Students Launch 'Womb Service' at Catholic University
When DePaul University banned birth control on campus, student activists created an underground delivery network to help their peers. The "Womb Service" now fills 15 to 25 orders weekly at the Chicago college.
When Maya Roman saw classmates struggling to access birth control at her Catholic university, she didn't wait for permission to help. She organized a discreet delivery network that puts condoms and emergency contraception into students' hands within hours of a text request.
DePaul University in Chicago prohibits distributing birth control on campus, following Catholic institutional guidelines. Roman's student group, formerly a Planned Parenthood chapter before losing official recognition, found a simple workaround: meet requesters on public property just off campus with items in a paper bag.
The operation handles 15 to 25 orders every week. Students text their needs, get a meeting location, and receive their contraception in a quick handoff that complies with university rules while serving their community.
Roman told the Associated Press she saw a need and addressed it immediately. Her group also hosts sex education seminars in off-campus spaces where DePaul's policies can't reach them.
Similar underground networks are emerging at Catholic colleges nationwide. Students are filling gaps their institutions won't address, taking matters into their own hands to protect their futures.
The Ripple Effect
Jill Delston, an associate professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who studies contraception access, points out what's truly at stake. These students are fighting for their bodily autonomy, their ability to finish degrees, build careers, and choose when to start families.
Roman sees her work as proof that change can happen from within restrictive systems. She encourages students at other Catholic institutions to take similar action, reminding them they're not fighting alone.
The network represents more than contraception access. It shows how young people create solutions when institutions fail to meet their needs, building community care systems that prioritize health and autonomy over outdated policies.
Roman believes no student should have to risk their future for lack of basic healthcare access, and she's making sure DePaul students don't have to.
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Based on reporting by Good Good Good
This story was written by BrightWire based on verified news reports.
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