How one college woman navigates her reproductive rights

On the night of the presidential debate in September, Elise Anfenson and six of her Delta Zeta sorority sisters are snacking on popcorn inside a Bloomington apartment when the moment they've been waiting for finally arrives.

“I want to turn to the issue of abortion,” one of the debate moderators says.

The IU students scramble for the remote.

“Turn it up, turn it up!” one of the women says. “We actually want to listen to this part.”

Of the seven women watching the debate, four — including Elise, an IU junior — plan on voting for Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. One is voting for former President and GOP nominee Donald Trump. Two are undecided. All of them are invested in this moment.

Trump talks about the bravery of the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. He says giving the decision to the states is what everyone wants.

Hearing this upsets Elise. For her, abortion is an issue that could make or break a candidate.

Harris argues the government should not be involved in the matter of abortion, mentioning women around the country have been denied necessary healthcare due to restrictive policies.

Elise found comfort knowing that if the U.S. got to a point where Congress would be able to pass a bill to reinstate Roe v. Wade, Harris would sign it into law.

The women continue talking about the issue of abortion after the debate. Even though they are voting for different candidates, they all agree they wouldn’t want someone else to make calls about their bodies.

•••

Abortion has been a key focus for political campaigns leading up to the 2024 election. Women around the country are weighing what the outcome in November will mean for them. For some young women at IU, this topic impacts not only how they vote, but also how they navigate their relationships and sex lives.

Elise, 20, is a psychology major from Arlington Heights, Illinois. She plans to attend graduate school to become a school psychiatrist. In her free time, she works out, goes on walks and watches TV shows with her friends.

Elise met her boyfriend during her freshman year at IU. They started dating about a year later in December 2023. He is her first boyfriend and serious relationship.

They see one another every day and Elise sleeps over in his single room at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity about four nights a week.

They study, watch movies, attend parties and go on late-night food runs –– never skipping the Cinnabon Delights at Taco Bell.

Before they started dating, Elise casually mentioned being pro-abortion rights to see if he would be supportive.

“What if I’m pregnant?” she jokingly asked him when her period was a couple of days late.

Elise told him if that were to happen, she might not keep the baby. She brought it up casually so she could distance herself if he didn’t agree. Instead, she was met with support and reassurance that it would be her choice.

Having a serious boyfriend has altered the way Elise views sex.

In her previous hookups, she didn’t feel comfortable talking about these things –– but now that she is with someone that she loves, who loves her back, her feelings have changed.

“I’ll bring up things like women’s rights and he has always been very receptive of me and been supportive of me,” Elise said.

•••

Indiana’s abortion ban took effect in August 2023. The ban prohibits all abortions with the exceptions of saving the mother's life, the fetus being diagnosed with a lethal fatal anomaly before 20 weeks post-fertilization or in cases of rape or incest up to 10 weeks post-fertilization.

Jody Madeira, a law professor at IU, said women have found it harder to access contraception, prenatal care and fertility treatment since Roe v. Wade was overturned. They have also become more likely to get sterilized or turn to long-acting contraceptives. Madeira is running for Monroe County Commissioner and opposes Indiana’s abortion ban.

Madeira said she thinks having the decision turned back to the states is a human rights violation and a healthcare nightmare. But she believes there is one silver lining — the decision has drawn out more activism and awareness. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that abortion has become the most important issue in this election for women under 30.

“When women can’t get good care, it effects everyone,” Madeira said.

Many physicians are less likely to want to practice in abortion-restrictive states because they could face legal challenges at work. In Indiana, performing an illegal abortion is a level 5 felony, punishable with up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. This has led to a higher number of women’s healthcare deserts in the U.S., with abortion-restrictive states having a 32% lower ratio of obstetricians to births, according to the National Institute of Health. As of 2021, 23.9% of Indiana counties were maternity care deserts.

This decrease in providers is dangerous for women carrying out high-risk pregnancies or who experience complications during their pregnancy. The maternal mortality rate is 62% higher in abortion-restrictive states than in those with access, according to a 2023 study by the National Institute of Health. In 2022, Indiana had the third worst maternal mortality rate in the U.S.

