By Zoey Zeller
Planned Parenthood is a primary provider of reproductive health care, offering resources like birth control, STD testing, and abortions, and delivering sex education to the public. They are also a leading advocate for reproductive rights in the United States.
In their mission to inform the public on sexual and reproductive health education, many Planned Parenthood branches partner with college campuses.
Kelli Cornett, the community outreach and education coordinator at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, described the relationship between the organization and college campuses.
“We do try and work with and collab with other organizations on campus. We like to have a relationship with any of the local health services on campus. We want to lift up the resources that are already there and fill in any gaps that we could potentially fill for students.”
Cornett said that they avoid viewing themselves as a competitor to campus health centers, and that they want to “allow students to make that choice themselves as to where they get their care.”
Most college campuses also have a student ambassador that represents Planned Parenthood.
The program started when Cornett’s previous employer at a family planning clinic lost federal funding in 2019, causing them to merge with Planned Parenthood. “I really would like to expand this program, especially in areas where they don’t tend to have a lot of admin or outreach type staff,” she said. Since they don’t have as many resources are considered more rural, Cornett offered the student ambassador position to University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Student ambassadors work with Planned Parenthood for about five to ten hours a week, but the schedule is flexible based on their school circumstances and other commitments. On average, they put in about 30 hours per month, with a $300 stipend at the end of each month.
Cornett stated, “Their main goal is to connect their peers with our services and let them know as we exist as another resource to them.”
One of the key responsibilities that student ambassadors hold is hosting events on campus for students to attend. Earlier this semester, student ambassador Olivia Gibson planned a “Hot Cocoa and Contraception” event. There was a hot cocoa bar, combined with surplus information on birth control and prizes as an incentive for students to come.
Gibson is a human biology major at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (UWGB), and she mentioned that her workload can be quite fall at times. Alongside classes, she spends roughly five to ten hours a week for her internship at Planned Parenthood, doing various things such as replying to emails, participating in meetings, and planning for future events to help spread awareness towards public health and the services provided.
As one of the first interns for Planned Parenthood at the UWGB campus, Gibson said her main goal was to “build connections and collaborations within the university.”
“One thing that I have slowly learned while working at this job is that sex education is limited—some people may have not had access to it or may have not learned certain material, and it’s important to know the choices that everyone has and the services and the things provided,” she stated.
She also added that she wanted people to “be aware of the healthcare and the options that they have and above all that they have the right to their own healthcare.”
The student ambassador said that she would like to hold more events specific to the services provided, and that are entertaining for college students while also producing quality education.
In combination with the student ambassador program, Planned Parenthood has received a lot of attention in the past few years.
In June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a case that legalized abortion in the United States in 1973. Since the decision, more than a dozen states have completely banned abortion, which forces people to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to access safe abortion care, or are forced to carry pregnancies, which is described as a “grave violation of human rights” by the Center for Reproductive Rights.
As the community outreach and education coordinator, Kelli Cornett can’t speak directly to how the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the recent election have impacted Planned Parenthood, but she said that “none of [their] clinics have closed, [they’re] still open, and everything is currently operating the same as it did beforehand.”
She added that during the election and following it, college students and people in their 20s and 30s were concerned with access to birth control and if they would have to start paying more. Community members were reported to be traveling from the Milwaukee area to rural-type clinics due to decreased availability of appointments in bigger cities.
“We also offer virtual care. That has increased as there’s no barrier of transportation or trying to get out of school or work to have to travel somewhere,” Cornett said.
When asked about safety of patients and clinics, she observed that most of the protesters are not intimidating or mean in any way. “They just say that they want to pray for people or ask if they can pray for you.”
Planned Parenthood also has an entire safety department that keeps a close eye on everything happening across the state. “I feel better knowing we have an entire department keeping our safety in mind,” Cornett said.
Even though the recent events have made finding reproductive care and education harder to find, there are ways to combat it and continue involvement.
Cornett encouraged people and students interested in getting involved to visit the Planned Parenthood advocates website, as there is a whole section on getting involved. This includes volunteering, classes that can be taken, and trainings such as the “Conversational Approach” which she recommends. More information on becoming a student ambassador can also be found on the main Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin website under the education tab.