When two female staffers at the Student Health Services office (SHS) first brainstormed the idea of bringing free abortion medication to The New School – they weren’t sure what to expect. 

Free abortion medication services were made available to all New School students in summer 2023. Senior Director of Medical Services Jayne Jordan-Levy described the process behind obtaining this medication in an interview with The Free Press. 

“We talked about it with staff, not making the assumption necessarily that everybody would be on board with it, but everybody was,” Jordan-Levy said. 

Jordan-Levy credits the new reproductive health service to Jacqueline Lewis, the inhouse nurse midwife and women’s health practitioner at SHS. In the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade back in June of 2022, Lewis proposed offering free abortion medication at The New School to make it accessible for all students seeking an abortion. 

Currently, SHS has both Mifepristone and Misoprostol in stock, the two medicines that make up the “abortion pill.” According to Planned Parenthood,  Mifepristone blocks the body’s progesterone to inhibit the pregnancy’s growth and Misoprostol “causes cramping and bleeding to empty your uterus.” 

“The provision of medical abortion services on campus is integral to educational and health care equity for all students, regardless of income, gender or health care status,” Lewis said.

In addition to acquiring the medications, SHS’ priority was protecting students’ privacy.  “Sometimes explanations of benefits or billing may go back to parents…we didn’t want that also to potentially be a barrier for students seeking that type of care,” Jordan-Levy said. By eliminating the cost of the medication, students seeking an abortion would have complete confidentiality instead of leaving a trace of medical bills to insurance companies or families.

Retaining the medication itself was not a difficult task at all, Jordan-Levy told The Free Press. But since it is tightly controlled, there were numerous steps the team had to take in order to have the medication in the SHS office. 

In addition to her practitioner and nurse experience, Lewis mentioned that she “needed to be a certified prescriber and follow the requirements set forth by the FDA to ensure safe prescribing and dispensing of Mifepristone, following the Risk Evaluation, Mitigation Strategy (REMS) guidelines.” 

Before the overturning of Roe v. Wade, “there wasn’t an overwhelming need to provide the service,” Jordan-Levy said. Instead there had been a larger call for birth control options, as SHS claims they saw fewer unplanned pregnancies and more students opting for longer acting birth control options like IUD and nexplanon insertions. 

With Lewis’  21 years of experience in gynecology, she felt the need to advocate for full accessibility to medical abortions for students. “We now offer complete GYN/women’s health services in SHS …by offering abortion services from known trusted clinicians in Student health services (SHS) it will help to decrease marginalization and stigmatization associated with abortion care,” Lewis said.

If students are past the abortion medication time frame, SHS offers consultations where students are able to learn about alternative abortions. SHS will also offer follow-up emotional and clinical support for students who choose to have an abortion. 

Since abortions and other medical needs are time sensitive, SHS offers a handful of same day appointments that open at 12am the night before for students in need. Even though Student Health Services is understaffed, 27 workers versus the more 10,000 students at The New School, as reported in 2021, Jayne-Levy told The Free Press, “we will always squeeze somebody in.” 

For New School students interested in scheduling an appointment for reproductive health care services please visit the SHS Portal or contact SHS at 212.229.1671.