Name: Esme Klein
Social Justice Group: Women’s Reproductive Rights (B)
Date of Fieldwork: January 31, 2025
Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Paola Ferst
What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork:
We interviewed Paola about her experience as a Planned Parenthood educator. An educator is someone who goes to schools and jails and educates people on periods, abortions and sexual health. She was not only an educator though, she worked in screening the patients and scheduling appointments. We asked her if she had any stories she could tell us and she gave us two. SHe told us the story of a girl who did not want an abortion but whose mom was forcing her to get one. During the screening process Paola saw that she did not want an abortion and they would not permit her having one. The screening process is completely confidential and no one but the patient can go into the room. She also told us the story of a woman who was battling addiction coming in to schedule an appointment. Paola said that the woman was a little rude but she saw that she was dealing with something and did not judge her. The next week when the woman came back for her appointment she gave Paola a hug and said thank you for no Judging me. A lot of people have to get abortions but some people don’t agree.
We asked her if any people would come to Planned Parenthood to protest its existence. She told us about the 40 day life group. This was a group of people who would stand outside of the planned parenthood for 40 days in protest of abortion. We also asked her to talk a little bit on the effects of birth control banning. She told us that everybody uses birth control for different reasons such as period pausing, and acne control. To take birth control away from people without knowing what they need it for and how much they need it is inhumane and wrong.
A lot of people suffer and die because of abortion. It is unfair and cruel to be banning healthcare that people need to live. Paola helped us understand so much more and we are really grateful to her for all that she has done. She was a huge help for our research and gave us a lot of great information.
