Congresswoman Lois Frankel feels sorry for anyone who didn’t go to college in the 1960s. “The ‘60s were really marked by people — especially women — coming into their own, because we were challenging the status quo like crazy,” she tells Her Campus in an exclusive interview. “It was an unbelievable time, because college is the first time most people are away from their parents and a lot of their friends, so you really have more freedom.”
Of course, there were a lot of freedoms that didn’t exist in the ‘60s, too. In Frankel’s case, one of the biggest issues was that of reproductive freedom. When Frankel was a student at Boston University in the late ‘60s, abortion was totally illegal. Many other aspects of reproductive rights were also severely limited, and she spent her years in school showing up and helping however she could. She recalls attending a demonstration at her school that sparked the fight to legalize birth control in the United States. She remembers witnessing her roommate on her rotary phone speaking with young women who were pregnant and looking for safe abortion options. “There was a protest everyday,” she says, looking back on those tumultuous, exhilarating days of her youth.
Frankel went to college before Roe v. Wade existed. Now in 2024, college students once again live in a world where the ruling is no longer in effect. Frankel finds this unacceptable, which is why, as a U.S. Representative from Florida, she hopes her decades-long fight for reproductive rights continues — both through her own work, and through the new generation of college students who follow in her footsteps.
Representing Florida’s 22nd district in Congress, Frankel stands on the front lines of many of the forces within Congress that are advocating for reproductive rights. She serves as the chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, the co-chair of the Women, Peace, and Security Caucus, and a member of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus. She’s a strong advocate for the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would assist in nullifying anti-abortion laws, as well as family leave protections, which would address the long-term economic effect of the overturn of Roe.
“Vote like your life depends on it, because your life does depend on it”
To Frankel, the 2022 overturn of Roe is, without question, the worst thing that has happened to girls and women in at least 50 years. “We’ve gone backwards,” Frankel says. “I adore my family. I’m glad I had my family. It was my choice to have my family. But I also know the pressures, the responsibilities, the costs, the demands on a person when you have a child. It’s not like you’re ever really ready to have a child. But the fact is, it’s got to be your choice.”
So, what can current college students do to stand alongside Frankel and protect their rights? To answer this, Frankel is — well, frank. “Vote like your life depends on it, because your life does depend on it,” she says. “You want to have your freedom to live your full life, to live your dreams, to be in charge of when and if you have a family. You need to vote for the people who will respect that.”