For the college decision checklist, a new item
Amid all the commotion about the Supreme Court decision taking away abortion rights, the troublemaker guy at the blog UO Matters has picked up on a story in Teen Vogue that asks an interesting question: Should young women think twice about attending college in a state where abortion is banned? Particularly if they couldn't afford to travel out of state to terminate an unwanted pregnancy?
Shortly after the decision was leaked several people, including former U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill and activist Amy Siskind, wondered how the decision would affect college students. McCaskill, a former prosecutor and University of Missouri alumnus, says that the state of Missouri has gone to an “extreme place,” pushing legislation to ban abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest and even criminalize physicians.
“If a state does not tell a young woman that they are entitled to terminate a pregnancy after a rape, I’m not sure I’d be spending my money on education in that state,” McCaskill tells Teen Vogue. “It will be interesting to track enrollments at colleges in these states.” McCaskill notes that Washington University in St. Louis “attracts some of the brightest minds in the country.… I wonder how many of those graduates would reconsider staying in Missouri because of what has been created by officeholders with extreme views,” she says.
I should probably read Teen Vogue more, heh.
Indeed! Teen Vogue doing kickass journalism nowadays. Good writing & visuals, too.
ReplyDeleteMissouri has an initiative process to amend their constitution. I would expect that a mini-Roe (i.e., guaranteeing choice through some period of time) could pass. The tough part is trying to identify the public opinion fault lines (e.g., 16 weeks with some exceptions?) because an overreach (like abortion on demand until birth) would certainly fail. If drafted well, it could pass 2-1 and would neuter RTL's influence in their state elections. I'm surprised we haven't proposed an amendment in Oregon. The Dems have had majorities in both branches for a decade now, it should have been an easy vote.
ReplyDelete