Reproductive rights on top of college students' minds
Regardless of party, they want access to abortion and birth control
A new poll indicates that 72 percent of college students consider the reproductive healthcare laws of the state they plan on attending school in when deciding where to go.
The Lumina Foundation and Gallup gathered the statistics between Oct. 26 and Nov. 17 of last year. They used web survey responses from 6,008 U.S. adult students. About half of the unenrolled adults surveyed have no prior college experience, while the rest have attended some college but have not earned a degree.
Among currently enrolled students, 80 percent of Democrats are most likely to report state laws governing abortion access are at least somewhat important to them in influencing their enrollment decision, though 71 percent of Independents and 62 percent of Republicans also think it’s important.
More than 8 in 10 students say they would prefer to attend a university in a state with greater access to reproductive health services, while fewer than two in 10 would prefer to attend college in a more restrictive state.
Despite this support, there seems to be a dearth of reproductive rights groups on college campuses. There are the College Democrats of America. But insofar as dealing exclusively with reproductive rights, there are a few groups that have sprouted solely on one campus. This matters because many people don’t identify as Democrats and still support abortion access and greater dissemination of birth control. Feminist leaders have a choice whether they want to grow support for reproductive rights outside of the Democratic party or to use the issue as something that would gain support for their preferred candidates.