The community college system needs to prioritize more than just education.<\/p>\n
The topic of abortion is very controversial, and whether or not people agree with it, it should be more widely considered as a health service investment. Especially to a student body that is filled with people of all ages, genders and backgrounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fresno City College is one of the many community colleges that doesn\u2019t provide abortion access.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For how all-inclusive FCC aims to be with sexual and reproductive health providing birth control, STI screenings etc., I think it\u2019s highly dismissive and problematic how the campus, and many others such as Reedley, Clovis and Madera community college don\u2019t provide any medicated resources for an abortion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t a matter of limitation on what abortion services they provide. There\u2019s nothing.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t an issue only within the State Center Community College District as it expands throughout all of California. Community colleges aren\u2019t required to provide these services and it has rightfully led to concerns made by the Student Senate for California Community Colleges for a Community College Reproductive Health Access<\/a> resolution.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2019, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 24<\/a>, which requires all California State Universities and University of California campuses, starting and continuing beyond 2023, to provide abortion access under the College Student Right to Access Act.<\/a><\/p>\n With this bill, all CSU\u2019s and UC\u2019s were granted $200,000 in state funds to provide \u201cmedication abortion readiness.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The pill comes in two forms, Mifepristone and Misoprosto, which stops the growth of the pregnancy and expels the tissue. While the medication ranges in price depending on the campus<\/a>, the fact that it\u2019s still accessible to students is a step towards building the sense of security and validation that any school should prioritize for their students.<\/p>\n While these campuses receive significant help from the state of California and their own student health fees, FCC emphasizes \u201cservices are provided by Public Health Nurses and are funded by the student health fees,\u201d according to the FCC health services website.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Students have to pay a $21 \u201cHealth Fee\u201d each semester.<\/p>\n Although community colleges may not receive the same grants that CSU\u2019s do for Mifepristone and Misoproto pills, there is a sense of obligation the school has to at least acknowledge the scope of needs and crises that students undergo. This could look like advocating for student dollars to go into abortion practices.<\/p>\n I won\u2019t say that FCC or the SCCCD doesn\u2019t prioritize the care for their students at all, there\u2019s just room for improvement. We\u2019re all students in college, and this should be as equal of a priority as it is for other California institutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n Online, under the health services tab <\/a>on the FCC website, the list of services related to pregnancy, sex and sexual health, show that FCC offers services related to reproductive health but misses a service that is constantly underserved and limited in actual helpful support when many anti abortion clinics exist and the topic of abortion has been politicized and villainized in some religious communities.<\/p>\n In person, the health services center has a variety of brochures and information regarding mental and physical health care, but in visiting, I was concerned by the minimal information they have on abortion care.\u00a0<\/p>\n There were brochures from Planned Parenthood, which does provide reproductive care and abortions, but one brochure was from the Pregnancy Care Center<\/a> in the Tower District particularly stuck out to me.\u00a0 In Fresno, it is labeled as a \u201cCrisis Pregnancy Center,\u201d also known as a fake clinic.<\/a><\/p>\n Not many people know about it, but there are many faith-based organizations that provide abortions service information and guidance but try to discourage the option through \u201cdeceptive practices.\u201d The Expose Fake Clinic<\/a> website is founded by Abortion Access Hackathon<\/a> and Abortion Access Front<\/a>, working with 60 abortion access, care and support organizations across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019m not claiming FCC knows about this or even agrees with it, I just think it\u2019s a lack of oversight and there should be extra precaution when it comes to referrals to resources that are so limited and mistrusted.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under these conditions, it is very possible that students who seek abortion services on their own, with little to no validable direction or guidance, are met with the potential risk of being guilted or pressured out of an abortion.<\/p>\n Because, the truth is many of these clinics will present themselves as a resource supporting the journey to a procedural or medicated abortions but will actually try to convince you out of an abortion<\/a> through false advertisement of their services and misleading information on the effects of an abortion.<\/p>\n Imagine urgently needing an abortion in an already hostile and judgmental environment surrounding the topic, going into an abortion clinic expecting to receive help and you are told something like this.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you sure you want to kill the unborn child<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s scary.\u00a0<\/p>\n I worry that if I were ever in this situation, I would feel completely alone and judged.\u00a0<\/p>\n