Eight students from Grinnell’s Students for Reproductive Justice (SRJ) organization and one local Grinnell resident participated in Planned Parenthood’s Iowa Lobby Day on Monday, Feb. 24 to advocate for women’s rights at the Iowa Capitol. While there, they talked to House Representative Dean Fisher (R – Montour) of House District 53.
Grinnell’s Students for Reproductive Justice club was officially recognized as a student organization last semester and is a chapter of the national Planned Parenthood Generation Action, a network of young activists who organize events for change.
In club meetings, Presidents Sasha Fine `27 and Anne Wilber `27 review legislation updates and discuss the effects and consequences of these changes. In addition, they host events like baking, writing thank you cards, and a menstrual product drive benefiting the local United Church of Christ during the year.
Lobby Day is a chance for organizations to meet with lawmakers and advocate for specific legislation related to their cause, aiming to educate politicians about their organization’s key issues and encourage support for relevant bills.
The day started off at a nearby church where supporters, dressed head-to-toe in pink, gathered to rally and learn effective lobbying strategies, with a great emphasis on personal storytelling and experience — not just repeating facts legislators have already heard.
Local Grinnell resident Sheree Andrews, a retired social worker who has helped many people get healthcare services through Planned Parenthood, attended Lobby Day for the first time this year.
Due to the recent election, Andrews said she “had to do something … because I am really upset about what’s going on nationally … in the old days, there were abortion clinics everywhere, we were treated with respect and dignity — there was no fear.”
Andrews, who has a personal story about getting an abortion, said she is surprised at how vastly the political climate has changed. “I’m shocked that we are even having to talk about this, because I thought that abortion and women’s rights, health, and safety were things that were a given,” she said.
After encouragement from local representatives and notable speakers like Iowa Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner, Grinnell’s SRJ and many others took to the streets to walk to the Capitol. Club member Aaron Trimble `27 described the ambiance as an “overwhelmingly positive atmosphere.” Lobby Day attendees were encouraged by people jogging and driving by, honking and hollering out their support.
“It was clear that the average Iowan and Des Moines resident really does support the movement we’re behind,” Trimble said.
“There were a lot more younger people out,” said Grinnell student and Des Moines local Abby Harris `28. She attended Lobby Day with her high school board as a student representative, but she said that going with college students has an “entirely different energy,” and that it was “more impactful…when it’s younger voices that are speaking.”
Compared to last year, Sasha Fine `27 said that this year’s rally was different in the fact that “overall, reproductive justice activists’ morale is a little lower now that, like, Trump is president.”
At the Capitol, Fine filled out a meeting request form to the clerk bailiff in the House of Representatives to get the chance to talk to Fisher. To their surprise, this year Fisher came out of the House chambers and talked with Andrews and the Grinnell students. Fine asked him about the “personhood” bill, HF106, which would deem a fetus as a person, swapping out “human pregnancy” for “unborn person,” which is defined as a “fertilization to live birth.”
Fisher started talking about something unrelated to the bill – tampons, pads and period products in boys bathrooms. When Fine asked him, “What’s the problem with that?” He responded by mentioning “mischief” in the boy’s bathrooms and products going expired, wasting taxpayer dollars. That was all the discussion related to that bill.
Harris and all other interviewees said that Fisher’s speaking volume was low and more directed towards those closest to him. “A grown man talking in a quiet voice so that no one else could hear him except Sasha, was definitely a tactic to not have a conversation because he didn’t know what he was talking about,” she said.
Trimble asked Fisher about HF384 and SF304, which would ban children under the age of 18 from receiving the HPV vaccine without parental permission. Fisher said that it should be parents who control the decisions for their children and asked the Grinnell students, “Who do they [the children] belong to?” After further questioning of this matter, Fisher left the conversation. Senator Annette Sweeney (R) was unavailable to meet.
Numerous members of SRJ felt that Fisher seemed under-informed about the issues at hand. Trimble and Fine noted he often had to look up the bills on his phone.
“It was a fun experience … it was also kind of jarring, though, because you realize just how incompetent some of the people [legislators] are … the students that we were with definitely knew more about the policies that he [Fisher] was literally voting on this week,” said first-time attendee Amélie Pfister `28. Pfister said the conversation was very “one-directional” and that “he [Fisher] came out to talk with us with absolutely no intention of being open to different ideas.”
Reflecting on the ride home, members said they thought this year’s Lobby Day was a success and that they were grateful for the opportunity to talk to one of their legislators.
“Even though we disagreed with Dean Fisher, he was polite. He did take the time to speak to us, which is his job, but he kept it polite. He didn’t make us feel unwelcome, and he wasn’t overtly hostile towards us,” Trimble said.
Fine encourages all students to go to Lobby Day and speak to their legislators. “I think it is really important to immerse yourself in your college state … and to be informed about reproductive justice and all kinds of policy going on,” she said. “Young people showing up is the best way to take back the power.”
Wilber said, “There are still so many ways to help people … I think it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, but you just have to focus on what you can do.”
