When I discovered I was pregnant my junior year, my first inclination was to hide the pregnancy. I didn’t want anyone to know I was pregnant, I didn’t want anything to make me stand out on campus and I didn’t want my professors to begin treating me differently.
What I wish I had known was that as a pregnant and soon-to-be parenting student, I had rights. Title IX protects against sex discrimination in federally funded programs and activities. This means, for starters, that I could not be “punished” for having a child (since women are the only ones who can get pregnant). I could not be dropped a letter grade for missing class due to pregnancy or childbirth. Again, I’ll say: I had rights.
But I didn’t know this, of course. So I did what I could and prayed my professors would be lenient. But of course, after I had an emergency C-section with my daughter, physically I shouldn’t have been in class anytime soon. I missed only a week and I still remember how slowly I had to walk to make it to the second floor to take my final and how I grimaced every time I shifted in my seat.
More students should know their rights and be able to exercise them without retribution or fear. But that is not always the case, particularly for teen parents who are still in high school. School administrators often write off their futures, refusing to assist with college applications or scholarship forms, leaving teen parents to wonder where they can turn for the support they desperately seek.
This is why I support the Pregnant and Parenting Students Access To Education Act (PPSAE).
In it, the protections of Title IX go even further, allowing states to coordinate resources and making it easier for pregnant and parenting students to complete their education. Check out my friend Lisette’s advocacy poster for the legislation above. The bill is being introduced by U.S. Senator Tom Udall (New Mexico) and U.S. Representative Jared Polis (Colorado) and needs more Congressional support to succeed. If you’d like to support this act, go here to email your representatives and let them know this is important legislation!
While you’re at it, make sure to “like” the National Women’s Law Center and the Healthy Teen Network on Facebook. (Tell them YML sent you!)
Let’s make history!