Hi, I’m the president of a Reproductive Freedom for All chapter at a university.

Because I had access to reproductive health care, I’ve been able to manage my chronic PCOS through the means of birth control pills and IUDs.

This has led to me balancing my hormone levels as well as regulating my menstrual cycles, which has dramatically increased the quality of my life and provided me the assurance that I have control over my reproduction and family planning.

So, I am a first generation Latina that lives in Georgia.

And most of my life, I have felt like my calling was to ensure that other women and femmes like myself were able to live their lives happy and fulfilled, and that they were able to find their calling in life.

Mine, of course, has become real reproductive justice and ensuring that people feel safe and loved and joyful.

So when it came time to me to make a decision about my future, my body, my reproductive health, it was one of the few times in my life that I have not felt joy and fulfillment.

Because I thought to myself, “I don’t want to have to make this decision.”

But then I had to remember that I have for many years been advocating for the rights, the freedoms, the choices that many of us don’t have.

And when it came down to my own story, and when it came down for me to have an abortion—man, I felt very lonely.

Not because I didn’t know what decision I was going to make, but because in that moment, I didn’t have the community and the friends and sometimes the courage to ask for help or to be helped.

And now that I’ve been in this reproductive justice movement for over a decade, I have met a lot of people like myself, that felt really alone and scared.

But at the end of the day, I’ve met more people that have never regretted their decision, much like myself, to not just terminate a pregnancy, but to put ourselves first, which is not something very common in my culture.

To put myself first and my needs first. But how could I not, when I see my life now, eight years later, and could not trade a single thing?

Because I have come to a point where I feel the joy, the fulfillment, the satisfaction, but more than anything, pride for being who I am and getting to this point in my life where I know that I’ve been able to succeed.

I’ve been able to find love, I’ve been able to build a home on my own terms because I made a decision that was right for me.

I’ve been a member of Reproductive Freedom for All California.

I joined NARAL, which is what we used to be called the day after the Dobbs leak.

And I’ve been very active because for me it’s critical to expand the ability of people to make a choice when, if and how they want to start a family.

I was able to control my reproductive years and finish university, and also start a career, and start a family on my own terms.

And I want my daughters and other people’s children, and ongoing, to have the same opportunities that I had.

I was happy to be part of the second Reproductive Activist Summit in Washington D.C. where I learned a lot of team building activities and leadership development so we can bring more people into the movement into leadership roles.

And we were able to lobby our representatives in the House and Senate to support our bills and our agenda going forward.

I’m very happy to be part of this movement.

I wish we didn’t have to do this work, but we’re in it for the long haul to protect the rights and freedom and access for everybody.

My name is Ashley and I am a 41 year old woman from Mesa, Arizona.

I’m a mother, a wife, a health care provider, and I am a volunteer with Reproductive Freedom for All.

Because I had access to reproductive freedom, I was able to pursue my dreams and my goals without fear and without limitation.

I have been able to go to college.

I’m actually the first person in my family to go to college.

And I was able to go to graduate school.

And this is all because I was able to go to Planned Parenthood and Planned Parenthood provided me with birth control.

Because of that, I had better control over my own timeline.

I was able to decide when and where and with whom I reproduced.

Now I’m married, I have a baby, he’s actually 13 months old and an amazing joy.

And I’m able to be a happy and productive member in my society.

And that’s all because I had access to reproductive health care, to birth control, and to the dignity and rights that all of us should have access to.

Because I had access, I was able to move through life more freely and confidently.

I had access to birth control at a younger age, which for many, they may immediately think for protection for sex, but no, for me, it was to help with my period cramps.

I went from dealing with excruciating period cramps where I couldn’t go out and couldn’t function, and then from taking birth control and it being completely alleviated and me being able to continue with my daily routine without any disruption or pain, where I couldn’t really do anything.

So birth control really saved my life and changed my life in a lot of ways because not only was I able to just go to school and take my classes and not miss anything because I was in pain, but it also helped me by clearing up my acne and doing so much for me that I was able to walk through life more confidently without anything stopping me from getting an education, going out with my friends, doing sports, and also just feeling confident and proud of myself.

So, you know, I would walk, go to class and stuff and no longer feel insecure because I didn’t have a ton of acne anymore.

So, you know, birth control, though it’s, you know, great for protection for sex, it also works in a lot of different ways.

And because of the care I was able to get, I walked through life more confidently.

Hi, I’m from Reno, Nevada.

I’m a student activist and volunteer with Reproductive Freedom for All, and because my mom has access to abortion health care, I am alive today.

My mom had an abortion 15 years before she had me, and without access to her abortion in the past, she wouldn’t have been able to make a decision about having a family when she wanted to, and thus I wouldn’t be alive today.

I think that it’s important for everyone to have access to abortion when they want it, and I think the deeply personal decision made between a person and their doctor should not have political interference.

Without access to abortion care, my mom wouldn’t have been able to make the decision to have a child 15 years later.

She would have been forced into a position that would have left her economically struggling and in a situation that she might not have wanted to be in.

Because of my story and other people’s like mine, I think that politics should value and prioritize women’s health and parental decisions and bodily autonomy when it comes to things like abortion, health care.

Hi, I’m Rachel Bender. (She/her) I’m from Florida. I’m a disability justice advocate and content creator.

Because I had access to reproductive health treatments, I was able to keep my autoimmune disease in remission and grow and gain weight.

My doctor put me on hormones to help me when I wasn’t growing, and that is why I raise awareness online for invisible disabilities and I advocate for abortion access because most people don’t know all of the treatments that act as abortion medication are also used for people with chronic illnesses.

I’m a volunteer reproductive freedom for all Georgia and this is my Because I Had Access story. My pronouns are she/her after my daughter was born, her father and I were not together.

He was in Georgia, I was in Florida.

My daughter was about five months old when I found myself pregnant again. I was a single mom at the time, living with a friend and in Norway, not ready for another baby.

At the time in Florida, the abortion cutoff was about 20 weeks. At the time, I was around six to seven weeks.

Because I had access at that time, I was able to receive and take mifepristone safely.

And that’s my Because I Had Access story.

I’m a Georgia organizing intern with the state of Georgia.

And in my personal experience, I have had limited access to Plan Bs. They’re very high cost. In the state of Georgia, at least they’re about $50.

And I’ve had multiple experiences myself and with my friends where our health center at our university’s campus has been closed, so we have to drive long distances.

We have to spend a lot of money to access just basic Plan B care.

And then I also have experience with immigrant communities, watching women that I am friends with, that I work with.

Their restrictions and limits to access to reproductive healthcare have prevented them from accessing English language classes, GED classes.

They’re prevented from taking the exams because of childcare access or different barriers that prevent them from entering the workforce.

And so just overall, I think limited access to reproductive healthcare in the state of Georgia specifically has been a huge barrier for myself and for the people in my life.

I’ve been lucky enough to graduate from a university in Georgia, but I know many are not as lucky because of simple things like access to mifepristone, to Plan B.