Megan Sommerfeld

Capstone project
12/15/16
Womens healthcare at Purdue
Imagine you are a female student at Purdue University. Now imagine you find yourself
pregnant and for whatever reason you do not want to not remain pregnant. Perhaps the timing is
just not right and you do not want to jeopardize your education at Purdue to raise a child at this
point in your life. Yet because the pregnancy is early on you know it can be terminated with a pill
that is completely legal, safe, and can end pregnancy up to ten weeks (Uffalussy 3). Knowing
this you go to the student health center to receive the medication yet you come to find that no
university health centers provide abortions in any form (Uffalussy 3). The best that Purdues
student health center could do is give you a list of the closest Planned Parenthood (Pregnancy
termination). The list tells you that the closest planned parenthood center is in Indianapolis,
which is an hour drive and costs about $325 (Pregnancy termination). Just from this scenario
here it is evident that Purdue along with most college campuses are lacking in womens
healthcare but what Purdue counts as womens health care is mainly contraception yet with
better education perhaps Purdue along with other colleges will change what is considered to be
womens health.
Nearly half of all pregnancies in the United States are uninteneted and nearly one half of
all unintended pregnancies are chosen to be ended (Abortion education). Yet 87% of the
United States has no abortion providers and 99% of providers are located in urban-city areas
(Abortion education). Little is known about the extent that abortion education is integrated
into the medical programs of nurse practitioner (NPs), physician assistant (PAs), and certified
nurse-midwives (CNMs). To find out the extent, The National Abortion Federation created a
survey to assess the extent of abortion education and training in NP and PA programs (Abortion
education). The survey was divided into eight categories: family planning/contraception,

Megan Sommerfeld
Capstone project
12/15/16
pregnancy options counseling, emergency contraception, spontaneous abortion management,
surgical abortion, manual vacuum aspiration, medical abortion and post abortion care (Abortion
education). If respondents agreed that had been trained in any of these categories, they were
then asked to specify the numbers of instructive and clinical hours spent on each category
(Abortion education). On the other hands if respondents said they did not agree that they were
trained in any of these categories were asked to specify reasons for the omission of this category
(Abortion education). The survey resulted with 202 completed surveys (Abortion
education). Of this total 22% of respondents were from the Midwest which is the area Purdue
is located in (Abortion education). Overall contraception received 96% agreement making it a
universal concept taught in almost all PA and NP programs (Abortion education). Emergency
contraception (morning after pill) was also vastly covered in PA and NP programs with an
agreement of 88%. Pregnancy counseling options was also vastly covered with an agreement of
74% (Abortion education). Yet abortion procedures were far less covered (Abortion
education). Only 53% programs reported that they offer instructional courses on abortion
procedures (Abortion education). Even less programs provide clinical instruction on abortions
with only 21% of NP and PA programs actually providing clinical instruction (Abortion
education). Most shockingly, of the programs that do not currently offer instruction in abortion
procedures, none of the respondents indicated that their institutions would not offer surgical
abortion training in the future (Abortion education...).
From this survey it is evident that abortion education and practice is lacking in the United
States. Due to such low numbers of medical professionals being skilled in abortion procedures
helps one to begin understanding why these services are not offered on college campuses. In fact,
some see this shortage of medical professionals properly equipped to handle abortions as a crisis!

Megan Sommerfeld
Capstone project
12/15/16
In the last decade studies show that education of sexual health in medical school has decreased
(Coleman E, Elders). Of the sexual health curriculum that exists it is not regulated nor is there
much consensus about the content (Coleman E, Elders). It has been noted by Summit on Medical
School Education in Sexual Health that To provide optimal sexual health care, providers need to
be honest, respectful, confidential conversations with patients (Coleman E, Elders).
After gathering enough background information about sexual health and womens health
in the United States as a whole I wanted to first find if Purdue offered any sort of abortion
services. I communicated with the Purdue Student Health Center via email. I first explained to
PUSH that I was conducting research for a project where I was assessing if Purdue had any
abortion services. From my discussions with PUSH they do not offer any abortion services. Yet
they do give a list of planned parenthood locations and the cost at each place (Pregnancy
Termination). The startling thing about this list is that the nearest abortion center is in
Indianapolis (Pregnancy Termination). Yet, this is an hour away from Purdue. From this
evidence alone it is clear to see that planned parenthood/abortion centers are not easy to access
and are in fact mainly in metropolitan areas.
By definition womens health care is: birth control, pregnancy, sexually transmitted
infections, sexual health, and many more (Womens health). Yet, the Purdue student health
centers main area of womens health is birth control. I further inquired with PUSH to see if birth
control options were available and if so what kinds. PUSH emailed me back with two links to
different websites that they use to give birth control information to women (Birth control
options). These websites contain information on the different kinds of birth control as well as
sterilization (Birth control options). Yet PUSH does not offer sterilizations since this is a
surgical procedure requiring anesthesia (Birth control options). Additionally, Purdue does offer

