This was a season of reaping.
In August of 2022, I began my internship with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, on the heels of one of the most debilitating supreme court cases in recent history, the overturning of Roe vs Wade. Three times a week, I sit in the corner of Planned Parenthood’s Mt. Auburn clinic waiting room. On an average day, I'll look around and see every walk of person that exists in this country. As part of my senior capstone, I am helping launch the Health Center Advocacy Program. It was born from the notion that our patients are the best people to speak on how important these issues are. I then ask if they have any personal stories about how access to reproductive healthcare services has impacted their life and if they wouldn’t mind sharing it with me.
My first few shifts were nerve-racking, to say the least. I hesitated at the thought of asking strangers to bare their private moments to me, and I cowered in both embarrassment and relief if they would respectfully decline. I even caught myself profiling people to approach based on how receptive I assumed they would be to me, inserting my own biases and taking away the chance for some patients to tell their story because I was sitting neck deep in my own discomfort. It didn’t take long for me to reckon with myself and realize that if anyone in this room was going to feel uncomfortable, I wanted it to be me. I spend my class time in the halls of the medical school, learning how the body functions and how to diagnose, treat, and prevent illness, but I spend all my spare moments at this health center reminding myself why I want to provide care in the first place. Alongside this, I was researching the impact of anti-abortion trigger bans on all of he reproductive healthcare services given across Planned Parenthood Ohio. Alarmingly, I found that with a drop in abortion services, there was a drop in preventative care services as well, such as cancer screenings and wellness check-ups. For presenting this information at our Research Poster Fair, I won third place, and two hours' worth of meaningful conversation with academics at the college of medicine.
But back to the start of the year. When I returned to campus, somber and incensed, our Generation Action meetings were packed with students who felt the same and were itching to make a difference and do something real in the face of adversity.
On October 14th, 2022, I was invited by the White House to speak at Vice President Kamala Harris’ Reproductive Justice Summit. I made the opening remarks regarding the state of abortion access in Ohio and how it was affecting young people, and she asked me how UC students were dealing with the tumultuous landscape. I had the privilege of telling her all the ways that we are building community, emphasizing the power of collectivism and the inspiring work students on our campus have done. Vice President Harris and I had a meaningful conversation, and I met with White House senior staffers afterwards to further discuss policy demands and share other ways the administration can support students. I was interviewed by the White House media team about my work at UC, and filled the Vice President’s office with pride for students at our university. This extraordinary opportunity was not mere happenstance, but the culmination and result of every moment I have spent during the past four years contributing to our community.
In August of 2022, I began my internship with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, on the heels of one of the most debilitating supreme court cases in recent history, the overturning of Roe vs Wade. Three times a week, I sit in the corner of Planned Parenthood’s Mt. Auburn clinic waiting room. On an average day, I'll look around and see every walk of person that exists in this country. As part of my senior capstone, I am helping launch the Health Center Advocacy Program. It was born from the notion that our patients are the best people to speak on how important these issues are. I then ask if they have any personal stories about how access to reproductive healthcare services has impacted their life and if they wouldn’t mind sharing it with me.
My first few shifts were nerve-racking, to say the least. I hesitated at the thought of asking strangers to bare their private moments to me, and I cowered in both embarrassment and relief if they would respectfully decline. I even caught myself profiling people to approach based on how receptive I assumed they would be to me, inserting my own biases and taking away the chance for some patients to tell their story because I was sitting neck deep in my own discomfort. It didn’t take long for me to reckon with myself and realize that if anyone in this room was going to feel uncomfortable, I wanted it to be me. I spend my class time in the halls of the medical school, learning how the body functions and how to diagnose, treat, and prevent illness, but I spend all my spare moments at this health center reminding myself why I want to provide care in the first place. Alongside this, I was researching the impact of anti-abortion trigger bans on all of he reproductive healthcare services given across Planned Parenthood Ohio. Alarmingly, I found that with a drop in abortion services, there was a drop in preventative care services as well, such as cancer screenings and wellness check-ups. For presenting this information at our Research Poster Fair, I won third place, and two hours' worth of meaningful conversation with academics at the college of medicine.
But back to the start of the year. When I returned to campus, somber and incensed, our Generation Action meetings were packed with students who felt the same and were itching to make a difference and do something real in the face of adversity.
On October 14th, 2022, I was invited by the White House to speak at Vice President Kamala Harris’ Reproductive Justice Summit. I made the opening remarks regarding the state of abortion access in Ohio and how it was affecting young people, and she asked me how UC students were dealing with the tumultuous landscape. I had the privilege of telling her all the ways that we are building community, emphasizing the power of collectivism and the inspiring work students on our campus have done. Vice President Harris and I had a meaningful conversation, and I met with White House senior staffers afterwards to further discuss policy demands and share other ways the administration can support students. I was interviewed by the White House media team about my work at UC, and filled the Vice President’s office with pride for students at our university. This extraordinary opportunity was not mere happenstance, but the culmination and result of every moment I have spent during the past four years contributing to our community.
Soumya Jaiswal from @uofcincy discussed how coalition building is critical to fighting back in states with extreme abortion bans. pic.twitter.com/BSiQhFbNhH
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) November 4, 2022
In January, I was invited once again to Washington DC for Planned Parenthood’s National Patient Advocacy Summit, where I met with employees and patients from around the country and to help others launch a Health Center Advocacy program. Later that week, we visited the US Senate and met with Senator Brown about our plans of action for the abortion ballot initiative planned for the fall. I never thought I would be in this work long enough to see its ripple effects, where I am paving the smallest steps to help people in places I have never even been. I feel fortunate to have started this work as a young person, so that I can spend many more years in this field. The past few months have altered how I see my future more than I could have anticipated when I began working in gender and health advocacy. Because I have the privilege to remain part of this community at UC’s College of Medicine, I am now seeing entire universes unfold in front of me. While many folks in my life have seen these lifechanging experiences as the start of a political career, I remain steadfast in my responsibility to patients and people.
People often say we won’t live to see the results of our fight. That the seeds we plant will bear fruit only in the next generation. But I spend three days every week looking into the faces of survival, of resistance, and of joy despite the power our oppressors use to leave us behind. When I go out into our community and others, I see college students, teenagers, elementary school children work to unlearn the intolerance that plagued generations before them.
This April, in a room full of my dearest friends, advisors, and faculty members, I was fortunate enough to receive the 2023 C-Ring Award.
Even after all of this, a season full of celebration for myself, my peers, and all of our accomplishments, the greatest achievement I found myself with was the one I expected the least. I had returned from a trip to India during August of 2022, and found myself stewing over feelings of my cultural identity and place in this world. For the next several months, I processed all this through writing poetry, an art form I pursued more seriously in high school but given up on in college. By January, I found myself with a completed piece that, on a whim, I submitted to the Academy of American Poets Prize undergraduate competition. To my unending surprise, I won.
Standing Vigil at the Altar is my deceased love letter to the people, places, and traditions we leave behind in the process of losing our identity while fighting for it all the same. For weeks after its release, people who read the piece shared with me their stories of cultural identity and loss, the mourning rituals they devoted themselves to but did not understand, and how I reminded them of their grief, but also their hope.
And so, this is what I take with me on my journey into medical school. Yes, I am a student; but also: an advocate, a political navigator, a community organizer, a researcher, a poet. Most importantly, I know all of these aspects of who I am will serve me well as I continue to serve our community.