Overturning Roe Threatens Educational Opportunity for Girls of Color

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, one of my first thoughts was of the women and girls that I grew up with, and eventually taught, in my hometown in rural Alabama. By threatening access to safe abortions, the Supreme Court has also threatened access to higher educational opportunities for women and girls of color across the nation.

Growing up in rural Alabama, I had classmates who were pregnant and parenting as early as middle school. By the time I graduated high school in 2012, too many of my classmates had experienced pregnancy. While a large number of my white, and more financially advantaged, classmates were able to access abortions safely and continue with their education, numerous Black and Brown mothers were forced to drop out of school. Some were able to return to school and went on to complete their degrees, but most did not have the support necessary to re-enter and thrive in high school or college.

As a student, I did not have the depth of understanding or language to name what I saw, but once I became a high school teacher a few years later, I knew what I had observed was a systemic failure on behalf of the district and state to support students of color even before they experienced pregnancy.

As a teacher, I saw that countless girls of color from low-income backgrounds were sexually abused and groomed from a very early age. In fact, poorer Americans are more than 12 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than wealthier Americans, according to an analysis of the 2017 National Crime Victimization Survey. Many of these sexual abuses go unreported. And as a survivor of sexual abuse myself, I could understand the experiences of my students and their hesitancy to come forward and report their abuse. For me, it was easier to keep my secret than to cause a scandal in my community. Couple this issue with a lack of access to sexual health education and safe reproductive resources, the higher rates of teen pregnancy among Black and Brown youth from low-income households are not surprising.

Even if they have not experienced pregnancy, students of color already face higher barriers to completing high school than their fellow classmates. Research has consistently shown racial and ethnic inequities in high school pushout, dropout, graduation, and college entrance rates. These statistics are exacerbated for teen parents, who are more likely to be Latinx, Black, or American Indian/Alaska native. According to a 2018 Child Trends report, only 53 percent of women in their 20s who were teen mothers earned a traditional high school diploma, a stark contrast to the 90 percent of women who were not teen mothers and earned their high school diploma.

While the last couple of decades have seen a decline in teen birth rates, the inevitable increase in these rates due to abortion restrictions and bans will likely push more teen parents out of school. And since high school graduates are more likely to be employed and/or attend college, an increase in teen births will mean limiting higher education opportunities and earning potential for students — mainly girls — of color.

“Once I became a high school teacher… I knew what I had observed was a systemic failure on behalf of the district and state to support students of color even before they experienced pregnancy.”

For those who do enroll in college, pursuing a degree comes with several challenges. Over 21 percent, or 4.3 million, college students are parents, and of those, over 88 percent live in poverty. In addition, over half of student parents drop out of college before earning a degree due to factors including the cost of education, cost of childcare, and the lack of extra time to study in between raising children and working. This is in spite of the fact that student parents are often quite driven, and tend to have higher GPAs than students without children.

It stands to reason, then, that with a lack of access to legal and safe abortions the number of students facing these challenges will increase in the coming years. But are the states and localities who have banned or severely limited access to abortion ready to provide student parents with the support they need to finish their education?

During my time as an educator it became evident that schools, districts, and states needed to invest more in teen pregnancy prevention. It was alarming to hear the amount of students spreading incorrect information about sexual acitivity and pregnancy. And the conversations normalizing sexual grooming, harrassment, and assault as part of growing up were particularly heartbreaking.

Effective prevention should include promoting sexual health equity through comprehensive sexual health education, affordable contraception, and accessible treatment for sexually transmitted infections especially for students at higher risk of teen pregnancy. Some organizations like the Power to Decide National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy already work to offer some of these resources on high school and college campuses across the country.

High schools and colleges should provide on-campus supports for student parents, including high-quality childcare, flexible class schedules, lactation rooms, online courses, financial assistance, and affordable family housing at colleges. Local leaders must also contribute to these efforts by addressing environmental and geographical inequities that can contribute to high teen pregnancy and birth rates, like racial segregation and physical disarray in neighborhoods.

Fortunately, the U.S. Department of Education recently proposed new Title IX regulations that better protect pregnant and parenting students and employees in schools, including protecting them from being left out of educational programs or other activities, and requiring schools to provide necessary accommodations for specifically defined pregnancy-related conditions. However, given the current political climate, there will likely be little political will to fund some of these other on-campus supports and initiatives for student parents. More pointedly, replacing abstinence-only education with comprehensive sexual health education is unlikely to gain support in states where policymakers have signaled an interest in limiting access to birth control and emergency contraceptives. Paired with the nation’s childcare affordability crisis, our policymakers are creating conditions that will only serve to harm our nation’s citizens and future generations of Americans.

Ultimately, the end of Roe v. Wade will create a ripple effect of consequences for young people that will disproportionately fall on historically underserved students, including students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. Without critical investments in infrastructure to support student parents and their children through high school and college completion, generations of girls and women across racial, ethnic, and economic groups will be pushed off the ladder of opportunity, with lasting consequences for the nation.

Note: The author and New America acknowledge that not all people who can become pregnant identify as women, including transgender and gender non-conforming individuals.

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