Grant High School students sort through a laundry list of criteria as they venture through the college search process. “How big is the campus?” “What’s the weather like?” “Can I afford to attend?” For many students in the class of 2023 and younger, a new concern is on the table: “Will I have the right to an abortion?”

Following the federal overturn of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, many Grant students and parents are grappling with the unprecedented challenges of restricted abortion access in large regions of the country. Political climate has always been a widely considered criterion in the college search process, but now more than ever, Grant families are calling into question where they are willing to send their taxpayer dollars when their student leaves home. 

Furthermore, students are concerned about the implications of a post-secondary experience with limited or no reproductive rights. “I want to be in a state where I can get an abortion if needed,” says Grant senior J.A. (abbreviated for anonymity), “I don’t want to feel like I’m in a situation where I have to go all the way back home to Oregon.” 

Since 1973, Americans have freely exercised their rights to abortion as guaranteed by the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade. Although abortion rights have always been a contentious political topic, widespread fear over limited reproductive healthcare became most rampant on May 2, 2022, when a draft of a Supreme Court majority opinion was leaked declaring that the right to abortion could be federally overturned later that spring. 

On June 24, 2022, what many pro-choice advocates feared became a reality: The Supreme Court ruled that abortion was not a fundamental American right and was therefore up to state jurisdiction. 

For juniors and seniors at Grant looking at colleges, staying in-state where abortion access is independently protected could be a pull factor for becoming an Oregon Duck or Beaver. 

“When the draft came out, I was like, ‘I kinda don’t wanna go anywhere that has a risk of abortions not being a thing anymore,’” says Grant senior Piper Heilbronner, “When Roe v. Wade was overturned I was like, ‘I will not go anywhere in a state that has a risk of making abortions illegal.’” 

Heilbronner removed University of Montana from her list; J.A. scratched off Indiana University. 

Abortion access has always played a role in student success, especially for students of color. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics found that prior to the federal overturn of Roe v. Wade, Black women were one to three percentage points less likely to attend or complete college education if exposed to targeted restrictions on abortion providers (TRAP laws) before the age of 18. 

“All the anti-abortion stuff comes with the racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia … people often hold multiple prejudices at once, so it affects a lot of people,” says Grant junior Kai Watson, “I refuse to go to any school that is at all connected with anti-abortion or anti-queer ideologies.”

At Grant, College Coordinator Mary Beth Snell works around the clock to help students find colleges that fit their academic, cultural and financial needs.

“The determining factors are different from student to student,” says Snell, “But the majority of students express an interest in wanting to attend school in states that tend to be more liberal.”

Heilbronner says, “I knew I wanted to be in a city, and most of those cities I wanted to be in were in more liberal states … but it ruled out a large part of the country because I was like, ‘I’m not okay going here,’ for my own safety and because of … taxpayer dollars.” 

So far, no student has explicitly expressed to Snell that abortion access is critical. “I think there are ways students talk about it in a broader way,” she says. However, she also acknowledges that those kinds of personal conversations are more likely being held peer-to-peer. 

Many students do not need in-state access to abortion for their own healthcare, either because they do not have a uterus or because they have the resources to travel for necessary services. However, even for these individuals, the ethics of sending taxpayer dollars to a state in which Roe is overturned can present a conflict. 

Grant alumnus Etta Coleman is an undergraduate student at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, where abortion has been completely banned since June 2022. 

“I think I knew going to the South things were going to be different, and I was welcoming to that,” she says, “Growing up in a place like Portland, you don’t get your views challenged often.” 

Although Coleman has benefitted from encountering differing perspectives, she has also had to navigate the challenges of living in a state with policies opposing her beliefs. “It’s very disheartening to know that in the state you live in, the legislators are berating women’s rights,” she says. 

When Louisiana completely banned abortion, Coleman says she was “disappointed but not surprised.” 

Because she has a full-tuition scholarship, she also doesn’t feel a strong sense of guilt about financially supporting the state legislature, and she feels confident that if she needs reproductive healthcare, she has the resources to travel for it. 

Coleman notes that living as a student in the majority liberal city of New Orleans is vastly different than living with different financial and social circumstances elsewhere in the state. “I haven’t personally come across anyone at the school that feels that they would be completely unsupported if they needed an abortion,” says Coleman, “And I think that’s because Tulane has the resources to help people.” 

She adds, “The university and students have rallied to support each other as much as possible, and I think there’s something to be said for that.” 

Looking back at her college search experience in 2019, Coleman can’t say if she would’ve been more hesitant about attending Tulane if she had knowledge of the strict abortion bans that would be enacted. “I was willing to live in a place that largely differs from my beliefs,” she says, “and I don’t know that I wouldn’t have come to Tulane if I knew that this was gonna happen.” 

In other majority conservative states like Texas and Arizona, which have been common destinations for Grant students in the past, recently implemented abortion policies can be an indicator that more anti-choice legislation is to come. 

Watson says, “As a queer person, I find that limiting reproductive healthcare is one step away from limiting people’s access to hormone therapy and mental health support … so it’s a slippery slope.”

Coleman points out that it’s important to consider the individual stance of the institution, too, rather than only examining state policies. Although Tulane has not taken a clear political stance on Roe v. Wade, the school has offered financial and counseling resources to mitigate the varying impacts of restrictions on reproductive healthcare. 

At Grant, the College and Career Center will continue to help students find the right colleges and career paths for their unique circumstances and criteria, considering all standards important to the student. “The more that students view my role as a resource, potentially (abortion rights) could be something we have more in-depth conversations about,” says Snell.

Not all students will heavily weigh or consider reproductive healthcare access in their college search, but as more states continue to overturn the right to safe abortions, state politics and rights could have an even larger impact on where students feel comfortable pursuing future plans. 

“I don’t want to be in a place where they don’t support me as a woman,” says Heilbronner, “That’s just not where I want to be.”