Planned Parenthood campaigns for healthcare reform

C of C participants along with Planned Parenthood will be going door to door in the Charleston area to promote Planned Parenthood’s Prevention First campaign every weekend in October.
Launched on Sept. 20 and running until Oct. 25, the campaign will focus on improving healthcare in South Carolina.
Field Coordinator for South Carolina for Planned Parenthood Health Systems, Sloane Whelan, said that the campaign is currently targeting Charleston.
 “The Prevention First campaign is an expanse of Planned Parenthood Health Systems Grass-roots Advocacy campaign throughout the state of South Carolina, but currently we’re focusing on the Charleston community,” Whelan said.
Whelan said that the door-to-door campaign is aimed at registered voters who want to improve healthcare and education in S.C.
 “We’re going door to door in the Charleston community calling on registered voters to hold their elected officials accountable for the health of South Carolinians by supporting common sense solutions,” Whelan said, “such as increased access to reproductive healthcare, especially in rural and low-income areas throughout the state, talking about how we can implement and hold schools accountable for comprehensive sex education in the high school systems and age-appropriate reproductive healthcare education in the middle school.”
Whelan says while there are still areas in the country supporting abstinence-only education, the Prevention First campaign will continue to campaign for more informative sex education.
“Our overall message is, let’s stop and end this assault on healthcare and start passing common sense prevention legislation, common sense solutions that will provide all South Carolinians with the opportunity to live healthy lives,” Whelan said.
Along with sex education, the program urges people in the Charleston community to stand up for the healthcare rights of every citizen.
 “Women must be able to access health care without fear of violence, harassment or intimidation. Young people must be able to get accurate information about their health and how to protect it. And women, men and teens must able to make their own decisions about their health and their futures without government intrusion,” according to the Planned Parenthood Web site.
Whelan said colleges like C of C have played an important role in promoting the Prevention First campaign and the campus group Voices for Planned Parenthood (Vox) continues to contribute.    
 “Vox is a student-led organization that seeks to educate and call to action the students to educate their peers on reproductive health issues on campus, and so Planned Parenthood has naturally has a connection to college campuses,” Whelan said.
Vox groups across the country organize public events, educate their peers, support their local Planned Parenthood health centers and mobilize students and other young people to speak out for reproductive rights and access to reproductive health care services, according to the Planned Parenthood Web site.
Whelan said the overwhelming response the College had at helping this cause shows the care college students have for their community.
“I noticed that the College of Charleston was overwhelmingly supportive of the campus campaign not only thorough the professors engaging with me and helping me recruit with their students, but also through the outpouring of C of C students wanting to get involved,” Whelan said. “I think that really speaks to the investment the C of C students have in the health of South Carolinians - their commitment to wanting to make a change and wanting to be a part of that change in the healthcare system in South Carolina.”
To get involved, contact Sloane Whelan at sloane.whelan@pphsinc.org.