Prolife Bill to Aid College Students

Though the fall legislative session in Lansing will be abbreviated due to the November election, the Michigan Senate will still focus its attention on a cutting-edge piece of legislation prompted by Right to Life of Michigan.

Senate Bill 72 creates the Pregnant and Parenting Student Services fund as an incentive for Michigan’s universities and community colleges to establish abortion-alternative information offices. Currently, 20 percent of all abortions are performed on college/university aged women. When faced with an unexpected pregnancy, these young women tend to see only two options: drop out of school and keep the child, or have an abortion and stay in school. Too many see abortion as their only choice.

Unlike the empty rhetoric of the “pro-choice” movement, these women need real choices. They need to know they can have their child and still pursue an education. They also need to be presented with the life-affirming option of adoption. Unfortunately, when they receive that positive pregnancy test result, there is no source for information on how to find prenatal care, or find on-campus family housing, or work to adjust her academic schedule to accommodate the pregnancy, child birth and parenting. A student in crisis cannot quickly or easily navigate all the bureaucracies to discover that she can continue her education and choose life. Meanwhile, abortion is one yellow pages ad away. And there is either an abortion clinic or a Planned Parenthood abortion referral center in nearly every college town.

Senate Bill 72 will eventually offer state and private funding to colleges to set up a specific office on campus that brings together all the information and resources a student in a crisis pregnancy would need to make the choice for life. Students need a simple, one-stop clearinghouse for all this information. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Alan Sanborn, has also introduced Senate Resolution 293, establishing the formal policy objective of reducing the incidence of abortion in Michigan. Sanborn’s home county of Macomb adopted a similar resolution earlier this year. S.R. 293 also urges the state health department to review the policies of other states that have a lower rate of abortion than Michigan to determine if there are policies Michigan can adopt to reduce abortions. Undoubtedly, reaching the single largest consumer of abortions - college students - is a critical first step in achieving that goal. While S.B. 72 and S.R. 293 are expected to receive favorable action in the prolife Michigan Senate and House, it is unknown as to how pro-abortion Gov. Jennifer Granholm will respond to these measures.

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