'Scared' students are rejecting colleges in states with strict abortion laws

[riversedge]

Wise to do this.



‘Scared’ students are rejecting colleges in states with strict abortion laws

https://nypost.com/2019/05/25/scared-students-are-rejecting-colleges-in-states-with-strict-abortion-laws/

By Dana Schuster

May 25, 2019 | 4:35pm


One Upper East Side family is sending Washington University a big, fat rejection letter.

On Friday, the governor of Missouri, where the well-respected school is located, signed a bill outlawing abortion after eight weeks.

The legislation was a deal-breaker for Ellen Bender and her daughter, Eliza, a junior at Horace Mann prep school, who planned to visit the school in June.

“These laws are not really good for women,” said Ellen, a retired litigator. “It puts my child into a situation [where] I might think twice about her safety.”

Missouri joins five other states — Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, Georgia and Louisiana — that have passed so-called “heartbeat bills” this year.

In April, Alabama passed a bill where doctors who perform abortions in the state could face 99 years in prison.

The bans, which are not yet in effect, are being vehemently fought by everyone from lawmakers and Hollywood celebrities to high-schoolers making college plans......................................

[FM123]

1. Colleges may or may not take notice of female students or female athletes

refusing to accept admission but they probably would take notice of male athletes refusing to accept admission, especially the big SEC football schools like Alabama, Mississippi etc. where football is a big moneymaker for them. Parents of future college students may have more influence than they may know.

[Girard442]

8. Time for us men to step up.

I’m too old to go away to college, but if I were young enough I’d definitely boycott the Christofacist states.

[Ilsa]

27. A few might take notice. There are

Unis where Women's basketball and/or softball are a big deal. I doubt Baylor in Texas would react, but it depends on how far their coach is willing to go. She has led her team to several national championships in the last five years. A threat of leaving for a more progressive state might be heard, but likely ignored.

I think you are right, though, that men, including coaches, not just athletes, need to also make a stink.

[Akacia]

2. I have been curious why more doctors are not speaking up.

I would think that it would outrage them but maybe not. Has anyone heard anything?

[volstork]

4. From ACOG

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists


https://www.acog.org/About-ACOG/News-Room/Statements/2019/ACOG-Statement-on-Abortion-Bans

ACOG Statement on Abortion Bans

May 9, 2019

Washington, D.C. — Ted Anderson, M.D., Ph.D., president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), issued the following statement in response to the many restrictions being placed on abortion access across the country:

"ACOG strongly opposes political efforts to limit a woman’s ability to get the care she needs, including bans on abortion care. ACOG recognizes that abortion is an essential component of health care for millions of women and opposes political interference in health care. As the nation’s leading group of physicians providing health care for women, ACOG is dedicated to evidence-based and compassionate care.

“Across the country, legislation is advancing restrictions that would impose professional, civil, and even criminal penalties on physicians for providing safe, high-quality abortion care to their patients. These restrictions range from total bans to bans at arbitrary gestational ages, bans on the safest method of abortion after 12 weeks, bans based on a woman’s reason for seeking care, bans on medically-induced abortion via telemedicine, bans on physicians’ ability to exercise their best medical judgment according to their medical training, limits on which clinicians can provide abortion care, and more. Any of these restrictions would make safe and timely abortion care increasingly unavailable, which increases women’s health risks.

"Lawmakers must support health policies based on sound science and evidence. Politicians must seek to improve access to care, not restrict it. Legislative restrictions fundamentally interfere with the patient–provider relationship and decrease access to necessary care for all women, and particularly for low-income women and those living long distances from health care providers. Health care decisions should be made jointly only by patients and their trusted health care professionals, not by politicians.”

###

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is the nation’s leading group of physicians providing health care for women. As a private, voluntary, nonprofit membership organization of more than 58,000 members, ACOG strongly advocates for quality health care for women, maintains the highest standards of clinical practice and continuing education of its members, promotes patient education, and increases awareness among its members and the public of the changing issues facing women’s health care. www.acog.org



https://www.acog.org/About-ACOG/News-Room/News-Releases/2019/Amicus-Brief-in-June-Medical-Services-LLC-v-Gee


The brief argues that precedent dictates that laws regulating abortion should be supported by a valid medical justification and that the Supreme Court’s decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which struck down a substantially similar law in Texas, should be applied to Louisiana Act 620.

