rePROs Fight Back

Particularly after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, reproductive health, rights, and justice can feel very doom-and-gloom. Yet, states around the country are continuing to undertake progressive and opportunistic legislative advancement. Jennifer Driver, Senior Director of Reproductive Rights with the State Innovation Exchange, sits down to talk with us about exciting state-level movement, how to successfully work with legislators, and what wins we may expect to see in the near future. 

Increasing contraceptive access, the removal of funding for crisis pregnancy centers, and the introduction of constitutional protections are just some examples of progressive state legislature that may expand and support sexual and reproductive health and rights. In addition, some bills focused around maternal health, doulas, and midwifery are sources of hopeful change. While it can often feel like SRHRJ is impacted by one bad policy after the next, let’s take a moment to celebrate the encouraging push for access across the country. 

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In a recent decision, the Alabama Supreme Court declared frozen embryos the same status as people. The decision, which is not grounded in law, references theology and the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case as a citation. Jessica Mason Pieklo, Senior Vice President and Executive Editor at Rewire News Group and cohost of Boom! Lawyered, sits down to talk with us about the recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling, in vitro fertilization, and the concept of fetal personhood.

This ruling stems from a legal situation in which an in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic worker dropped some embryo dishes, accidentally destroying them. This court case ruling has effectively shut down IVF therapy across the state, which will undoubtedly cause a ripple effect and disproportionately impact those who depend upon IVF for family planning. This ruling may also have implications for contraception—if life, according to Alabama, truly “begins at conception,” then IUDs, which purposefully interferes with implantation, may be at risk.

 Another upcoming Supreme Court case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, will prove threatening to medication abortion and telehealth generally. You can learn more here.

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Per year in the U.S., there are around 4 million births, between 850,000 - 1,000,0000 abortions, and 18,000 - 22,000 private domestic infant adoptions. Gretchen Sisson, Sociologist in Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) at the University of San Francisco and author of Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood, sits down to talk to us about the history of American domestic adoption, busts some adoption myths, and underlines how adoption and reproductive health and rights intertwine.  

Adoption is the U.S. has a long, complicated, and often painful history. In the modern day, adoption is often presented as an alternative to abortion, but Gretchen’s research showed that study participants rarely weighed an abortion vs. adoption; most often, people who couldn’t get an abortion then turned to adoption relinquishment as an option. There is no telling what the overturning of Roe will mean for the future of abortion and adoption in the U.S.—data on adoptions pre-Roe is still sparse. 

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For decades, abortion funds have worked tirelessly to bridge the gaps in access for people who needed abortion care. Their very existence highlights the fact that Roe failed to protect and address the needs of many communities marginalized by systems of oppression. Lexis Dotson-Dufault, Executive Director of the Abortion Fund of Ohio (AFO), sits down to talk with us about her first abortion, the importance of reproductive justice, and why Roe was never enough.

Having grown up in a conservative environment, Lexis initially did not see abortion as an option when she discovered she was experiencing an unwanted pregnancy. Open and de-stigmatized  conversations about abortion empowered Lexis to get the care that she needed. Now an abortion storyteller and champion herself, Lexis’s abortion story exemplifies that abortion storytelling changes and saves lives. As Executive Director of AFO—an organization grounded in reproductive justice—Lexis has borne first-hand witness to the profound impact of the Dobbs decision. In the journey towards collective liberation, it is imperative that we center the visionary leadership of Black reproductive justice activists and organizations and transform sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice in the United States.

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As Valentine’s Day approaches, we’re talking about the ultimate sexual and reproductive health and rights topic-- pleasure! Having researched how Black women experience and internalize pleasure, Lorraine Lacroix-Williamson, public health researcher, sits down to talk with us about sexual pleasure, how it fits into the sexual and reproductive health and rights umbrella, and how it relates to public health.