“I cannot imagine being a young person with a uterus right now and not being absolutely terrified,” IU gender studies professor Elizabeth Maher said.

•••

Elise pulls into the Delta Zeta parking lot after class. She grabs lunch and heads down the hall to her room. Inside, she sits at her desk with her laptop open to Canvas as she eats her dinosaur nuggets.

At 1:10 p.m., her iPhone alarm goes off and a crescendo of chimes fills the room.

Elise presses stop and immediately turns to grab her Tri-Sprintec birth control pack from her backpack. She takes out the next pill, pops it in her mouth and swallows. She takes it without water because she knows she won’t always have a drink with her when her alarm goes off.

Since starting birth control her senior year of high school, Elise has changed what time she takes the pill several times to fit her schedule. Still, sometimes Elise is busy when her alarm goes off and she forgets to take it until later in the day. Several times she has forgotten to take the pill altogether, and when this happens, she panics.

“I’ve been trying to be good about it, it’s just hard to be completely precise,” she said.

When she’s less consistent with the pill, Elise gets nervous, but she has never had a serious pregnancy scare or taken a test.

•••

Elise discusses these things with her sorority sisters. Some of her friends are chronically anxious about getting pregnant even though they’re on the pill. Other friends don’t seem to worry about it at all.

“You’ve thought you were pregnant for the last six months and you’re not,” Elise recalls telling one of her friends.

While they like to joke with each other, if any of her friends are seriously concerned that they may be pregnant, the women treat it seriously, Elise said. Neither Elise nor her friends have been pregnant, but some of them have taken pregnancy tests.

Around the time of her period, Elise’s nerves depend on how careful she was that month.

“If I knew I was super on top of my birth control that month then I’m kind of not thinking about it,” Elise said. “But if I had a lot of slip-ups or I knew I forgot to take it multiple days in a month, then I might be the anxious one in that situation.”

When these “slip-ups” occur, Elise decides if she should take Plan B. Birth control is a daily hormonal pill taken to prevent pregnancy, while Plan B is a form of emergency contraception that stops or delays the release of an egg. If Elise has forgotten to take her birth control that month and she is in a fertile part of her cycle, she takes a Plan B after sex.

The first time Elise bought Plan B was in her senior year of high school, her friends giggling alongside her in a CVS aisle. She felt embarrassed at the checkout.

Today she feels more comfortable with purchasing emergency contraception. She said that now she knows it’s a normal thing, and that the cashier will probably never see her again.

•••

Contraception has been opposed by some anti-abortion activists who believe it belongs in the same category as abortion. In June, U.S. Senate Republicans voted to block a bill that would guarantee access to contraceptives nationwide. SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas has also said that the Griswold v. Connecticut decision, which protects married couples’ access to contraception, should be reconsidered. This has led some women to believe their access to birth control could be under threat.

Former President Trump previously said he is open to restrictions on contraception, and later said he would never advocate for birth control restrictions. Vice President Harris has said she wants to expand access to contraception.

Elise said if access to contraception was restricted or banned, she would feel distraught.

“If it were to get banned,” she said, “I would have to seriously rethink how to navigate my relationships and I would have to rethink having sex with people.”

•••

Elise is from Illinois, a state where abortion is legal until fetal viability. While organizations that deliver abortion pills to banned states exist, Elise and her friends sometimes talk about how they would have to drive there if they were to become pregnant.

Thirteen U.S. states including Indiana have a near-total abortion ban in place, meaning abortion is illegal except for in certain limited circumstances determined by the state.

Right now, Elise said it’s easy for her to say she would choose to leave the state and have an abortion, but she knows the issue is more complicated than that. She has no idea how she would feel if it happened to her, but she would feel comfortable talking to her mom and sister about it.

Elise believes it’s a common misconception that being pro-abortion rights means you are “pro-abortion” and would automatically choose terminating a pregnancy for yourself.

“It’s a tough decision for any woman,” Elise said, “and I respect any woman who has had to make that decision, because I can’t even imagine how hard it is.”

She knows that women’s ability to make that decision could rely on the outcome in November.

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