“Most college campuses aren’t getting a passing grade on support for pregnant and parenting students. The Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement’s recent case study found that the examined schools had only a 50% average for life-affirming accommodations, getting a clear ‘F’ in supporting families,” said Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins. “Is it any wonder that Planned Parenthood preys particularly on this demographic? When campuses fail to be life-affirming, they unknowingly become complicit with the abortion industry push, telling expectant mothers that help is not on the way.” 

CLICK HERE TO READ THE PREGNANT & PARENTING CAMPUS POLICIES REPORT.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (09-13-2023) – With more than a quarter of undergraduate students and almost one third of graduate students balancing school and family, evaluating the needs of so many committed to succeeding in both represents a long-term interest of Students for Life of America (SFLA). As part of a series of studies conducted over the last decade, SFLA’s Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement conducted extensive research in a new case study of support on college and university campuses for pregnant and parenting students, finding that once again, most schools are failing. The Institute partnered with two other SFLA initiatives, The Campaign for Abortion Free Cities (CAFC) and Standing With You (SWY), to study more than 100 colleges and universities across the country from November 1, 2022, to January 31, 2023.  The results, to put it mildly, were disappointing.  

The 131 schools examined were within 15 cities that already had a CAFC presence, including: Allentown, PA; Jackson, MS; Cincinnati, OH; Chapel Hill, NC; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Indianapolis, IN; Naples, FL; Omaha, NE; Phoenix, AR; Puyallup, WA; Rochester, NY; St. Louis, MO; Sacramento, CA; and St. Paul, MI.

Schools were rated on five-point scale based upon five categories of accommodations for pregnant/parenting students, including:

1. Housing Policies (reasonable accommodations for pregnant/parenting students and/or family housing available/recommended)
2. On-Campus Resources (lactation rooms, diaper decks, maternity parking, and on-campus childcare) 
3. Financial Assistance (grants, scholarships, financial aid) 
4. Medical Attention (health coverage, recommendations to pregnancy resource centers, campus medical center performing pregnancy tests, etc.) 
5. Published Classroom Policies (clear accommodations such as makeup exams or priority registration)  

To determine whether these schools actually provided such accommodations for each category, the Institute scanned their websites and made phone calls to school directors to confirm their findings.   

Key Findings include:   

·         Most schools clearly haven’t done their homework on supporting pregnant and parenting students as 2.5 stars (a measly 50%) was the overall average based on the five-point accommodation scale. In fact, only one school — Texas Woman’s University — received a perfect score. 

·         More than 10% of the schools enacted substantive changes to transform their campuses into more inclusive environments or provided written commitment to pursue action after engaging with the study.   

·         The most offered accommodation at 80% was providing pregnant students with referrals to local healthcare providers.  

·         The least commonly offered accommodations were scholarships and maternity parking (both 18%).   

The goal of SFLA’s newest research was to improve campus inclusivity for pregnant and parenting students in colleges and universities. The Institute notes that “the almost universal consensus that education is a pathway out of poverty has not often been combined with programming and infrastructure targeted to the needs of pregnant and parenting students.” To ensure that these students and their families are on the road to success, the purpose of this research is to encourage schools to maximize accommodations.   

Hawkins said, “As we’ve seen already through engagement with Institute researchers, campuses will reform themselves after being prodded to do so — and that’s where the Pro-Life Generation comes in. Our research has identified problems within many schools, and now our students know where to focus their efforts. With these findings, we’ll be strategically fighting for students with families to be better supported.”   

To learn how SFLA students positively affected policy changes for pregnant and parenting students on campus during the 2022 – 2023 school year, click HERE.   

To view the rating of individual schools and read the report in full at the Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement, click HERE.  

For more pro-life research, check out SFLA’s Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement, including a proximity review from earlier this year of Planned Parenthood facilities in relation to college campuses.   

For interviews, email  [email protected]      

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Students for Life Action (SFLAction), a 501c4, along with its 501c3 sister organization, Students for Life of America (SFLA), make up the nation’s largest, pro-life youth organization, managing a political and policy operation engaging Americans of all ages but with a special emphasis on the largest segment of voters — the Youth Vote. Together they provide political, legal, educational, and community support for women and children, born and preborn. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, SFLA serves more than 1,400 groups on middle, high school, college, medical, and law school campuses in all 50 states. SFLA and SFLAction have more conversations with this generation targeted by the abortion lobby than any other pro-life operation in the world, each week reaching more than 4 million across social media platforms and averaging 1.3 million video views. SFLA has also launched multiple initiatives to lead and serve the future of the pro-life movement including the Campaign for Abortion Free Cities, Standing With You, and the Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement. Over more than 17 years, President Kristan Hawkins has grown SFLAction/SFLA and the Pro-Life Generation into a nearly $20M organization, now preparing for an abortion-free America.