ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 commences with an account of Alexa, a returning student whose continued coursework coincided with an unplanned pregnancy. Poorly communicated and insufficient structural support for pregnant and parenting students at her school contributed to Alexa’s stress and depression while she experienced a high-risk pregnancy and emergency delivery. Her story illustrates how, even with the existence of Title IX, educational environments can contribute to the mental health challenges faced by pregnant and parenting college students, including mothers and fathers. This chapter explores some of those challenges. The authors discuss depression and emotional health, stress and its effects, and mental health risks associated with incomplete pregnancies (including miscarriages, abortions, and hormonal treatments/“emergency contraception”). Within the context of unplanned pregnancies and college communities, the authors also discuss social stigmatization and its effects. The authors point out that these often unseen hardships demonstrate the necessity of actively and consistently protecting and supporting pregnant and parenting college students, even before any individual student becomes pregnant.
