Pregnancy Resource Forums 1998 Update In February, Georgetown University students and administrators gathered for the second time in the past year to discuss resources for pregnant and parenting students. University officials initiated this second forum after the overwhelming success of the first Pregnancy Resources Forum at Georgetown, moderated by FFL's executive director, Serrin M. Foster, in 1997. Georgetown was the first university in the nation to host the groundbreaking forum. The precedent-setting forum revealed obstacles that needed to be overcome to provide sufficient support to women facing an unexpected pregnancy. Last year, students expressed concern over the lack of Pregnancy Support Services staff on campus. Women who were experiencing an unexpected pregnancy often heard only an answering machine, not a live voice, on the pregnancy support line. This year's forum showed that Georgetown is making headway in overcoming these obstacles. For instance, the director of Pregnancy Support Services has since acquired a pager for 24-hour accessibility. Another issue brought up at last year's forum was confidentiality regarding health insurance bills. At that time, students said they would not go to the student health clinic for pregnancy tests for fear that their parents would see the bill. Georgetown's student health service representative answered that concern at this year's forum. Students now can choose where the bill is sent each time they visit the health center. Georgetown has also built a child care center on campus in the past year, but it is financially inaccessible to students at $800 a month and only accepts children 18 months and older. Other universities, such as the University of Chicago and the University of Hartford, offer more affordable options such as cooperative child care and volunteer babysitting services. FFL's Foster suggested these alternatives when she addressed Georgetown University students and faculty a month after the forum. Though Georgetown University is making significant strides in providing resources for students on campus who choose to carry their children to term, visibly pregnant women are still a rare phenomenon despite statistics released by the Alan Guttmacher Institute showing that 10 percent of sexually active students in the country become pregnant each year. When one student suggested that perhaps women felt they could not keep their children because of a lack of housing possibilities on campus, Georgetown administrators responded that the need for family housing would first have to be demonstrated. Currently, Georgetown University finds nearby off- campus housing for pregnant and parenting students. Georgetown University is working to dispel myths that suggest it is unfriendly to pregnant and parenting students, yet some inaccuracies, long ingrained in the university culture, continue to linger. A student at the second forum said the myth that female students who become pregnant will have to transfer is still being disseminated on campus. A two-page feature article in the Georgetown student newspaper published the following week tried once again to clarify this misunderstanding. James Harris, treasurer of Georgetown's Alliance for Women's Empowerment, a co-sponsor of the event, said Georgetown pregnancy services had vastly improved in the past few years. Georgetown Right to Life, whose president, Dori Page, helped develop FFL's College Outreach Program as an FFL intern, also took part in the evening. Forum participant Vanessa Clay, a former co-chair of Georgetown Right to Life and FFL intern and current director of the Northwest Center, a local pregnancy care center in Washington, D.C., offered an analysis of the current situation at Georgetown: "The university has a pretty open attitude towards pregnant students, but it needs more student input and to be challenged." If the dialogue provided by the last two pregnancy resource forums continues, more students will be aware of Georgetown's support networks and will continue to challenge the university to make additional reforms. Wendy Harrison
1999 Update Georgetown University was the site of FFL's first Pregnancy Resource Forum, an essential part of our College Outreach Program, which identifies the needs of pregnant and parenting students. Since then Georgetown has tested and developed every major step of FFL's COP. Georgetown University is a great example of how seemingly insurmountable obstacles can be overcome:
Georgetown University and GU Right to Life deserve accolades for making enormous strides in the past four years. FFL members and donors deserve thanks for giving FFL the resources to make these changes possible! Serrin M. Foster, President
2003 Update On Monday, Oct. 20, 2003, Georgetown University Right to Life sponsored a Pregnancy Resource Forum, moderated by Feminists for Life College Outreach Coordinator Nicole Callahan. The Pregnancy Resource Forum, an important event conceived and developed by Feminists for Life of America, has been hosted annually by GU Right to Life since the school's first Forum in 1997. Forums are designed to bring together students and administrators from both sides of the abortion debate to focus on developing and implementing pregnancy and parenting resources on college campuses. By providing many excellent services as well as counseling and support to students facing an unplanned pregnancy, Georgetown has proved to be a "model university" since their first Forum. Carol Day, the Director of Health Services, explained that free and confidential pregnancy tests were available at Health Services, and that the student health insurance provided for prenatal care. Day also said that students could remain in university dorms until the baby was born; after that student mothers have the option to move to an endowment-sponsored townhouse just off campus, a program that was founded after the first Pregnancy Resource Forum at Georgetown. Anne Elisabeth Giuliani, a Chaplain-in-Residence at the University, said that she and the other Campus Ministry representatives make themselves available to any students in time of need, providing confidential and spiritual counsel to both women and men who are facing an unplanned pregnancy or attempting to balance the demands of student life in addition to being parents. "We are aware of the feelings of being trapped," Giuliani claimed, and added that she has seen many young women "in a state of panic" after a positive pregnancy test. "We [at Campus Ministry] try to help people objectivize things and get the facts… There's not just a huge wall." In addition to the medical care and counseling offered to students on campus, a representative from the nearby Northwest Pregnancy Center, Kara Crawford, also mentioned that there were resources available to students at the pregnancy care center, including pregnancy testing, prenatal supplies, and references for students who are looking for additional counseling or medical care. Georgetown Right to Life also attempts to help student parents by offering free baby-sitting services, and there is a well-advertised, volunteer-staffed 24-hour pregnancy hotline for students to call if they need to talk to someone at any hour of the day or night. Although Georgetown does provide many services to pregnant and parenting students, Pregnancy Resource Forums are held annually so that the school administration and students can continue to reevaluate and build upon what they started in 1997. There was a greal deal of discussion at the most recent Forum on how to improve upon existing services. Volunteer baby-sitters should be CPR and First Aid-certified, one student suggested. Project Gabriel is another program that attempts to help women who find themselves unexpectedly pregnant - this should be advertised more. A network is in place to refer mothers-to-be to women at Georgetown who are already mothers; this, too, should be publicized. Hoya Kids Day Care is only for children aged 18-24 months, so it should be expanded to include children of a younger age, and perhaps more scholarships should be available to student parents. School bathrooms should all have chairs for nursing mothers and diaper decks so that there is a sanitary place for women to change their babies. What about establishing a volunteer note-taking service, with volunteers from GU Right to Life and other students? To provide even more resources for pregnant and parenting students, could a "slush fund" be established to subsidize costs for the students? Could alumni be solicited to help start this fund? Money could be kept by the University and dispensed to mothers and fathers in need. Finally, all existing pregnancy and parenting resources should be advertised more - every student at Georgetown should know exactly what services are available. Six years after the first Pregnancy Resource Forum was held at Georgetown, students today clearly recognize the importance of the yearly event. Laura Peirson, the President of GU Right to Life, told a writer from the Georgetown Hoya that she felt the 2003 Pregnancy Resource Forum had "definitely sparked a dialogue in terms of the resources that Georgetown has and things that could be improved on... If [a woman is] pregnant, she needs to know that the support services are there, emotionally and materially, so that she doesn't feel alone in the challenges that she'll face." Link to Oct. 2003 Hoya article: http://www.thehoya.com/news/102403/news6.cfm
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