“Plan B” emergency contraceptive pills are a safe and reasonably effective way to prevent pregnancy when other means of birth control have failed, making them an important part of student life at the University of Georgia.
Yet, when students involved in reproductive justice efforts pass out free condoms and Plan B pills on campus, they say they regularly face harassment from anti-abortion students who mistakenly believe these pills can cause abortions.
Hampton Barrineau, chair of the UGA chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, says he’s been yelled at, called a “baby killer,” monitored, videotaped and regularly harassed while distributing Plan B on campus.
“There’s always some kind of weird run-in every fourth or fifth week from folks on the political right,” Barrineau told APN. “They’re targeting us and trying to impede our efforts. Considering the level of [aggressive] rhetoric around this, I worry for my members sometimes.”
Other volunteers working with Barrineau share his sense of unease at the alleged harassment.
“At one point, I was surrounded by a lot of tall men who were arguing with me [about Plan B] and I did not feel safe,” said one student reproductive justice advocate who preferred to remain anonymous.
Right-wing student group wants Plan B removed from campus
While most UGA students support the availability of Plan B and other contraceptives, at least one right-wing group has made it their mission to try and block the drug from being distributed on campus.
UGA student Emily Grace Kinsey, the president of Turning Point UGA, told her members at a recent meeting that they should try and disrupt Plan B distribution on campus through direct action.
“I ask that if you don’t agree with having Plan B on campus, that you should politely ask for one and then throw it in the trash,” Kinsey told her student group on October 29. “I’ll give a prize to the person who throws the most out.”
Kinsey has repeated this ask multiple times throughout the year, including on Turning Point UGA’s GroupMe chat.
“We have a lot of pro-life Christians as a chapter and a lot of us are very passionate about fighting against the use of Plan B, not because it’s a contraceptive, but because it causes abortions,” Kinsey told APN. “Plan B does in fact induce abortions in some cases, and that’s why we’re so opposed to it. We don’t think that it has a place on campus.”
Plan B does not cause abortions, according to the FDA.
Barrineau has refused to give Kinsey the contraceptive since becoming aware of her scheme, but he says he doesn’t know every member of her group. Kinsey instructs group members to avoid stating their true intentions when approaching YDSA volunteers and insists that they have the right to destroy the contraceptive after receiving it.
“You’re handing these things out readily and freely, and if you plan on regulating things after you’ve handed them out, perhaps you’re going about it the wrong way,” Kinsey said. “We hand out a ton of stuff, too, and a lot of our fliers end up on the ground. While it’s disheartening, we don’t take it personally because it’s their right to do that in the same way that it’s our right to take what is given to us and throw it out.”
One reproductive justice advocate on campus, who prefers to remain anonymous, says that they have become more hesitant to pass out the contraceptive freely after learning about Turning Point UGA’s direct action campaign.
“From that point on, I’ve been suspicious of every single person who has come up to our table and asked for some,” they told APN.
Kinsey believes that Plan B and other forms of hormonal birth control pills can contribute to breast cancer, a belief for which there is some evidence (although there is also evidence that it can reduce the likelihood of ovarian cancer). For this reason, she has asked the UGA Office of Student Affairs to prohibit the contraceptives on campus.
“We took it up to the Vice President of Student Affairs, and she took it to the Board of Regents,” Kinsey said. “They formed a committee to try and figure out how we should deal with distributing drugs on campus. It’s something that’s being actively looked at because our Turning Point chapter held it to be of importance.”
Some Turning Point UGA members hold extreme, neo-Nazi views
Kinsey and other Turning Point UGA members hold some uncompromising political and religious beliefs that increase their motivation to try and block Plan B distribution.
For example, Kinsey told APN that she believes birth control is immoral. Another member of the group expressed support for religiously-motivated censorship of the media, including the enforcement of obscenity laws, although most of the group opposes censorship.
Turning Point UGA member Lorenzo Manahan, the speaker at last week’s meeting, regularly makes misogynistic posts on X (the website formerly known as Twitter) under the handle “tateenthusiast2.” For example, Manahan recently posted that he believes women should not be able to vote. He also regularly posts racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Trans and neo-Nazi content.
Manahan’s social media handle likely refers to Andrew Tate, a misogynist influencer and alleged human trafficker.
UPDATE (11/2/24): Manahan has deleted his X account.
At the meeting on October 29, Manahan expressed his belief that feminism spread in America only because of the suppression of Christian nationalism by the corporate media.
Manahan says he prefers “free speech” platforms like X and the video-sharing site Rumble because they have less restrictive content policies than do sites like Facebook or YouTube. “X allows all kinds of free speech,” he said. “You see racial slurs everywhere.”
While most group members did not seem to share these racist and misogynistic views, there was no pushback from Turning Point UGA leadership during the meeting.
“We exist in a marketplace of ideas. That’s what we try to promote,” Kinsey told APN. “Even though we don’t support what Lorenzo may be saying or posting online, he is a member of our organization and he wanted to give a presentation. I’m not in the business of censoring people. He’s been a very loyal club member.”
Plan B will remain available on campus
Barrineau’s organization has been passing out free Plan B on a weekly basis for almost a year as a way of removing the cost barrier for students. He says he will continue these efforts despite the harassment his group receives because he believes it’s an important service in a state that has banned most abortions.
“Georgia is, of course, a six-week ‘heartbeat’ anti-abortion state,” Barrineau said. “Giving out Plan B, giving out condoms is an important step in fighting against that law. And besides, the response with the community at large has been wonderful. This is something that’s incredibly popular with the student body.”
Barrineau says he originally got the Plan B from the nonprofit Emergency Contraception for Every Campus. He says that he has permission from the university to pass out these contraceptive pills, which are also available over the counter at most drug stores and at the University Health Center.
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