Currently enrolled students at the University of Central Missouri continue to have access to women’s health resources on campus and in the surrounding Warrensburg community. The UCM Campus Community Health Center and New Beginnings Women’s Center offer access to medical and informational resources for students. Additionally, programs of study offer a variety of ways for students to get involved in matters relating to women’s health on campus.

  Access to health care is provided for currently enrolled students by the Campus Community Health Center. The health center provides access to medical services for students, including a variety of services focused on women’s health. 

  “Women’s health care encompasses everything. Women’s healthcare is also a bit more specialized…A lot of the services that we offer for that are fully encompassing, here at the health center,” Crissy Hall, Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Director of the Campus Community Health Center said.  Students can use accepted insurance to cover the cost of medical care provided by the health center.

  “We offer all forms of birth control, here at the health center,” Crissy Hall, Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Director of the Campus Community Health Center said. The health center also offers free menstrual products in on-site restrooms, along with free contraceptives.

  “We currently work with the Missouri Health Family Council to provide emergency contraceptives for students for free,” Hall said. Free sexually transmitted infection testing and sexual assault services are also offered for currently enrolled students.

  Women’s health clinics in the Warrensburg community also play a key role in providing women’s health services to students and members of the broader community. The New Beginnings Women’s Center located in Warrensburg, provides women’s healthcare to individuals within Johnson County. 

  The clinic offers pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, abortion recovery and referrals to the abortion reversal hotline. The services are free of charge and do not require proof of insurance. Appointments can be made online and over the phone and are available every Monday through Thursday from noon to 4 p.m. The clinic also offers walk-in services. 

  “We are an advocate of good quality women’s health in our community. We link arms with a lot of other community organizations and other health professionals in the area,” Jennifer Snowden, Nurse Manager of the New Beginnings Women’s Center, said. The clinic relies on private donors to continue providing services to patients. 

  “It is very important to us that women have accurate medical information when they come through the doors of the center so that they can make informed choices about their healthcare,” Chrissy McGalliard, Executive Director of the New Beginnings Women’s Center, said.

  University programs also offer opportunities for students interested in women’s health to get involved.

  The Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program offers a wide variety of coursework and extracurricular programs to students aimed at promoting women’s health at UCM. Associate Professor, Sarah Ray Rondot, is the Director of the Gender and Sexuality Studies program. Rondot explains that the program began offering courses to students in the late 1980s, and began granting minors in 1991. Women’s and reproductive health are a key part of the program’s study area. 

  “Women’s health is definitely a main part of [the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program] in terms of both [student interests] and coursework. In all of the program [general education requirements] there’s some unit on either women’s health or reproductive health,” Rondot said. Along with academic coursework, the program provides opportunities for students to create events and projects of their interests. 

  On Feb. 29, the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department held an Abortion Access Information Event at the James C. Kirkpatrick Library. At the event, students were trained on collecting signatures for a reproductive rights petition, sponsored by Missourians for Constitutional Freedom. This organization is a state-wide coalition of organizations concerned about reproductive healthcare. The petition is aimed at getting a constitutional amendment on the ballot for Missouri voters in the fall.  

  Annie Alford, gender and sexuality studies minor and program ambassador, collaborated with Rondot and other students from the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department to bring the event to campus.

  “It’s a people’s petition. They are these groups that write up what the amendment would look like. This is a constitutional amendment [for the state of Missouri] which would guarantee reproductive rights,” Alford said. Along with this event, other programs created by students within the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department have been recently implemented on campus. 

  A recent graduate of the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program collaborated with Rondot to create a campus-wide Period Equity Campaign. The campaign includes 32 bins of menstrual products located in women’s restrooms around campus, free for students to use. 

  “I firmly believe that period products are a necessity. They’re kind of like having plenty of paper towels in a bathroom. All students expect that,” Rondot said.