When 22-year-old Jessy first learned she was pregnant, she was in shock. At the time, she was a junior at the University of California, Riverside, the president of her campus chapter of Planned Parenthood Generation Action, and a reproductive rights activist. Still, she said she never quite imagined herself as someone who might someday be fighting for her own right to have an abortion.

"I just didn’t know what to do for myself even though I knew what I would always tell others," Jessy told Teen Vogue. "Knowing that what was inside me kept growing as time progressed really did take an emotional toll on me, my grades, my social life… it wasn’t until after I got my abortion that I got some sort of relief.

Jessy was ultimately able to get an abortion, and now she is one of 13 young people between the ages of 17 and 24 who will be participating in Youth Testify. The new leadership program being launched by Advocates for Youth and the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) is specifically for young people who have had abortions and want to share their stories to change the conversation around abortion and combat misinformation. “Because of all the hurdles I had to go through with insurance, I had to play the waiting game for so long, and because there’s so much stigma surrounding abortion, I was ashamed and didn’t try to reach out for more help,” Jessy told Teen Vogue.

Having more accessible and comprehensive healthcare, that includes a clinic with abortion pill access near or on campuses, could make all the difference to young people who need more immediate abortion care, Jessy told Teen Vogue. Currently, many students have to travel off campus to obtain an abortion. It’s reportedly unclear how many campuses across the country offer students access to medication abortions, though a past survey of 139 schools found that only one college provided the health service. California could soon be the first state to require public campuses to provide medication abortions, however. At schools that don’t offer abortion services, students may have to travel long distances or spend hours on public transportation to reach a clinic, which may be a barrier to accessing the reproductive care. That’s why, Jessy said, she feels that it’s important for young people to not only have the healthcare they require available on campus, but also the tools to speak out about what they need.

Youth Testify aims to provide these resources, and simultaneously reframe the narrative around abortion by giving platform to some of the most vulnerable abortion storytellers — particularly people of color, LGBTQ people, and people with varying abilities and citizenship statuses. The goal of the program, according to the NNAF, is to show that young people who have had abortions are the experts on reproductive rights as well as the experts of their own experiences, and must be trusted with making decisions without anyone else’s permission. The participants come from states all over the country including California, Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, and have had anywhere from 1 to 3 abortions. Through a range of trainings, including community organizing trainings, and teachings on how to bring attention to the financial and logistical barriers to abortion that young people, the participants will learn how to tell their own stories while gaining a deeper understanding of abortion and reproductive rights so they can uplift and fight for others who face challenging circumstances.