergoing cardiac activity. Even considering extenuating circumstances, this law would be highly harmful to mothers with non-viable pregnancies, who would have to wait for their doctor to consult their legal departments to receive necessary treatment that may not arrive in time to save their lives. Various states such as Missouri and Ohio already have active laws prohibiting abortion without exceptions for incest or rape. In an extreme case, a victim ten years old was denied acces to abortion. The whole panorama of the United States is rapidly changing to unrecognizable levels, forcing an entire generation to carry pregnancies to term. What does this mean for our neighboring country’s educational future and institutions?

Student exodus

Geography will become key for those looking to study a career in the United States. Specifically, which states protect abortion rights, and which do not? Of the 52 states, only 16 and the District of Columbia protect reproductive rights to the fullest extent. The rights are codified or actively legislated in the others. The right to abortion is critical to access to education. Continuing a career becomes enormously more difficult or impossible when, by law, a student must carry a pregnancy to term and, in most cases, assume a parental role.

“There were some schools in Pennsylvania, like Carnegie Mellon, I would have been so excited to go to. But I don’t want to take that risk at all and end up being there for four years. Then halfway through they’re like, ‘Oh, never mind, you guys, we don’t want to have abortions here,”  high school senior Chantal Mann explained to the magazine Vice. She is only 16 years old, but the current state of the laws in her country leads millions of women and pregnant people to considerably reduce their options to pursue a career.

The impact on universities

This situation will affect students and universities in states with restrictive laws. These institutions could see their enrollment seriously reduced due to the impossibility of protecting the student community from laws restricting reproductive rights. Educational, administrative, research, and knowledge generators will also face complicated choices about whether to seek sources of employment in states with fewer restrictions.

Additionally, researchers’ work on women’s health is becoming more complicated. There is a considerable need to rethink how to approach research in a country that does not see reproductive rights as a health issue. Teachers and students in medical areas will be especially vulnerable to these forced changes in the curriculum. If, in your state, they apply laws prohibiting even discussing reproductive health options, how far will it be legal to teach doctors about reproductive health and gynecology? Could this even alter the way medicine is practiced in the United States?

The data problem

Researchers, faculty, and medical students are not the only ones who would have to worry about belonging to institutions in states hostile to reproductive rights. The repeal of Roe v. Wade creates problems for computer specialists. The scope of repealing the law goes far beyond simply restricting abortion. The principle used for its proposal to the Supreme Court 50 years ago was the right to privacy.

With this right in question, prosecutors in states where abortion is illegal could demand information to help them prove that an abortion was performed. For example, they could request data monitoring a woman’s menstruation cycle or health care request records and counseling at universities.

Access to education

All the above aspects can radically change the educational experience, didactic programs, and relationships built with the university student communities. Undoubtedly, those impacted most by the Supreme Court decision will be those with pregnant capacities seeking higher education.

“A predictable consequence of legal bans and restrictions on abortion and those using contraceptives will be reduced to educational care for people facing unintended pregnancies and paternity, those harmed by illegal abortions, and those who are persecuted and convicted of terminating a pregnancy.” Said Jo Ellen Parker, Senior Vice President of the Council of Independent Colleges, in an opinion note for Higher ED Dive. She also explained that the increase in female participation in higher education (both in a student and teaching role) has been economically and socially transformative for women, their families, and communities. This progress was made possible mainly due to allowing women and people with pregnancy capacity the freedom to exercise their reproductive rights.

This liberty has historically been crucial in ensuring the presence of women in learning, public, and decision-making spaces. The United States Supreme Court’s decision does not simply cover whether it will be possible to abort or not. Instead, it brings the certainty that fifty years of positioning in education and the workplace are about to be erased in a country that calls itself the “leader of the free world.”

 Translation by Daniel Wetta