Nina Huang, a California high school student who plays flute and piano and hopes to study medicine or law, thought Oberlin College in Ohio, with its excellent academic and music programmes, was a perfect fit.
Huang, 16, said she dropped the college from her application list after Ohio passed a near-total abortion ban last month. She now intends to broaden her search for schools in states with less stringent laws.
‘I don’t want to go to school in a state where abortion is illegal,’ she explained.
According to interviews with 20 students and college advisers across the country, the United States Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade case, which legalised abortion nationwide, has caused some students to reconsider their higher education plans as states rush to ban or restrict abortion.
While some students have long been reluctant to attend schools in areas with opposing political views, recent moves by conservative states on issues such as abortion and LGBTQ+ rights have exacerbated the country’s polarisation.
Some students are concerned that they will be denied abortions if they require them, or that they will face discrimination because of their gender. Others expressed concern about facing racial prejudice or being politically marginalised.
‘I’m only in high school right now, and I’m still figuring out who I am,’ said Samira Murad, 17, a senior at Stuyvesant High School in New York this fall. ‘I don’t want to move somewhere where I can’t be myself because of laws that have been put in place.’
Post Your Comments