Photo Courtesy: @famu_generationaction
Abortion has been a widely debated topic across the country since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade 18 months ago. Multiple states have proceeded with either banning abortion completely or limiting the procedure, which is what lawmakers in Florida have done by enacting a 6-week ban.
This decision has not gone without resistance as multiple pro-choice organizations have sprung up to combat the laws being put in place. One of those organizations is made up of students at Florida A&M University.
Generation Action is a collegiate level organization that is an extension of Planned Parenthood. It focuses on advocacy on college campuses and the local community.
The FAMU chapter is the first HBCU chapter of Generation Action to be chartered. Members of the organization have decided to use their voices on campus to speak out and raise awareness on abortion.
Trenece Robertson, a senior sociology major and president of Generation Action, outlined the organization’s current goals and the steps they have been taking to achieve them.
“Our mission is to provide education on reproductive healthcare across FAMU’s campus and the Tallahassee community, as well as advocate for reproductive health care at the state level. As of lately we have been collecting petitions for the ‘Floridians Protecting Freedom’ ballot initiative, which is a petition to put abortion on the 2024 ballot so Floridians — especially Black people — can vote on whether or not we want abortion in our state,” she said.
Zion Afolabi a fourth-year graphic design major, weighed in on how her time at Generation Action has provided her numerous opportunities to advocate and serve her community.
“During homecoming we actually had our own tailgating table where we passed out goodie bags that had condoms, candies, abortion rights information and a traditional stand with a Black women t-shirt. Something else we’ve been doing is trying to get 1,000 petitions because if we get enough petitions signed, we might be able to postpone the 6-week ban and we are currently at 500 petitions at the moment plus we still have a lot of time. Our e-board is really small so being able to do that is really a testimony to the types of people we have in our organization,” she said.
Afolabi recalled a moment where she got to represent Generation Action at one of Tallahassee’s city delegation meetings.
“I never really had to speak with a politician about an issue I had so that was my first time. After it I felt like I really did something. The people remembered my name and they knew my face so they kind of already had a pre-idea of what our organization stood for. It seemed like what I talked about really resonated with them,” she added. “It really takes the spirit of caring about something to actually put forth those beliefs and see the groundwork that gets laid out.”
Grace Stanley a third-year health science major, says that Generation Action has work to do in order to have an impact on FAMU’s campus.
“I think right now we don’t, but we could. I think a lot of people hear the word abortion or Planned Parenthood and they stray away from divisive topics such as those. It’s such a taboo subject still. So, we’re working on not only normalizing reproductive health but also affirmative healthcare in general. I think we could be more impactful if students really sat down and thought about what it means to not be active in our local and state laws,” Stanley said.
Generation Action is dedicated to making sure FAMU and the local community can receive safe contraceptives while advocating for abortion rights. If you see one of the members on the quad stop by and have a chat with them to learn more about Florida’s abortion laws and ways to assist the movement.