By requiring that a physician providing abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital that is located not further than 30 miles from the clinic at which the physician provides abortions, Louisiana Act 620 is nearly identical to the stricken Texas law. There is nothing unique to Louisiana that makes such a regulation necessary for the well-being of women, the brief argues: “Legal abortions performed in Louisiana prior to the passage of Act 620 were already safe and rarely required hospital admission; admitting privileges are unnecessary for safe patient care and can be difficult or impossible to obtain for reasons unrelated to a clinician’s competence; and imposing these unjustified burdens on abortion providers impedes women’s access to quality, evidence-based medicine.”

[malaise]

5. This should be an OP

[Ilsa]

28. Finally, they stepped up. This needs

to be a LTE in every newspaper.

Health care decisions should be made jointly only by patients and their trusted health care professionals, not by politicians.”

[volstork]

32. Respectfully,

there is no "finally" about it. I have been associated with ACOG my entire professional life (27+ years), and this has ALWAYS been our position.

[demigoddess]

30. not all doctors are smart. I once got yelled at by a doctor who read in my records

that I had had 2 'spontaneous abortions' which is their medical term for miscarriage. He took it that I had had 2 abortions and yelled 'shame on you, shame on you, how could you do that' at me. Not too bright in my opinion.

[volstork]

34. I don't dispute that.

There are plenty of paternalistic physicians out there, but the official policy of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is to advocate for safe and legal abortion access. That doctor who said such a thing to you was clearly an asshole.


PS-- the medical term for any previable "emptying" of the uterus is "abortion:" spontaneous abortion, induced abortion, medication abortion, missed abortion, threatened abortion, inevitable abortion. It is not considered a pejorative term in medicine. The fundies and politicians did that....

[UniteFightBack]

43. Not too bright and highly offensive. WTF kind of doctor is THAT? NT

[Akacia]

35. thank you, I was wondering what they thought. nt.

[smirkymonkey]

3. Have these legislators actually thought about the fallout from these bills?

Not just the boycotts, but the excess of unwanted children and unwed mothers who will obviously need assistance as many of them will be unable to afford taking care of a child on their own. Where is that money going to come from?

[KY_EnviroGuy]

11. They should also consider blow-back from women who die from forced childbirth.

I can envision some massive lawsuits in the making.

I'm wondering if it would be meaningful for any woman who is forced to carry and unwanted pregnancy to sign an affidavit to that effect early on, perhaps giving teeth to appropriate legal measures in cases where something goes wrong, including death or exceptional pre- or post-natal care of mother and child.

..... ......

[smirkymonkey]

21. Yes, exactly. Especially forcing young girls to give birth.

This is very personal for me as my mother died in childbirth with my brother. There is a much greater risk in giving birth than there is in having an abortion.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

33. That could return to being a rampant problem in high poverty areas.....

such as Alabama.

Forcing any woman to carry an unwanted pregnancy is horrible, but forcing those that are too young, too old or in poor health is simply an abomination. I see these new laws as potentially forcing some doctors to violate their Hippocratic Oath.

Thanks for sharing.....

[MissB]

6. Alabama is often used as a great example of an affordable college for STEM kids

They’ve been crazy generous with their merit in recent years. I wonder how the laws will affect their matriculation rate.

[ProudLib72]

7. Not to worry. It will create a vacuum for places like Liberty University to fill

This may have been the plan all along.

[erronis]

13. You may be right. I'd love to see the repuglicon playbook.

It, or multiple versions, must exist somewhere. There's some awful nefarious minds at work here.

[ProudLib72]

16. It many not be as intentional as I made it sound, but they can turn it into

an unforeseen bonus. I do not put it past them to create an evangelical Mecca.

[RT Atlanta]

9. As they should!

I have already advised Auburn U (where I completed undergrad) that I am not giving them another dime until the subjugation of women's laws in the state are changed.

I hope they schools are impacted and feel the losses in their 'bottom line' (sometimes, that's the only way to get through to so-called 'republicans')

[safeinOhio]

10. Can we ban religions on medical grounds?

That would sound reasonable.

[erronis]

15. More likely that they will ban medicine on religious grounds.

But only ban it for the poor, non-privileged white classes.

[safeinOhio]

22. Made me think we need

a freedom of medical choice law. Some times it is how you phrase it.