Megan Sommerfeld
Capstone project
12/15/16
STI services as well. On PUSHs website there is a tab titled Medical Services. Underneath
this heading there is a section called Womens Clinic (Medical Services). This gives a brief
description of what PUSH has to offer for womens services. It is comforting to know that PUSH
does provide specific health care to women. The womens health tab is also easy to find also
which is important for anyone looking to find the page. These services are sexual assault care,
evaluation and treatment of STIs, emergency contraception, removal of contraceptive devices,
and many gynecological related services (Medical Services). Although this tab does not
clearly state that PUSH offers forms of birth control, PUSH does in fact offer multiple birth
control options which is proven through my personal research. Perhaps birth control is included
in gynecological related services (Medical Services). Yet birth control is a very common
reason many women could be inquiring to PUSHs website and I feel it is important to include
this in a more obvious manner for women.
Yet why are no abortion services offered at Purdue, not even the FDA regulated abortion
medication which requires no surgery whatsoever (Uffalussy)? It has even been quoted by
medical expert, Dr. Jennifer Conti, an OBGYN and clinical instructor at Stanford University that
There is no clear medical reason why a university clinic or any clinic should be unable to
provide medication abortion (Uffalussy). She then added, Abortion care is just like any other
component of womens reproductive healthcare (Uffalussy). Although PUSH does offer an
emergency contraceptive this can only be used within a very limited amount of time. Recently,
Berkleys student activists presented a bill to the student government asking for abortion
medication to be administered through their student health network (Uffalussy). The bill passed
unanimously (Uffalussy).

Megan Sommerfeld
Capstone project
12/15/16
It is my hope that one day the women of Purdue will be able to have same services
available. Yet it will not be possible without help from other women whom feel it is just as
important for women to have rights to abortion services. One of the most effective ways to help
spread knowledge on abortion topics is through peer education. People are much more likely to
hear and personalize information when the message is presented from someone whom is relate
such as in age (Beverlie Conant Sloane MPH). Health education through peer education helps to
highlight the right to personal choice showing that this education is nonjudgmental (Beverlie
Conant Sloane MPH). Forms of peer education are: outreach programs, reaching student
audiences through interactive strategies, staff outreach lines, and many others (Beverlie Conant
Sloane MPH). Although Purdue does have womens healthcare it lacks abortion services which
women may need as well. It is my hope that through strategies such as peer education and
following the strides made by students at the University of California, Berkeley that eventually
Purdue will be able to provide women with even better healthcare services.

Megan Sommerfeld
Capstone project
12/15/16
Works Cited

"Abortion Education in Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant and Certified Nursemidwifery

Programs: A National Survey." Contraception. N.p., n.d. Web.
"Women's Health: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia." MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia.
N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.
Beverlie Conant Sloane MPH, PhD & Christine G. Zimmer MA, CHES (1993) The Power of
Peer Health Education, Journal of American College Health, 41:6, 241-245, DOI:
10.1080/07448481.1993.9936334
Coleman E, Elders J, Satcher D, Shindel A, Parish S, Kenagy G, Bayer CR, Knudson G,
Kingsberg S, Clayton A, Lunn MR, Goldsmith E, Tsai P, and Light A. Summit on medical
school education in sexual health: Report of an expert consultation. J Sex Med
2013;10:924938.

Photograph of PUSH center. 2016 December 2.

Purdue University Health Center. birth control options.
Uffalussy, Jennifer Gerson. "Why Don't Colleges Offer Abortions?" Fusion. N.p., n.d. Web. 04
Dec. 2016.
University, Purdue. "Medical Services." Medical Services. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.