When news of the Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson broke in June, Nitika Yadlapalli just finished giving a talk at a research conference in Spain.
“Maybe you should cancel your flight back to California and stay here with us in Spain,” her colleague joked. The joke made Yadlapalli, an astronomy graduate student at Caltech, realize how the impact of the decision extended outside of the United States.
“The world is watching for what America is going to do,” Yadlapalli said. “It’s up to us to be leaders on what bodily autonomy is going to look like in the future.”
With the Court’s ruling under Dobbs — that abortion was no longer a federal right — Rachael Kuitzle reached out to students from other institutions. The result was the coalition Graduate Student Action Network. Kuitzle, a doctoral candidate at Caltech, along with the other student leaders, got on a Zoom call to plan Thursday’s event — a nationwide student strike for reproductive justice.
People listen to speakers during a rally for reproductive rights on the Caltech campus in Pasadena Thursday, October 6, 2022. The Oct 6 nationwide Day of Student Action for Reproductive Justice was a single-day student strike for abortion and transgender rights and the Caltech event was one of over 50 in 28 states on the same day demanding action from elected representatives and university administrators. The event was organized by the Graduate Student Action Network in collaboration with the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA). The rally at Caltech was co-hosted by the Caltech Graduate Student Council (GSC) and the Socialists of Caltech (SoC) club. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
On Thursday, Oct. 6, more than 50 Caltech students walked out of their classrooms to participate in a rally demanding that Caltech and elected representatives protect students’ reproductive rights. They joined 52 other universities in 28 states also participating in the event. Other California educational institutions that were participating were Cal Poly Pomona, Stanford University, UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara.
Caltech was not commenting on the issue as of late Thursday.
A little after noon, rally attendees gathered in Beckman Mall, where blankets were laid on the grassy area and two water stations lined the sides. There were tables on the south end of the grassy area where attendees could register to vote, write postcards to voters in swing states, sign the petition for Caltech and an open letter to Congress and to President Joe Biden, and to get free morning-after pills.
People listen to speakers during a rally for reproductive rights on the Caltech campus in Pasadena Thursday, October 6, 2022. The Oct. 6 nationwide Day of Student Action for Reproductive Justice was a single-day student strike for abortion and transgender rights and the Caltech event was one of over 50 in 28 states on the same day demanding action from elected representatives and university administrators. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Biden has signed an executive order to protect access to reproductive health care services following the Supreme Court’s decision that overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade opinion, which protected abortion as a federal right. And Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 13 bills that expand access to reproductive healthcare in California and protect out-of-state individuals’ privacy should they choose to get a lawful abortion in California.
Such actions have come as the Dobbs decision unleashed a scramble within states to protect abortions or to prohibit them. While more liberal states like California have moved to protect the right, those who agree with the Dobbs decision have moved the other way, some arguing that each state should decide on their own whether to prohibit and others pushing for a nationwide ban.
As the issue appears to be impacting this year’s midterm elections, students have also called on Caltech and Congress.
As it is, Caltech’s health center offers screening and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, pap smears, and access to cheaper condoms, pregnancy test kits and morning-after pills via a vending machine.
Grad student Arian Jadbabaie listens to speakers during a rally for reproductive rights on the Caltech campus in Pasadena Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022. The Oct. 6 nationwide Day of Student Action for Reproductive Justice was a single-day student strike for abortion and transgender rights and the Caltech event was one of over 50 in 28 states on the same day demanding action from elected representatives and university administrators. The event was organized by the Graduate Student Action Network in collaboration with the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA). The rally at Caltech was co-hosted by the Caltech Graduate Student Council (GSC) and the Socialists of Caltech (SoC) club. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
The petition for Caltech calls for an expansion of support to ensure that students’ academic success will not be affected. This includes offering supplemental funding to offset cost for those seeking abortion, extending graduate students’ paid bonding leave from 6 to 8 weeks, and increased financial support for student parents, who make up 2% of Caltech’s 1,410-strong graduate student population.
The speakers spoke on various issues in hopes of educating others on issues that overlap when reproductive rights are concerned, such as how fighting for such rights affects student parents, international students and disabled students.
Helen Wexler, a student parent, shared how graduate student parents struggle to make ends meet due to their low income and high cost of living in Pasadena, where the median rent is $1,700, according to the U.S. Census.
While Caltech has a daycare, space is limited. Professors have priority over postdoctoral scholars and graduate students, according to Wexler.
With high daycare and child healthcare costs, compared with the amount of graduate stipends, graduate students thus have to choose between focusing on family first or pursing academic success and possibly needing to resort to in vitro fertilization, according to Wexler. Having the autonomy to choose abortion, she argued, gives a person the right to make a personal choice for their future.
People listen to speakers during a rally for reproductive rights on the Caltech campus in Pasadena Thursday, October 6, 2022. The Oct 6 nationwide Day of Student Action for Reproductive Justice was a single-day student strike for abortion and transgender rights and the Caltech event was one of over 50 in 28 states on the same day demanding action from elected representatives and university administrators. The event was organized by the Graduate Student Action Network in collaboration with the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA). The rally at Caltech was co-hosted by the Caltech Graduate Student Council (GSC) and the Socialists of Caltech (SoC) club. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Representing Caltech Iranian students, Margaret Trautner read a few names of those who died in the Iranian protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody. Amini was detained by police as she wore her hijab too loosely — a violation of the country’s religious dress code, according to the Associated Press.
Trautner pointing out that the Iranian protests are driven by Iranian women united in the fight for their rights — similar to what the women in U.S. are experiencing: “If you care about bodily autonomy, human rights or freedom of speech, then this is a matter that concerns you as well. You can’t be selective with your solidarity and support.”
At the end of the rally, there were 147 signatures for the petition to Caltech. The petition will be sent to the rest of the Caltech community next week, according to Kuitzle.
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