In a recent poll commissioned by SFLA, we found that fewer than two in five college aged adults knew where they could turn to for support should they or someone close to them decide against an abortion. Even among women, who would presumably pay more attention to this sort of information, less than half know where to turn for support. Young, pregnant women cannot choose life if they lack the basic direction and information as to ALL of their “choices.” Notably in this poll, pro-choice youth are less likely to know where to go, making abortion a more likely choice for them in the event of an unplanned pregnancy.
Not only do people not know where to go to or support – we also know that Planned Parenthood (PP), the nation’s largest abortion vendor, targets college aged women and in this poll – 48% said they did not know or could not judge whether Planned Parenthood facilities sold abortions to pregnant women. The fact that there is a Planned Parenthood within 5 miles of over 80 percent of ALL college campuses nationwide is alarming. We know that Planned Parenthood is targeting these women and if women in unplanned pregnancies and their friends do not know where to turn to for help, it is more likely that they will end up in a Planned Parenthood than somewhere that can offer them true help, support, and hope.
How do you know women are getting pregnant on campus? Let’s look at another fact. According to the most recent study by the Center for Disease Control, approximately 79.5% of college students (aged 18-24) have reported to have had sexual intercourse. Also, we know that while most of these students are using contraception, these women are at the most fertile time in their life. Keeping in mind normal contraceptive failure rates, at least 2.2% of these students are getting pregnant.
That may not sound like an alarming number of college students getting pregnant. However, let’s break this down a bit. If there are 8,100 students on any given campus, with almost 80% engaging in sexual intercourse and 2.2% getting pregnant, then according to those statistics, around 142 students become pregnant on a single campus each year. That is more than a handful of students. If all 142 students decided to keep their child, then colleges would have to create a center primarily for pregnant and parenting students. Students are still engaging in sexual intercourse and the majority of pregnant women in college are having abortions.
It is important that we are creating resources and advertising them on campus so those who find themselves in unplanned pregnancies know where to turn to for help! We have created new flyers to help you advertise the resources you have on campus here and a new guide about how to work with your nearest pregnancy resource center to give out free pregnancy tests on campus here.