What I'm Doing at Planned Parenthood

As a double major in Public Health and Gender Studies, it makes perfect sense that I would end up interning at Planned Parenthood this summer. I believe in feminism, in gender equality, in sex positivity, and in safety, responsible choice, and decision making, so this office just made sense for me. There are so few organizations out there that not only care about these rights and issues, but makes it their fight and their number one priority. Planned Parenthood is a wonderful place.

My involvement and love affair with Planned Parenthood, however--particularly with the affiliate I am now working with--began a long time ago. As a kid who had jumped from a conservative Jewish day school to a predominantly uninformative health class in high school, Planned Parenthood gave me my first real sex ed. They came into my gym classes and taught us about relationship communication, about protection, about contraception, and, yes, about different types of sex and their benefits and disadvantages. I was completely spoiled--I thought that everyone knew this information that I knew, that everyone was as informed as I was about sexuality and their own bodily autonomy.

Evidently not. Between the ages of 15 and 18, so many of my friends ended up having pregnancy or STI scares or were sexually abused or in unhealthy relationships. No one ever seemed to know what to do, so they would come to me and we'd talk about their options and their resources, and first on my list was always Planned Parenthood. We'd walk down the street during walk-in hours to get tested, emergency contraception (back before it was legal to purchase over-the-counter), or counseling. Planned Parenthood moved from being a place of education to a resource and a health service. And it changed me from being just a naive kid to someone with some real, valuable education who wanted to make sure everyone had the same. It turned me into an advocate.

Reproductive Rights and Environmental Justice

“Who would want to live in a world which is just not quite fatal?”

- ecologist Paul Shepard, quoted by Rachel Carson in “Silent Spring,” 1962

What does environmental justice have to do with reproductive freedom? Well, of course, as people, we must all care about the world in which we live. The impact that we have on the environment, and its impact on us, is all the more clear as we watch the weeks tick by as oil continues to spill into the Gulf of Mexico and onto the shores of our southern coastline. 

Aside from this basic connection that we all have with the planet, reproductive rights advocates and environmental activists share a common belief that when armed with knowledge we can make choices to keep ourselves healthy. Reproductive health stems in part from the health of the environment in which we live, what we ingest, and what we pass on to our children. Nutrients as well as toxic substances pass from pregnant mother to unborn child and through breast milk to infants. The health of the external environment directly impacts our internal health, of which reproductive health is an important piece. Many specific issues therefore make the two coalitions natural allies.

Take toxic substances for instance. Rachel Carson, a Pennsylvania native, warned of the dangers of pesticides as early as 1962. Her work spurred modern environmental activism and the creation of the EPA in 1970. In 1976, Congress passed the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in an attempt to give the EPA the power to regulate chemicals used in consumer products and manufacturing facilities.

I've Come to the End

As of today the count is thirteen days until I’m done with high school. After four years it is finally coming to an end, and I have to say I couldn’t be happier. It’s certainly time for me to move on from the tedious (and occasionally exhilarating) world of high school. For my classmates and me, this last semester has been a difficult push to the end filled with missing assignments and skipped days. Compared to my peers, however, I’ve had the opportunity to do something new in the last four months of school. Instead of sitting around in school for another few hours after lunch, counting down until the end of the day, brining me that much closer to the end, I’ve come to Planned Parenthood every day and been engaged in something new and exciting, giving me a reason to come to school every day. In fact I even came to my internship on Senior Skip Day. Crazy right? Tells you there’s something special about this place though.

I think the biggest difference between school and working at Planned Parenthood is that I truly care about the work I do here. At school everyone has such resentment towards doing work and being productive; seniors just want it to be over already. When I come to Planned Parenthood, however, I get excited about what I get to accomplish that day. Everyday I get to do something that makes a difference, whether it’s preparing outreach materials for an event, writing a blog post or even doing data entry, and it is all working towards a cause that I care about. The notion that the work I do can make a little something about the world better is enough to give me drive and inspiration to get the work done without dread. Compare that to writing an English paper on Hamlet… I’ll trade any day.