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More resources for pregnant students sought at U of L |
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Written by Ric Swihart
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Thursday, 13 November 2008 |
University of Lethbridge administration will be asked to make the campus more friendly for pregnant and single or couple family students.
A two-day lobby and petition signing Wednesday and Thursday earned about 1,000 signatures from students for a Rally for Resources that will ease the burden for women who become pregnant before university starts or during a class year or who are raising a child while attending school.
Maaike Sonnevelt, president of the Lethbridge Students for Life Club, said the only connection with the pro-life movement and the Rally for Resources is a statistic — many women who become pregnant choose abortion as a means of continuing their education.
She said the rally organizers have been able to identify a myriad of services available to pregnant students and family students that aren’t available at the U of L, but are available at many other campuses.
She said too often “gone for abortion” is what happens when a student is pregnant or becomes pregnant during a school year “when women do not have resources available” to carry on.
While there are services available to both pregnant single women and women or couples with a child or children, much more is needed to allow those women to continue to strive for their chosen educational goals. That has strong ramifications for the future lives of those women and their families.
For instance, the campus health-care centre explains options available to students in Lethbridge and refers students to off-campus organizations.
It can also refer students to counselling services and arrange flexible class times on a barrier-free campus.
While the health centre’s services are well promoted to students, it can lead to less-than-ideal choices, she said.
And when choice of services are suggested, seldom are students properly guided to those services.
Couples’ family housing is available, but isn’t available to a pregnant woman.
And daycare services are coming, but construction hasn’t started yet.
Several relatively small services are being requested, including establishing a crisis pregnancy centre on campus, installing more change tables for babies, creation of breastfeeding centres, and launching a babysitting service and emergency care service for sick children to free parents to attend classes.
Sonnevelt said 60 to 70 per cent of abortions in Alberta are for women 19 to 26 years, the prime age for university students.
“A lot of students come to university and start relationships and have sex and possibly get pregnant,” she said.
Sonnevelt stopped short of claiming the petition changes would bring the U of L into the modern world, but said they are essential to help more students realize their educational goals.
Sonnevelt said the changes proposed by the petition could go a long way to changing the attitude of the campus community and society as a whole toward pregnant and parenting students.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 10 August 2009 )
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