First Week on the Job

By Sydney Epstein

Within my first week at Planned Parenthood, I was quickly able to get involved in all of the commotion.  After going through the action camp PowerPoint’s, I jumped right into the mix.  My fellow interns and I searched for possible events to table at.  We searched for art festivals, summer festivals, and farmer’s markets all over the PA area.  We made calls and emails to many, and quickly began to set up dates.

Once my VAN account began to work, I learned how to upload my members from the ObamaCare cards into the system.  It was interesting to see how many people said that they wanted to get involved, or receive more information about the c4 advocacy and organizations.  Additionally, there are so many cards that need to be uploaded into the system; this is a time-consuming and repetitive task.  However, the feeling after successfully uploading a stack is well worth it.

Most exciting, this week I participated in my first phone bank.  We were calling Republicans in the PA area and asking them to call Governor Corbett and voice their opinion about the current legislation sneakily taking place.  While on the phone, we explained the new House Bill 1762 that was currently in the works.  We explained that this bill would force doctors to obtain medically unnecessary admitting privileges from local hospitals, and as a result shut down many abortion providers state wide.  We also let them know that House Bill 1762 was opposed by major medical groups and was only supported by politicians.  I received a variety of responses, ranging from positive to negative.  While this was an amazing, eye-opening experience, it was difficult to hear and respond appropriately to the negative feedback.