To An Exciting New Year!

The PPGC team honors Felicia Kahn at the first Felicia Kahn Citizenship Awards dinner.

Starting up my second year with Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (PPGC), there is a lot to look forward to! With some shifts in the new year and my supervisor heading to law school, there will be quite a few changes in the office that will likely be reshaping my experience with PPGC. Primarily throughout the summer, I was working on gathering data for a legislative voting record database where issues that are central to PPGC’s mission are the core focus of the project. Essentially, I have been tracking the state representative and senator voting histories on reproductive health bills that have been passed. Such areas of focus include but are not limited to abortion, sexual health education, Medicaid, health insurance, child welfare, and LBGTQIA+ rights. The summer brought more harsh legislation on abortion access so that is definitely a main focus of the data collection. Especially now that the threats on abortion access have returned to national discussion, there is so much that must be done, especially here in Louisiana. A big goal that I have this year is to serve as a voice for PPGC at Tulane. Many of my peers have come up to me asking about the new legislation and what they can do to protest it. Just seeing their passion and resolve to take a stand inspires me to become a better intern in and out of the office. In this way, starting by sharing what I find from my legislative voting research not just online but in-person will help add another dimension to the discussions here on campus and in the greater New Orleans area.