Q&A: Rebecca Cavanaugh of Planned Parenthood

Rebecca Cavanaugh of Swissvale is the vice president of public affairs at Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania. She recently took some time to tell us about her job and the latest issues the organization is facing. Cavanaugh will celebrate three years with the organization in April.

How did you get into this field?

I got my undergrad in women and gender studies and then went to law school. The natural marriage between caring about women’s lives and advocacy was formed in law school. I did field campaigns and then ended up here.

What are your main responsibilities there?

I am responsible for all of our media content. If someone needs an interview, they come through me and I can direct them to someone knowledgeable on the certain issue or I do the interview myself. I also do all of our political work and work with our PAC if there is a pro-choice candidate that comes through. I also convene our PAC here and get people involved as well. That involves fundraising, interviewing candidates and things like that.

We also do a ton of lobbying out of my office as well. If there is a bill where we need to ask legislators to support or not support it, we educate them as well. We talk to legislators and hopefully have an impact that way.

What are the big issues you’re facing now?

We have a lot of stuff going on with access to birth control and that’s a fight in the media. The house of representatives has a couple of things up right now. It’s all about talking to reporters about who uses birth control and what it costs. It seems ridiculous 50 years after birth control was introduced but that’s what we are doing.

We are also dealing with the ultrasound bill, which would require a woman to have an ultrasound 24 hours before an abortion. It requires them to take an extra day off of work, get a babysitter for a second day and other issues like that. It’s also pretty insulting because it says that a woman doesn’t understand what she is doing. To say a woman doesn’t know enough to ask infantilizes a woman and states she doesn’t think about it enough. Women consult a wide range of people before making a decision like. We don’t know when that bill is going to hit the floor so we will be doing that. We have a pro-life majority so it’s not looking good.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I love talking to classes. I love talking to young people about the issues we face in health and that is very beneficial for me. They get to ask questions that maybe they couldn’t ask other people. I tell them that nothing shocks me. I love it.

Also, it’s really great to talk to legislators. Sometimes they knock you out of your seat and just wow you with how engaged they are in an issue.

What was your initial reaction to the Susan G. Komen decision to pull funding from Planned Parenthood?

My initial reaction was a little bit of a surprise. Cancer doesn’t care if your pro-choice or pro-life and we felt that this isn’t a political issue. It was deeply disappointing. But now the reversal of their decision shows that a large group of people can fight for what they believe in. We will see what happens. Next year’s grants will be telling. 

We don’t get direct money from Komen in Pittsburgh. But what happens is, Komen gives a grant to Adagio Health Services and they distribute the breast fund money. We benefit from them. If we had someone with an abnormal breast exam, we would print a voucher for a mammogram at Adagio Health. 

The response we received was also interesting. At first, we got a matching grant for $50K for breast health. We set up a breast health fund and hopefully if we are reinstated, this will go towards education and other things. The anonymous donor has come out to say he is Richard Scaife, who owns the Trib. It’s a matching grant and people can donate until April 15 at www.ppwp.org.

Why is PPWP so important for women especially in this economy?

In our agency, we have seen a significant increase in patients since the economic downturn and it proves this is a necessary service. Men, women and children come here. Even people who have jobs are getting paid less. To have access to quality care at a low cost is a huge benefit to society so we hope to continue to provide that.

For more information, visit http://www.plannedparenthood.org/western-pennsylvania/.