When Fordham University student Eleanor Todd found out during her junior year she was pregnant, she knew dropping out of school wasn't an option. She didn't want to get an abortion either. But she realized keeping her baby and staying in class would be hard, and Fordham didn't make it any easier.

During her pregnancy, Todd sought help from the student health center. The nurses didn't have information ready for student moms, and Todd found out most of what she needed to know, like how to get proper health care, by asking questions. The school, which doesn't have options for family housing, also kicked her out of her dorm and took away her housing scholarship.

Problems like the ones Todd faced may point to one reason why 46 percent of abortions in America are preformed on college-aged women, according to the Guttmacher Institute - too many women think they must choose between having a baby and getting an education.

Students for Life, a pro-life group with a network of chapters on college campuses across the country, hopes to change that perception with a new program called the Pregnant on Campus Initiative. Its goal is to equip women to balance parenting and education, rather than having to choose between the two.

Through its network of campus chapters, Students for Life plans to provide practical help to student moms - baby showers, a stash of extra supplies on campus and meals immediately after the baby is born - and lobby school administrators to make parenting on campus easier, with services like nursing rooms, daycare centers and diaper decks in bathrooms.

Jon Scharfenberger, coordinator of the Pregnant on Campus Initiative and a recent Ave Maria University graduate, admits the group has a lot of work to do. One of Scharfenberger's first tasks was to visit a college campus with a baby in a stroller. He took a video camera to record what a typical campus looked like for pregnant or parenting students.

During his walk, he asked students he met if they could point him in the direction of the day care center. He asked about diaper decks around campus where he could change his baby. Most students were unsure where, or if any, of those resources were available on campus.

Scharfenberger hopes to make services and resources for young parents more available and easier to find, a strategy Students for Life thinks will help change minds about pregnancies on college campuses.

The Students for Life chapter at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich., is in the process of starting some of the "simple activities" suggested on the national organization's website.

R.J. McVeigh, chapter president, said he expected some on his campus to question why the group wanted to bring up the issue of pregnancy, when few students on campus were parents. The bigger question, he said, is where have all the pregnant women gone?

"We're actually actively doing something about it, physically helping somebody," McVeigh said. "It's refreshing and [you] immediately feel the impact."

Todd, who is helping Students for Life by telling her story and teaching students how best to help young moms, said parents and school administrators need to admit pregnancy is happening on campus, whether they like it or not.

If schools continue to ignore the problem and refuse to provide information on adoption agencies, financial assistance and daycare options, young women will continue to feel trapped by unwanted pregnancies.

Then, having an abortion "doesn't become a choice anymore, it becomes, 'I'm forced into this because I have no options," Todd said.

For more information on the Pregnant on Campus Initiative, visit http://pregnantoncampus.studentsforlife.org

More information on living out faith on campus:

How to Stay Christian in College is an interactive guide that lets students know what to expect and reassures them that they can attend school and still maintain their faith. Filled with anecdotes, resources, and much more, it prepares, equips, and encourages high school and college students to meet the challenge of living out their faith at school. It examines different worldviews and myths that students encounter at college, giving them the tools they need to meet the challenges ahead.