This year, NARAL Pro-Choice America members are working hard to elect pro-choice candidates up and down the ballot. This week, our fellows are working diligently to mobilize our two million members across the country. NARAL volunteers have made over one million calls to voters across the country, and are investing their time in states where we can flip chambers, elect pro-choice federal candidates, and elect governors who will be champions for reproductive freedom.
Ever wanted to know what it’s like to be on the frontlines of defending reproductive freedom this election cycle? We talked to NARAL organizer Fiona in Pennsylvania about her experiences and what it’s like to do the important work of protecting our values, our futures, and getting out the vote.
What does protecting your fundamental freedoms mean to you?
In order to protect reproductive freedom — not just mine, but everyone’s — all of us need to contribute to a movement for political change, as well as social and cultural change. We need people to do what they can — speak to their friends about their values and the threats to them, raise their children with the values of consent, autonomy, and respect and vote for pro-choice candidates on every level. For me, it means dedicating my career to building this movement by engaging and mobilizing supporters to help create political change in order to protect our fundamental freedom over our bodies and our lives. That’s what being a field organizer for NARAL Pro-Choice America means.
I took this position this year because I didn’t want to be on the sidelines during a time of dire threats to human rights and reproductive rights in our country, I wanted to be on the front lines protecting those rights. What I learned is that “front lines” means campaign offices in suburban South Jersey and door steps in rural Pennsylvania talking to voters, because that’s where I need to be in order to elect pro-choice candidates. I spend weeknights on the phone talking to voters, and weekend afternoons at their door, to hear the issues they care about and make sure they know about NARAL endorsed candidates. This work requires sacrificing my time and stepping out of my comfort zone and asking volunteers to do the same. Our volunteer team is made up of young people who were inspired to step up after Christine Blasey Ford’s brave and powerful testimony and seasoned activists who are wondering why they *still* have to fight for women to be equal members in our society. It’s these volunteers that have made our work in PA and NJ possible, and I know we will win these races and flip the House because of them.
When I was asked what I wanted to do after graduating college, I said I planned to be an organizer. Lots of people were confused because they didn’t know what that was (after all, I was never very organized). But I had met organizers — they trained me to not be afraid to knock on doors, taught me chants and handed me signs, and coached me through my first calls to voters — ultimately I knew even though the work is hard, I wanted to be one of them.
The attacks we see on reproductive freedom and other rights are not new, but this moment is unique, and I knew it was time for me to step up in my community. I wanted to mobilize pro-choice Pennsylvanians and New Jerseyans not just around the election, but around a grassroots movement. I didn’t want to look back on this moment and I feel like I could have and should have done more.
Who inspires you to do this work?
This is my first time getting involved in such a big way, and it’s the veteran volunteers I’ve learned from the most; women in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, many of whom have not been political since they were my age. I think of them as my campaign aunts! They are volunteering because they know what’s at stake if Roe v. Wade is gutted — abortion is criminalized and women are punished. In fact, many of them saw women they love suffer injuries and, in some cases, death decades ago because they lacked access to abortion care. I have heard many “when I was your age” stories from family and neighbors, but these stories are different because I know there’s a chance they could be my future. These remarkable women are opening up about the pain of their experiences to warn about the importance of the work we’re doing.
These volunteers are teachers, nurses, software engineers and mentors to my fellow organizers and me. They all chose to make the step from being a “normal” person who receives campaign calls to the person who is placing calls to their fellow Pennsylvanians or New Jerseyans and make sure they remember to exercise their right to vote.
What does a typical day look like as a NARAL field organizer?
Everyday is different than the next, and certainly different than my days a couple months ago as a server and before that as a student. An average Saturday in my life looks like:
- 7:00am: Wake up and make sure I eat some breakfast and put together an outfit that is both warm, and features my NARAL purple shirt prominently.
- 8:00am: Drive from my apartment in Philadelphia to South Jersey to visit Andy Kim’s (NJ-3) office in Mt. Laurel to canvass. Of course I stop at Dunkin’ on the way to get Munchkins for our volunteers.
- 9:00am: Our volunteers start to arrive, many of whom I know from previous events, but some are new faces. I help a campaign staffer explain the do’s and don’t of canvassing, and add some advice from my own experience. We partner up new volunteers with those who’ve canvassed before, and split up to take on nearby neighborhoods and talk to voters about Andy Kim’s message of accessible healthcare (including reproductive healthcare!). Many people aren’t home, but the people we get a chance to talk to are gracious and many are already Kim supporters. Once in a while, you strike gold — you talk to someone who doesn’t know who Andy is, and by the end of the conversation they commit to vote for him!
- 1:00pm: We are all done our canvass in New Jersey, and it’s time for me to get to the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania for our evening phone bank for Susan Wild.
- 4:00pm: At this phone bank, I meet Pat, a first-time phone banker, who is excited about Susan Wild, but a little nervous about what will happen on her calls. We have her shadow our NARAL fellow Christie, and after Pat listens to Christie she’s ready to make her first calls. Pat talks to Susan Wild supporters, gives information to people who are undecided, and even engages with some voters who support our opponent (they are generally polite). After each call I give Pat positive feedback and ask about what the person said. Another volunteer, Maureen, gets some names she recognizes on her list, she has fun calling her neighbors and her son’s friend’s parents.
- 9:00pm I get home and get to watch TV with my roommates — I see TV ads for both of my candidates and I talk to my roommates about how proud I am to get to work on such important races. Then I do a face mask and head to bed — more doors to knock tomorrow!
Often, I fall asleep right away because I’ve been running around all day, but sometimes I am kept up with questions in my head. Did I complete all my confirmation calls for our events this week? Did I answer that volunteers questions clearly? What if no one shows up to our next event? — and the biggest question, what will happen on November 6th? But it’s my connections with voters, colleagues, and volunteers that inspire me to keep going. Ultimately it feels good to be part of a movement that is standing together and standing strong. Together, we can build a better country for everyone.
What’s your best story from the campaign trail this year?
I was knocking on doors in Center Valley, PA, and walked up to a house I wasn’t sure would support NARAL’s values. I knew that woman in the house was a Democrat, but that her husband was a Republican. These days, the media tells us that Republican voters are hostile to reproductive rights and the candidates that support them. Even though the polling tells us that many Republicans are pro-choice, I was still nervous that this man would yell at me for trying to have a conversation about pro-choice candidates. When I knocked on the door, the man answered. I told him why I was there: to have a conversation about reproductive freedom, and to encourage him and his family to vote for Susan Wild, a strong pro-choice candidate running to represent him in Congress. His reply? “In this house you have one Democrat and one Republican, but you have two votes for Susan Wild.” Yes! I thanked him for his support, made sure he knew where his polling place was, and pressed on.
We know the majority of Americans — people on both sides of the aisle — do support our values. We know they’re with us, and that experience reminded me of exactly that. It was extremely gratifying to be a field organizer that day!
