Who Is F.R.E.E.?

Written by Gem Prigmore, Photos by Mackenzie Miller, Design by Courtney Ward, Media by Madison Trousdale

Birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and the wind is blowing through the trees. It’s a beautiful day at Research Park, where we’re sitting down to talk with Savannah Davis, a senior Biology major who helps run Feminists for Reproductive Equity and Education, or F.R.E.E., here at Texas A&M University.

Gem: So, what is F.R.E.E.? How did it start?

Savannah: F.R.E.E. is Feminists for Reproductive Equity and Education. It started about four years ago under a different name, and then it changed to better represent our work. It's a Direct Action Organization here on campus. We reach out to students as well as the community surrounding Bryan/College Station. I'd say our overarching goal is to provide education and resources to leave a lasting effect on our community.

F.R.E.E. is sponsored by Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, or URGE, and is a chapter of Planned Parenthood Generation Action. They’ve been putting in the work on campus, in more ways than one:

Savannah: So this semester, everything's virtual. If you're on our mailing list you get an invitation to join us for our next meeting. We've had a sexual health education meeting, and I'm very proud of our next one which is going to be about birthing justice.

A lot of what we're doing virtually is education. I think one of the most important meetings we do is our sexual education presentation. I think that's such a big deal, especially for new and incoming students to have an opportunity to receive comprehensive LGBTQ friendly sexual education. Aside from that, we also do events such as what we call “condom crawls.” We usually do these around Northgate in the bar district when there's not a pandemic. 

At these condom crawls, F.R.E.E. passes out hundreds of condoms a night to those who might need these safe sex essentials. They are known on campus for being a shame-free resource for those in need of condoms, lube, dental dams, and even Plan B.

Savannah: I probably have between 20 and 30 boxes of plan B just laying around in my bedroom. For anyone who reaches out to us and says that they think they may need it, it's completely free of charge. Off-brand emergency contraceptive is twenty or thirty dollars. The name brands can be $50 or $60 at a drugstore and it's hard to access. Sometimes they're even locked up.

This is the first semester that we've been able to hand out free oral emergency contraceptive. That's sort of what we've been doing this semester. We haven't been able to do things such as condom crawls, but we've been able to find ways to continue our work virtually.

A lot of what we've done in the past is going to institutions and conferences to train as advocates and organizers, as well as lobby and do phone banking at the state or national level. Our “field trips” or day trips consist of us taking members to lobby for bills, legislation, or representatives to support our work and vision, as well as go to things like women's marches.

Gem: What made you interested in F.R.E.E.?

Savannah: I walked into a meeting about queer liberation and I was a big fan of how comprehensive the work that F.R.E.E. does because it has to do with the reproductive justice movement. It ties in with what that means for individuals of color, LGBTQ individuals, cases where there is obstetric violence, as well as what environmental justice means for reproductive justice. I think that's very interesting. That's what got me into the organization altogether.

F.R.E.E. holds education as a top priority, and it’s not because they plan on testing you afterward. When asked about F.R.E.E.’s focal point, Davis said, “I like to think that education is an act of activism and empowerment. Knowledge is power in a day and age where everyone easily has access to information about their own bodies. I believe that's something that everyone should have access to and should have full, complete knowledge of, especially coming into college. 

Education is a form of activism because you're not going to be an activist without the ability or the heart to provide a comprehensive education to those around you. So when we do campaigns to bring about change, a lot of that is partially education in the community. Like, ‘Hey, this is a problem and this is why it's a problem.’ I think the two inherently go hand-in-hand.”

Gem: F.R.E.E. is very intersectional in its education. Was that a purposeful choice?

Savannah: I think when it comes to the intersectionality of the members of the steering committee, it just happens that way because these are the people leading the movement. A lot of the movements we cite historically are started especially by people of color or of low socioeconomic statuses. We've always been on the scene and always will be. Wherever you go where work is being done on reproductive justice, you're going to see more of these people who represent intersectionality at the forefront, because it's always been us. 

In our content, we purposefully cite intersectionality and make sure that we are mindful of other identities that aren't our own. It's not hard when it's something that's always been started by a need for intersectionality

After all, it’s not difficult to make history seem intersectional when in fact, it always has been. One of F.R.E.E.’s goals is to make the future look just the same.

For more information on F.R.E.E., visit their website or email them at freeaggies@gmail.com. They’re also on Twitter and Instagram @FREEaggies.