EDITORS' CORNER
University says a student group hosted event and it was privately funded
A campus group advertising “abortion doula” training events for students as young as 14 has prompted scrutiny from a U.S. congressman in North Carolina.
U.S. Rep. Mark Harris recently sent a letter to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, demanding to know whether any taxpayer funding was used for the training held there in November, FOX News reports.
“Recent reports indicate that UNC-Charlotte provided space for a training organized by Youth Abortion Support Collective — affiliated with Advocates for Youth — which targeted participants ages 14-24 and introduced them to ‘tools, resources, and skills for abortion support work,’” Harris wrote in the letter to UNC Charlotte Chancellor Sharon Gaber.
“Allowing the abortion industry to recruit and train impressionable minors as young as 14 years old on a public university campus is deeply inappropriate and raises serious concerns about the responsible use of public resources and the university’s priorities,” he wrote.
In response, a university spokesperson told FOX that the event was privately funded.
“We have shared accurate information with Representative Harris and his office and clarified the nature of this event,” the spokesperson stated. “This was not a university-sponsored event, and no university funds were used. As noted previously, the activity was organized by a registered student organization.”
On Wednesday, Harris thanked the university for its cooperation in the matter.
First reported by The College Fix, UNC Charlotte was one of several campuses where the Youth Abortion Support Collective hosted “abortion doula” trainings over the past 12 months.
Others included the University of Maryland at College Park, American University, and Davidson College in North Carolina, according to Instagram posts from the group.
A former sex education teacher also raised concerns about the trainings, telling The Fix that “young girls are definitely vulnerable to coercion and manipulation in the abortion industry.”
“The pro-choice industry … views minors from an evolutionary/materialist worldview,” Monica Cline, founder of It Takes a Family, said.
“‘Peer support’ sounds like a healthy and positive term. Much like ‘comprehensive sex education’ and ‘reproductive health care.’ But the abortion industry uses student peer education to bypass adult supervision,” Cline said. “Children are highly intelligent and capable, but they are also very vulnerable.”
As The Fix reported earlier this month:
The [trainings are] affiliated with Advocates For Youth, a non-profit organization promoting “adolescent reproductive and sexual health programs,” HIV awareness, LGBTQ+ rights, and “reproductive justice.” The Fix reached out to the organization twice asking for more details about the abortion doula trainings, including their primary goals in training youth, but did not receive a response.
Its work is described as peer-based care designed to provide emotional support and reduce stigma around abortion. According to materials on its website, the collective runs training programs specifically designed for young people ages 14-24.
The abortion doula training is typically delivered as a multi-week course, often six to seven weeks long, composed of sessions lasting around two hours each. Participants are introduced to the role of an abortion doula, defined in the training as someone who can “physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually hold space” for individuals undergoing abortion.
Participants also are encouraged not only to complete the training, but to teach others, using a facilitator guide that includes lesson plans and activities designed to replicate the program in schools.
MORE: Campuses host trainings for students as young as 14 to become ‘abortion doulas’
