Pregnancy; The third in a three part series on women's health
Between 30 and 40 Dartmouth women face the decision of whether to abort a fetus or take a pregnancy to term every year, according to Director of College Health Services Dr. John Turco.
Pregnancy is a difficult issue at the College; though resources have expanded with the creation of the new Women's Health Service at Dick Hall's House last fall, there is still little support for pregnant students, Manager of Women's Health Services Janice Sundnas said.
This academic year, 12 pregnancies have been reported to Dick's House, which Sundnas said is not particularly high. "So far, it's panning out to be an average year," she said. "It will just depend on how Spring and Summer terms go."
According to Sundnas, most of the 12 Dartmouth pregnancies were unplanned, though the figure also includes graduate students who "are bold enough to actually want to have children."
Campus pregnancies result from both unprotected sex and contraceptive failure, Sundnas said.
"Some of it has been a combination of unprotected intercourse and I have had a couple of contraceptive failures: sponges, condoms breaking, but not usually [birth control] pills," she said. "I haven't had too many pill misuses or failures."
A '95 woman who recently found out she is pregnant through tests at Dick's House said her pregnancy resulted from neither unprotected sex nor contraceptive failure.
"I did use protection, the condom did not break. The detail working against me is that it was during the middle of my cycle, which probably meant that I was ovulating," she said.
According to Sundnas, there are three options for pregnant women: they can take the pregnancy to term and either keep the child or give the child up for adoption, or they can terminate the pregnancy.
Abortion
The most popular option for Dartmouth women who have an unwanted pregnancy is abortion, Sundnas said. But most graduate students opt to take the pregnancy to term and follow through with prenatal care, she added.
The '95 woman said she always knew she would choose to have an abortion if the situation arose.
"Ever since I became sexually active in high school, I always knew what my decision would be ... even though I came from a strict Catholic family," she said.
"After they tested me and told me I was pregnant, I felt a bit teary eyed, but not too bad," she added. "I told her right away what I wanted to do."
Abortions cost $365 at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, according to Sundnas. Insurance subscribers must pay $15 in cashand submit a slip signed by Sundnas.
Students who subscribe to the Dartmouth Student Group Health Plan are covered up to $350 for the cost of an abortion at the DHMC, according to Jeanne Ashley, a College Insurance Office employee.
Although the medical center is slightly less costly, Sundnas said some students choose to have abortions at Planned Parenthood in West Lebanon.
"The difference is that the medical center does abortions on Tuesdays, and Planned Parenthood does them on Thursdays," she said. "Thursday is closer to the weekend, and students have to miss less class time."
Joanna Carpenter, an employee of the Planned Parenthood Clinic in Burlington, Vt., said the abortion procedure and pelvic exam costs around $374.
"[Dick's House] called a clinic in West Leb for me, and we made an appointment for an initial gynecological exam," the '95 woman said. "They were very supportive there ... They fully prepared me as to how it would feel and what would be happening."
She said the actual abortion procedure lasted about five minutes and the pain "isn't unbearable."
Though it varies depending on each individual woman's daily activities, Carpenter said most women return to their normal schedules the day after the abortion; patients involved in physical activities may be advised to wait several days.
The abortion is followed by a post-abortion check-up about two weeks after the procedure.
Though the procedure brought some emotional issues to light, the '95 woman said she made the right choice in choosing to abort the fetus.
"Before the procedure, I did cry, and I did wonder how God would look upon me," she said. "After, I thought about it for a while, I knew that it was the right choice for me at this time in my life ... I am fine with it now, the only time I really thought about it is when I went to church for the beginning of Lent."
Having the baby
Upon finding out they are pregnant, some women at Dartmouth decide to have the baby.
"I think probably in terms of academic advising they might look at academic options," Sundnas said. "I don't think there's any hard and fast rule that you can't be pregnant on the Dartmouth campus."
Sundnas suggested a pregnant student may choose a less vigorous term or two and may opt to alter her academic load.
There are many concerns for those who consider taking their pregnancy to term. For example, "there is not a big support system built in for students who are pregnant," Sundnas said.
"For those women who would elect to keep a pregnancy, I'm not sure pregnancy support would come through the College, but more through local support, through the medical center and other programs," she added.
Sundnas said there was an undergraduate on campus four years ago who had "a very difficult time being here and being pregnant, and a lot of it was being ostracized on this campus."
Women's Health Services
Women's Health Services provides support whether students decide to take their pregnancy to term or abort.
"From my perspective, I help to support anyone who opts to do whatever," Sundnas said. "We give them their options, which is to continue the pregnancy and take care of the child or to release the child through the adoption process or terminate the pregnancy."
Sundnas said if a woman chooses to have the baby, the department can assist her with prenatal care.
At Middlebury College, where the undergraduate student body is about 2,000, roughly half that of Dartmouth, the number of annual pregnancies consistently averages between six and 12, according to Dr. James Corkins, the director of Middlebury's health center.
"That's generally been a consistent number. In the past few years it has been on the lower side of that figure," Corkins said. "It's possible that there are others that we're not aware of."
Corkins echoed Sundnas' concern that the Middlebury student body, like Dartmouth, may not be supportive of pregnant peers, though support would be provided through the college, the administration and the health service.
"Our experience has been that those who are pregnant make the decision very quickly to terminate the pregnancy," he said. "They keep it very quiet so that it's not generally known."
DHMC offers pregnancy services for many graduate students and faculty members, as well as a limited number of undergraduates, according to Director of the Pregnancy Resource Center Susan Edwards.
For undergraduates "pregnancy is not impossible, but let's just say it's not a convenience," she said.
But regardless of academic load and support services, there are always finances to consider.
Insurance coverage
If women are already have Dartmouth insurance when they become pregnant, the policy helps with the expenses of prenatal care and birth complications.
Those who purchase the plan after becoming pregnant receive coverage only for expenses incurred after the child is born.
The package covers children of enrolled students for 30 days following their birth, Ashley said.
The plan costs $945 per year for student-only coverage and $1,614 per year for an additional dependent.
The College operates a child care center to care for children of employees working at least half time and receiving benefits, Dartmouth College Child Care Center Director Jeff Robbins said.
"The College does not have a child care program for students," Robbins said. "Historically there are not very many undergraduate students with children, but the Child Care Project presents referrals and research for child care."