[yaesu]

12. all these misogynist states should be boycotted nt

[stopbush]

19. The misogyny springs directly from their Christian beliefs.

[TheBlackAdder]

14. They're probably the same states with lax rape and sexual assault laws too.

[Politicub]

17. And movie and TV productions are pulling out of Georgia as to not put the women who work for them...

at risk.

Businesses will start to leave or reconsider Georgia, Alabama, etc. too.

I don't think right wingers care, though. They see this as some kind of righteous cause where Jesus will provide. Or something like that.

When the state economy tanks, though, and politicians start getting voted out because of it, then we'll see backtracking.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

18. Lol at the mom who nixed her daughter's dream school and then said she wanted to control her

body and rights. Okay....

[Ilsa]

31. I would likely do the same.

I'd look for a better place for my daughter to live. I would impress upon her that these states are the ones also denying facts in science, and affecting education.

I might not be able to stop her from choosing a backwards place, but I don't have to fund it.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

36. Yeah, if her dream school is Oberlin, that's not exactly backwards.

[OxQQme]

20. Even Girl's Schools?

No. I guess not.
They could still be Kavanaughed and need help afterword.

[Aristus]

23. No big loss.

These are anti-abortion states we're talking about here. I can't imagine the university curriculum in such states rising much above finger-painting and storytime.

[Turin_C3PO]

25. There's some great universities in the Deep South.

[FreeBe]

38. Duke, Rice, Vanderbilt, Tulane, UoV, Washington, Emory and the list goes on.

[Aristus]

39. Yeah, I know. Crazy, isn't it?

If education is so important in the South, why is the South the epicenter of blockheaded, anti-science, anti-humanism ignorance?

[FreeBe]

40. Lots of reason, lol. I get that.

When I was researching universities, I would always have a jolt of surprise it was in the south. But, that is exactly the reason I knew there were so many good schools in the south, too.

[FreeBe]

37. Washington University in St Louis Mo is an high ranked school. Especially the law University.

It is ranked at 17 in the nation and once graduated provides a better opportunity for placement and pay than a lot of other schools. They are already having a tough time with recruit simply being in Mo and aggressively recruits with generous packages to attract students. I mean, who wants to move there. Getting a law degree, the graduates generally settles in the area they got their degree so location is a strong consideration when accepting an university offer.

[PatrickforO]

24. This is good.

I often work with economic developers, who tend to be Republican, or at least sympathetic to Republican positions on regulation, incentive and so on. Even Democrats among them tend to the center, because the truth is that without job growth, there isn't any opportunity, and without opportunity people begin leaving.

Nowadays, the trend for businesses, who are actually very faddish, is to follow the talent, which tends to move to places that have a good quality of life.

What is a good quality of life? It has to do with whether an area has good economic opportunity, is culturally diverse, LGBTQ-friendly, has good cultural amenities, available and accessible healthcare, decent cost of living, plenty of recreational opportunities and so on.

In short, the perceived quality of life is what attracts skilled, educated workers to a place, and what causes businesses to be attracted, expand or just stay in the area.

The other day, I sent the Alabama tourism board an email telling them to get ready to hear the giant sucking sound as qualified, high-skilled workers begin to leave, and businesses begin to follow them. Because that is what will happen. If I were a young, educated, skilled young person seeking a place with a good quality of life, honestly I'd avoid these so-called 'christo-fascist' states like the plague.

Sadly, even if the economies in those states go down the tubes and they experience an exodus (pardon the pun!) of qualified workers, the bible-thumpers will likely still stick to their guns (because they are also likely big second amendment people). The reduction of the tax base over years will starve the state and local governments for revenue, so the roads and schools will deteriorate, and they will not be able to afford to fully fund other things people need, like motor vehicle, planning, open space and trails, and medicaid. Community block grants and other federal aid sometimes get refused for no good reason by these right-wingers, too.

So, we're looking at a downward economic spiral directly caused by the implementation of poor policy that dramatically decreases quality of life.

[Turin_C3PO]

26. Good!

Those states should be boycotted by everyone.

[Iliyah]

29. I think a lot of males will reconsider going as well.

[GETPLANING]

41. I bet they didn't think about that.

Enrollments will be way down next year. No young woman would want to attend university in a state that treats them this way.