Generation Action, a student-run youth movement, advocates for reproductive rights on OU's campus.
As hordes of freshmen made their way to Ohio University President Roderick McDavis’ Convocation for first-year students, they could be seen curiously eyeing the table outside of Baker University Center, where members of OU’s Generation Action stood waiting, offering the incoming students neither scholarly advice nor complimentary T-shirts — but free condoms.
Formerly known as Voices for Planned Parenthood, Generation Action is a national youth movement led by Planned Parenthood that encourages social and political action in support of reproductive freedom and healthy attitudes about sex.
Generation Action President Cecilia Ellis, a junior studying English, said the group has had success with similar events throughout the year.
During last year’s Roe v. Wade commemoration, for example, members of the group were able to distribute more than 500 free condoms in fewer than four hours, she said.
“(Students) all looked super afraid,” Ellis said. “But we’re all adults here.”
In addition to regularly held fundraisers in support of Planned Parenthood, annual events include a Valentine’s Day social, an anniversary celebration of the landmark Roe v. Wade United States Supreme Court decision and an opportunity for students to get tested for STIs in the spring.
During summer break, Generation Action’s executive members had the chance to attend the biannual Generation Action National Conference, joining nearly 400 other youth activists from across the country. The conference included four days of networking with peers and advocating for a change in the way America’s youth perceives pressing issues of the time, such as sexual assault and sex education in schools, Ellis said.
During the conference, OU students met with Ohio U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown to discuss women’s issues and reproductive rights, including the recent recognition of the Title X Family Planning Program, a congressional resolution that was co-sponsored by Brown during the summer.
“Being a part of such a large group instills the feeling that we have the power to affect change,” Generation Action’s Secretary, Emily Swanson, an undecided sophomore, said in an email. “I think our generation’s activists are inspiring. Everyone we met in DC was doing such great work with their individual chapters. It was a truly empowering experience.”
Though Planned Parenthood has recently found itself in the middle of a developing scandal that has prompted many Republican politicians to push for the defunding of the organization, members of Generation Action said they have no plan to back down.
“The people supporting the defunding or negative images of Planned Parenthood have such loud voices and people hear what they are saying,” Vice President Kayla Meader, a junior studying graphic design, said. “It’s just as important that people who stand with Planned Parenthood also have voices and try to make themselves heard.”
The OU chapter of Generation Action holds weekly Thursday meetings at 7 p.m. in the Women’s Center on the fourth floor of Baker Center.
