By Kimiko Martinez
Lifestyles Editor
It’s not something you see every day.
And if Pepperdine was a public university, it probably would go virtually unnoticed.
But with a renewed commitment to the university’s Christian mission that prompted clarification of policies involving sex and alcohol, seeing a pregnant student on campus is a little unexpected.
“I get looks all the time,” said senior Natalie Whitmore, who is eight months pregnant. “Especially from the younger kids. If I were at a public university it would be no big deal.”
But because of Pepperdine’s religious ties, it’s evident that it is a big deal. Despite the fact that Pepperdine is religiously affiliated with the Church of Christ and its students are held to Student Handbook policies governing sex practices, the issue of pregnancy among its students remains a factor that needs to be addressed.
As Wellness Educator Shanna Dusablon mentioned in her Healthy Habits column last week, Pepperdine students are just that — college students who may be “experimenting with a variety of choices” and that sometimes students might not be “making the right choices about (their) health.”
Although the Health Center would not release statistics regarding the number of women who come to the Center for pregnancy, the national average, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a “non-profit organization focused on sexual and reproductive health research, policy analysis and public education,” reveals that 10 percent of all college-age women become pregnant each year.
Feminists for Life, a Washington, D.C.-based “nonsectarian, nonpartisan, grassroots organization that seeks equality for all human beings and champions the needs of women,” has a college outreach program that visits college campuses and often asks the question, “Do you know anyone on campus who has become pregnant?”
Heads always nod.
But when asked if students have ever seen a visibly pregnant student on campus, the nodding usually stops.
According to the organization’s Web site, www.feministsforlife.org, most college-age women who find themselves pregnant either have abortions or quit school to have their babies.
Whitmore recalls knowing a girl who found herself pregnant the third week of her freshman year at Pepperdine.
“She had to quit school, go home and, because her family was devout Church of Christ members, she had to confess in front of her church and stuff,” said Whitmore, who is on a Church of Christ scholarship.
Luckily, Whitmore’s experience hasn’t been as traumatic.
“My fiancée’s family is very religious and was really upset at first, but now they couldn’t be more supportive,” the 22-year-old Texan said. “But the day I found out was really bad. I was scared and really upset.”
But by now all that has changed.
“I’m really glad it happened now,” Whitmore said, explaining that since she will graduate in December, the pregnancy won’t affect her finishing school. Although she will probably miss two weeks of class when the baby’s born in early November, her fiancée’s mother is coming to help out and Whitmore has already discussed her situation with her teachers, who have also been “very supportive.”
But not everyone has been on her side. Whitmore recalls an incident in the Sandbar where she overheard two girls discussing “the pregnant girl on campus.”
“‘I heard that her fiancée doesn’t eat, which is why she’s so skinny,’” she said she heard one of them say while she was checking her e-mail. “I just sat there and listened, but on my way out walked up to them and said, ‘Don’t believe everything you hear.’
“It’s ridiculous. I feel like I’m back in high school again the way rumors get around,” Whitmore continued. “Pepperdine is worse than my high school.”
But Whitmore has also received some roundabout moral support, recalling an acquaintance coming up to her and saying, “I think it’s so cool you didn’t have an abortion, because everyone here just has abortions.”
Although she realized the student meant well, Whitmore was a little shocked.
“I couldn’t believe she was saying this to me,” she said. “But I would be really interested to know how many people on campus have had abortions. It seems like the quick fix.”
Although the Health Center did not comment on specifics, in an official statement to the Graphic, they did say that they are “available to perform pregnancy tests” and “if the test should come back positive, the practitioner will discuss all the options available and provide appropriate referrals, including counseling.
“Being that Pepperdine is a Christian university,” the statement continued, “it is with the utmost compassion and grace that we treat women who become pregnant during college with respect and dignity for the future facing them.”
If the all the students had that same credo, Whitmore’s condition wouldn’t be such fodder for the Peppervine. But she just shrugs it off.
“I get stared at all the time, but it doesn’t bother me,” Whitmore said. “I think in high school I spent too much time worrying about what other people thought about me, and at the end of the day, they’re always going to have something to say about you.
“I haven’t cared what other people thought of me since the day I stepped foot on Pepperdine,” Whitmore continued. “You just have to go and be yourself.”
October 03, 2002