The two-time Oscar-winning Hollywood star Jane Fonda is speaking out this week to say that she’s “really proud” of the work that she’s done to reduce teen pregnancy over the past thirty years.
Fonda Is ‘Really Proud’ Of What She’s Done
Fonda, 87, spent most of the 1990s and 2000s living in Atlanta, Georgia during her marriage to the CNN founder Ted Turner. Back in 1995, Fonda created the nonprofit known as the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention. Indeed, it was seeded with $500,000 from her then-husband’s foundation.
Fonda was inspired to create this nonprofit after learning that Georgia had one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the nation at the time. In the 30 years since then, teen pregnancy rates have plummeted in the United States. This is especially the case in Georgia, where the rates are currently much closer to the national average than they were decades ago.
“I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished,” Fonda told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I can’t pretend we are fully responsible for the drop in Georgia, but we developed a foothold and have been active long enough that we’ve gained trust in the state.”
Fonda Is ‘Really Happy’
Though Fonda now lives in Los Angeles, California, she’s in Atlanta today to host the GCAPP’s annual EmPower Party at the Atlanta History Center. The event is meant to raise money for her nonprofit. Last year, it managed to raise $1.2 million.
In her latest interview, Fonda went on to praise the current GCAPP executive director Ronald McNeill, who joined the nonprofit in 2018. He took on the role after a stint as chief development officer at the Boys & Girls Club.
“Coming in, he knew a lot about youth development,” Fonda explained. “I wanted him to beef up our work with parents because parents have so much influence over how children behave. He’s really worked on that. He has also activated our rising leadership program full of young activists. I’m really happy about that.”
McNeill chimed in to say that he and Fonda speak regularly to map out strategies together.
“Jane and I have a cadence of communicating,” he said. “She’s very much plugged in to what we’re doing.”
“I get up every day to do this work and it doesn’t feel like work,” McNeill added. “I understand the importance of ensuring young people live a healthy lifestyle. We are preparing the next generation of leaders.”
Fonda first became interested in curbing teen pregnancy after attending the 1994 United Nations world population conference in Cairo, Egypt.
“It became very clear that this issue wasn’t just about family planning and contraception,” Fonda said in a 1996 interview. “When you’re dealing with teen pregnancy, you’re also dealing with crime, alcohol and drug abuse, school dropout, alienation, all these other issues. We came back here thinking, ‘Wow. What can we do?’”
Fonda Talks Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
GCAPP receives more than $2.5 million a year from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Despite this, Fonda declined to comment on how Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running the federal agency.
“This is not a time to voice my opinion,” Fonda stated.
Fonda was singing a different tune last year when Kennedy was named as the head of the federal agency, however.
“Bobby is my friend,” Fonda said at the time. “I don’t agree with his stance on water in fluoride or vaccines or raw milk. I’m concerned. But I care for him and his family. I just hope it’s going to be OK.”
While we don’t agree with Fonda on much, we can’t argue against her efforts to reduce teenage pregnancies. It remains to be seen how much money her event tonight will raise for the GCAPP!