DePaul’s Students United for Reproductive Justice group has launched a YouTube channel to converse with and inform students about sex education and relationships.

SURJ’s increased online presence follows DePaul’s decision to disband the organization last year. They were previously known as PPGA, Planned Parenthood Generation Action.

“We decided to start up the YouTube channel because we wanted to make sure people still had that access to education,” said senior Lillian Bauer, who is the comprehensive sexual education director for SURJ.

Through their “Pillow Talks,” Bauer answers questions from the group’s online form, debunks contraception myths and discusses healthy relationship practices.

SURJ also worked with DePaul TV Productions on a documentary called “Student Body – Reproductive Rights on DePaul’s Campus,” which covered the organization’s history and those advocating for accessible reproductive care at DePaul.

One of SURJ’s  foremost initiatives is their free and confidential peer-to-peer “womb service” where DePaul students can request reproductive care products.

This service operates off-campus due to DePaul’s contraceptive ban, which states “the distribution of birth control devices, of any kind, is strictly prohibited on university premises.”

When interviewing students on campus for the documentary, SURJ found that many students were not aware of these rules.

Currently, SURJ is not an established student organization at DePaul, meaning the university does not provide them with funds, allow them to host events or organize meetings on campus.

This is because DePaul found the group’s previous affiliation with Planned Parenthood Action in violation with the institution’s Catholic, Vincentian values.

Instead, SURJ has organized meetings at third-party venues including local libraries and theaters.

Scarlett Calhoun-Liebnow, a senior majoring in peace, justice and conflict studies, is the vice president of SURJ. She said the organization’s inability to be on campus is the biggest limiting factor in students’ accessibility to reproductive healthcare resources.

The group has been trying to reestablish themselves as a student organization since last summer. Although there has been a lot of back-and-forth between them and the university during this process, SURJ has recently resubmitted their application, Calhoun-Liebnow said. 

The group hopes to be an official student organization by the next academic year. 

Heather Montes-Ireland is an associate professor of women’s and gender studies at DePaul who has served as an adviser to PPGA and now SURJ since autumn 2024.

She explained that “reproductive justice is a framework that combines social justice with issues of reproductive rights, health and organizing.”

“So often people make decisions about their reproductive future because of limited social options, because of social oppression, because of economic oppression,” she said.

“And it’s so important that all students really start to learn what reproductive justice is, because it doesn’t matter who you are, your gender identity, your sexual identity. It impacts you,” Montes-Ireland added. “Trust me, it does.”

According to Calhoun-Liebnow, SURJ’s work helps bridge the gap between what resources people need and what they have access to. 

“Across the board we are just seeing nonstop attacks on people’s rights to access that care in the first place,” Calhoun-Liebnow said. “So I for sure think that groups like this, even on a college campus level, are very important.”

Bauer said that SURJ’s YouTube channel has gotten some very positive feedback save for a few hate comments, and they plan to have their next video “An Interview on Transness” uploaded by the end of April.

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• DePaul reproductive health group to reshape following university shutdown