COLUMBUS, Ohio — JUNE 26: Unni Shreram, a 19-year-old junior at Ohio State University from Dublin, June 26, 2023, at the Ohio Union in Columbus, Ohio.
“Were the Ohio ban ultimately to take effect, it would have a significant impact on late teens and people in their early 20s,” said Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health. “Young people don’t have the same ability that other people do to travel across state lines and things,” said Olivia Woods, Ohio senior state organizer for Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity . “They face financial barriers when it comes to paying for expensive procedures, and it can put young people … in a place of uncertainty.”
College students are usually still on their parents’ health insurance, which can be another potential barrier. Brick walls to access can often come with the color of one’s skin or one’s gender identity as well, according to Woods. Black and indigenous groups and LGBTQ+ young people, for example, already face issues with discrimination and limited care for specific needs like gender-affirming care without the struggle of finding reproductive care they can afford.
As a way to help make reproductive care more accessible to students on campus, Kent State Students for a Democratic Society worked to help get generic Plan B sold over the counter in one of the campus dining halls markets starting this fall.