When Elsa Ladenson ’27 first arrived on campus, she was navigating a country that, despite being her own, still felt unfamiliar. Having spent much of her childhood moving between countries as the daughter of two foreign service officers, Ladenson had grown accustomed to watching American political activism movements unfold from thousands of miles away.
Growing up abroad, most recently attending high school in Germany, Ladenson witnessed the emergence of nationwide protests during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations of 2021 after the murder of George Floyd and the pro-choice protests that erupted when the Dobbs v. Jackson (2022) decision was leaked.
Without citizenship in the country where she lived, participating in political demonstrations often came with additional considerations about her visa status.
“Even in high school, I thought it was really difficult to watch from afar because I wasn’t a citizen of where I was living, so having a political voice felt a lot more difficult,” Ladenson said.
Four years later, as a public policy and French and Francophone studies double major and co-president of Vox: Planned Parenthood, a student organization dedicated to reproductive justice, she has transformed that initial desire for political engagement into a defining part of her undergraduate experience.
For Ladenson, the journey began almost accidentally. During her freshman year, she attended a Vox meeting without anticipating how deeply the organization would shape her understanding of political advocacy and social issues.
“I went to a Vox meeting kind of randomly, and I really liked how they framed the world’s problems and talked about reproductive justice in a very holistic manner,” Ladenson said. “It was about more than abortion, more than birth control.”
As she continued attending meetings, Ladenson found herself increasingly invested in both the organization’s mission and the broader political questions it raised.
While her public policy coursework has provided a foundation for understanding American government and democratic institutions, Ladenson credits her French major with challenging her to think more critically about the systems that shape society.
Through small, discussion-centered courses exploring French philosophy and political thought, she has encountered questions that extend beyond conventional policy debates. In one course, Politics and Nature, students were asked to think about the rights of animals and plants.
“I think classes like that kind of push the boundaries of how I think,” Ladenson said.
Her public policy classes have helped fill gaps in her understanding of American civic institutions, particularly given her upbringing outside the United States.
“Public policy has given me skills that I take for granted now about how our government works and a civic education I didn’t really grow up with,” Ladenson said. “So I’m very grateful for that.”
That double major has also informed her leadership within Vox.
“I’ve always been someone who’s very feminist, very outspoken about women’s rights,” Ladenson said. “And I think Vox just pushed me to think about why I’m that way, what it means to be a feminist, who it impacts.”
Beyond campus, Ladenson also worked on Virginia Delegate Jessica Anderson’s campaign. This experience introduced her to canvassing, a form of advocacy that required her to translate the theoretical discussions she encountered in Vox into direct conversations with voters.
“The Jessica [Anderson] campaign similarly was like a big formative experience because Vox at times is very educational, and it can be very theoretical, and going out and talking to voters was another method of advocacy I just wasn’t used to,” Ladenson said.
Through canvassing, Ladenson discovered an interest in connecting with voters and encouraging civic participation, experiences she has since incorporated into her leadership of Vox. Recently, she helped organize a canvassing launch and led a meeting teaching members about voter engagement.
These efforts have taken on particular significance as Virginia considers the Reproductive Freedom Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment protecting personal decisions regarding contraception and abortion. For Ladenson, the amendment represents more than a single political issue — it has been a priority she has followed throughout her undergraduate career.
Still, Ladenson recognizes that support for reproductive rights does not necessarily translate into participation in organized advocacy.
Part of her work as Vox’s co-president involves helping students move beyond passive support through tabling, fundraising, educational programming and canvassing.
Ladenson also hopes to challenge what she considers one of the most persistent misconceptions surrounding the organization: that reproductive justice is exclusively concerned with abortion.
While abortion access remains an important component of Vox’s advocacy, reproductive justice also encompasses contraception and sex education, as well as the broader social conditions that influence people’s ability to make decisions about their lives and families, Ladenson said.
“To me, it’s like a framework of how we view our world’s issues,” she said.
While Ladenson has dedicated much of her undergraduate career to reproductive justice, she believes advocacy does not necessarily require joining an organization or participating in demonstrations.
She encouraged students to also recognize the value of education and daily conversations within their communities.
“I think I definitely forget how privileged I am to be getting an education, to be thinking about these problems in the way that I’m thinking about them with the people I’m thinking about them with,” she said.
