‘Get people excited’: Planned Parenthood Action Fund calls for student voters in the Harris-Walz campaign

President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund Alexis McGill Johnson drew a crowd of about 25 people in Schenley Plaza on Tuesday afternoon to rally young voters for the Harris-Walz campaign. 

“The path of freedom runs straight through Pennsylvania,” Johnson said, “and it runs straight through the issue of reproductive freedom … young people really are going to be the decisive vote.”

On July 21, 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden dropped out of the upcoming presidential election, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to run for president on the Democratic ticket. At the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Harris accepted the 2024 presidential nomination, officially adding herself and Minnesota governor Tim Walz to the election ballot. 

Johnson spoke to the crowd and recalled the moment when Harris called her to tell her, “I am running for president.” 

“She invited me to join the campaign and do the work with her,” Johnson said, “as a person, as a friend, as a source and so on. She said she’d be working to fight for our endorsement at the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and I said … we will be ready to do everything we can to ensure that you become the next president of the United States.” 

Both Johnson and Sydney Etheredge, Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates board member and local reproductive rights activist, reminded young voters of the stated differences between reproductive proposals in the Harris-Walz and the Trump-Vance campaigns.

“We know that another Trump presidency is going to be catastrophic for women and birthing people in this country,” Etheredge said. “We know in the Project 2025 agenda that him and JD Vance want to ban abortion nationwide, both through mechanisms that require congressional approval and those that don’t. And so, that means even though Pennsylvania is considered an access state, that we would lose access to abortion care potentially in Pennsylvania and across the country.”

Etheredge compared Trump’s Project 2025 agenda to Harris’s reproductive freedom campaign, which Etheredge said aims to ensure that “sexual and reproductive health care services are accessible to everyone in this country.” 

“And so it is, really, incredibly important that we understand what is at stake,” Etheredge said, “and that we vote accordingly because these are our futures, especially for young people, people in college, and getting people out to vote.”

Johnson asked the crowd, “Are you with me?” to which the attendees all shouted back, “Yes!”

A majority of the crowd members were students from surrounding universities. Johnson acknowledged the students and called them to action for the remaining time before Election day on Nov. 5.

“We have 70 days,” Johnson said. “I know you all just started your classes. But I also know … there is a lot more time and a lot more that you can do than you realize.” 

Carys Thompson, a first-year urban studies major, felt a call to action when she walked past the event.

“I was just coming from class and I saw the [campaign] sign, so I felt compelled to come,” Thompson said. “The president of Planned Parenthood [Action Fund] was here … so I was like, ‘Well, someone has to be here. Someone has to show up.’ Especially young people, who have a major position to do whatever they can and vote.”

Thompson believes that, in the upcoming election, it’s voters’ role to be informed. 

“A lot of people I know are very in-between, they’re very centrist, because they don’t want to pick a side,” Thompson said. “I just feel compelled to tell them that you should choose, at least. I hope they would choose Kamala-Walz, because, to me, that’s the most important choice for the future of our safety, the future of America. But, first and foremost, stay informed.”

Thompson urged students to get involved with the election, whether by signing petitions around campus or changing voter registration status. 

“I’m from California, but I’m switching my ballot to Pennsylvania because it’s a swing state,” Thompson said. 

Etheredge said that “there’s been a complete shift” in election momentum.

“I think it not only is inspiring to see someone who is at the top of the ticket who’s talking about [reproductive] issues in a certain way,” Etheredge said, “but I think it’s inspiring for young people to see someone who is younger and who looks, maybe, more like them trying to go for this position. I think that’s really activating a lot of people and reminding them politics and this work can be for them.” 

Etheredge mentioned that she went to Pitt for her undergraduate degree and experienced the Obama-Romney election during her time as a student. 

“There was a lot of energy,” Etheredge said. “So I’m hoping that a lot of you all are feeling that as well and are activated to get out and vote, and to phone bank, and to talk to your friends, and just to get people excited.”