Undergraduate assistant Emma Philbeck sat down for an interview with student leaders of the organization Reproductive Freedom Rising, which brings together like-minded undergraduate and graduate students who support reproductive freedom and reproductive justice. 

What is Reproductive Freedom For All? 

Gabby: Reproductive Freedom for All is a national organization, formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice America, that advocates for all people’s access to reproductive healthcare and freedom to make their own reproductive choices. The student organization on campus is supported by and affiliated with Reproductive Freedom for All. 

 Amiya: Reproductive Freedom Rising is a student-led organization here at USC. We focus on protecting reproductive autonomy and bodily autonomy for everybody. That covers reproductive health care access, gender affirming care, and other categories that fall under the umbrella of reproductive health care.   

What does your organization do at USC? 

Gabby: Reproductive Freedom Rising has two primary goals. One, we aim to mobilize Gamecocks in support of reproductive freedom by encouraging voter registration, participating in abortion rights protests, etc. Two, we aim to combat abortion misinformation on our campus by hosting educational events. We hope to get involved in more educational initiatives in the new year. 

Amiya: So far, we have been doing a lot of things on the education side. For National Voter Registration Day, we tabled and had people check their voter registration status; if they weren’t already registered, we encouraged them to register. Beyond that, we make sure people are in the know about what's going on in the state. When bill S-323 was in committee, we were educating our members and people around campus alike. In the future, we hope to continue that trend and maybe bring in guest speakers, either from the university or the national organization, to ensure we have an educated community here at USC.  

How does your club communicate and function with the national organization? 

Gabby: I act as the club's liaison to the national organization, so I communicate with Ro Gully, who is responsible for assisting student organizations at a few different campuses. Ro provides funding to serve food at events and training for our leadership board and members as needed. The national organization does not control what events we host; they are there just to support us in the ways we need. 

Amiya: We have a pretty close relationship with the National Youth Action Council. We try to meet once a month, sometimes it's more frequent, sometimes less. We'll talk about what's going on, what we're doing well, and what we need from the organization. The organization usually supplies us with things like funding and supplies for tabling. 

What do you hope your organization will accomplish at USC? 

Gabby: We hope to give Gamecocks who support reproductive freedom a space to collaborate with like-minded people while also educating those who may be on the fence about abortion rights. 

Amiya: If we do nothing else besides making sure people know what's going on, I will be happy and fulfilled by our efforts. Many people are just completely unaware of what's going on in the world around them, especially when politics are involved. When we spoke to students on National Voter Registration Day, a lot of people didn't know that they could register in South Carolina because they're students here. I think it's really important to keep students educated as they can possibly be, so they can navigate the political sphere surrounding them.  

How did you get involved in Repro and how did you go about setting it up at USC? 

Gabby: I had been a long-time supporter of Reproductive Freedom for All, but after the 2024 election, I wanted to get more involved with the movement. I reached out to Ro Gully and found out about their initiative to support student organizations on college campuses. Ro and I decided that USC would benefit from a student organization like this, so we began the process of formally creating a student org at USC. After speaking with other students, I was excited to find that so many of them were interested in joining.  

Amiya: Getting the organization started was all Gabby; she cast this wide net across campus. I decided to reach out because I’ve always cared about the issues, and Repro has been deeply entrenched in my family since they went by NARAL. When we connected, I was able to go on to an activist summit for Reproductive Freedom for All, where we traveled to DC for three days. We spoke with our senators because that's one of the things Repro for All does-- a lot of it is politically charged. When we started, it was me, Gabby, and two others. When we got to seven, we were able to establish our constitution and officially become a club.  

What makes your club different from other reproductive justice-based clubs on this campus? 

Gabby: What makes us unique is that Reproductive Freedom Rising focuses more on education, not just for club members but for all Gamecocks.  

Amiya: Other clubs focus a lot on boots-on-the-ground volunteering, while Repro exists in more of a political realm, on top of education. We encourage people to call their representatives and  focus on invoking political change and affecting policy, versus one-on-one interaction with people receiving reproductive care. 

How have things been going during your first semester as a USC club? What can members expect in the future? 

Gabby: We’ve been growing steadily, with nearly 50 people signing up to join at tabling events. So far, we’ve been focusing mostly on social events and member bonding rather than education. We look forward to more educational initiatives in the Spring! 

Amiya: We've had an overwhelming number of people who are interested in what we want to do. At times, it’s tough to get the ball rolling with a new club, but the attention we’ve gotten has been encouraging. We've been trying to encourage turnout a bit more, but as the semester comes to a close, I feel we've seen a good portion of our group try to interact with what we're doing. So, I'm just looking forward to the next couple of semesters and seeing how it progresses from there.  

Amiya, as President, what kind of legacy do you want to leave? 

Amiya: As the founding president, I want to hand off this organization to somebody who cares about the issues as much as I do. I want to set them up for success and ensure that it's something that is easily able to be taken care of. I want to leave a legacy where everybody in the organization who knew me knew that I really cared about the issues, that I cared about everybody in the organization, and that I really worked hard to make sure that we were not only doing everything we can on campus, but doing everything we can in partnership with the national organization. 

Gabby, what is your role as a grad student liaison to Repro, and what purpose does that role serve?  

Gabby: I communicate with Ro about what events we’re hosting and ask for financial support when we need to purchase food. When I decided to work with Ro to begin this organization, I didn’t want to lead the organization’s day-to-day activities. Rather, I wanted to mentor a team of talented and passionate undergraduates to lead the charge. I was really grateful when Amiya joined the organization and expressed interest in being President. She has been great and allowed me to focus on just communicating with Ro. 

How can students get involved with your club? 

Amiya: The easiest way to find us is on Garnet Gate. You can also check out on Instagram @reprofreedomrising.usc. These are good ways to get in contact and see what events we're hosting, because we always post them. Then once you join, we get our members connected to a shared line of communication.  

Gabby: Students can visit our website here and sign our petition to join the club here.