Dear Rice Community,
We know many of our faculty, staff and students are deeply distressed by the Supreme Court’s recent decision reversing a half century of constitutional protection of the right to an abortion. This decision has serious consequences for women who will now face additional hurdles to effectively managing their reproductive health and wellbeing. The added burdens, including out of state travel for those seeking abortion services, will fall most harshly on the least economically advantaged. Rice is committed to gender equality and to supporting our faculty, staff, and students. We are exploring how we can best continue to appropriately support the reproductive rights of our community, including access to abortion services. We are working through these issues and we will share relevant information in as timely a manner as possible.
We know there are a range of perspectives on this issue, but this change in the law will severely impact many in our community and beyond. We remain committed to supporting the health needs of women at Rice, and we are working to determine the ways in which the university can appropriately provide support in this changed environment.
David W. Leebron, President
Reginald DesRoches, Provost