Stigma, purity culture, mis- and dis-information and limited sex education act as barriers to honest feelings and conversations about sexual pleasure. These barriers disproportionately impact women; a 2018 study looking at national data found a huge discrepancy in orgasm experience. Heterosexual men experienced an orgasm 95% of the time they engaged in sexual activity, followed by gay men at 89% of the time and bisexual men at 88%. Lesbian women experienced orgasm 86% of the time, followed by bisexual women at 66%, and heterosexual women at 65%. The good news? There’s plenty of resources to use, things to learn, and ideas to explore to define what pleasure means to you.

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Politicizing independent institutions, spreading misinformation, aggrandizing and consolidating executive power, weakening checks and balances, quashing criticism and dissent, marginalizing and restricting rights of specific communities, corrupting election, and stoking violence are patterns right out of authoritarian playbook. These patterns are written all over Project 2025, an initiative out of the Heritage Foundation. Beirne Roose-Snyder, Senior Policy Fellow at the Council for Global Equality, sits down to talk with us about Project 2025—what is it, how it seeks to shape America, and what it means for LGBTQI+ rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Project 2025 is a broad vision about the future of the United States led by the Heritage Foundation. The project includes a 950-page map to achieving the project, which is centered maintaining a conservative President and, ultimately, continuing a conservative United States of America. Approximately 80 organizations have signed on to this project, and the targeting and restricting of LGBTQI+ rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights is overrepresented throughout the project and roadmap.

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White supremacist, Christian nationalist extremists have infiltrated state government on all levels in Idaho, which has created the political environment that led to abortion bans in the state. Garnet Henderson, Senior Multiplatform Reporter for Rewire News Group and host and producer of ACCESS: A Podcast About Abortion, sits down to talk to us about her 10-day reporting trip to the state of Idaho and what she uncovered.

 Idaho, which was one of the first states to ban abortion outright after the Dobbs decision, and implemented the “abortion trafficking” law (which is currently blocked as a legal challenge proceeds), faces a variety of abortion and pregnancy/childbirth barriers. Severe driving times, hospital closures in rural communities, a dissolved maternal mortality review board, stigma, and abortion bans themselves create a climate of fear and impact people’s reproductive decisions.  Thankfully, Idaho has introduced a progressive voting campaign and recently voted to expand Medicaid. 

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There are a number of provisions in federal statutes that allow providers and hospitals the ability to refuse to provide care, or the information a patient may need to get care elsewhere, if the provider objects on moral or religious grounds. Katie O’Connor, Director of Federal Abortion Policy at the National Women’s Law Center, sits down to talk with us about the history of refusal statutes and rules, what it looks like to be a patient up against refusals, and the new refusal rules out of the Biden administration.

The Trump administration finalized rules that defined refusals and greatly expanded the amount of people in the healthcare systems that could potentially refuse care. The Biden administration’s new rules around refusals rescind the Trump rules, taking us back to the refusal of care statutes with no extended reach. Ideally, and in congruence with this, stripping the Weldon amendment from the Labor HHS appropriations bill and repealing the Hyde amendment would expand access to abortion.  

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Abortion information, policies, and access is always changing. Ariella Messing, founder and Executive Director of the Online Abortion Resource Squad (OARS), sits down to talk with us about the r/abortion subreddit, a landscape of constantly shifting information, and navigating abortion mis- and disinformation on the internet. 

The Online Abortion Resource Squad was born of a Slack channel and has since shifted to run the abortion subreddit, r/abortion. OARS has provided information throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, after the passage of Texas’s SB8, and after the Supreme Court ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Volunteers, including moderator volunteers who are on for 12-hours a day, undergo intensive training and point those seeking assistance on r/abortion towards information and resources.

Links

Online Abortion Resource Squad

Online Abortion Resource Squad on Twitter

Online Abortion Resource Squad on LinkedIn

r/abortion on Reddit

Take Action

First and foremost, follow the Online Abortion Resource Squad on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also follow r/abortion on Reddit here.

Figure out whatever steps you would need to take to access an abortion in your community, and make sure you are intimately familiar with those steps. Next, apply the same steps for loved ones in your life. Learn the laws where you live. Talk to your doctor, talk to your local representatives, and talk to people in your communities about ways to strengthen abortion access.

If you see someone on Reddit who needs abortion help, send them to/abortion. 

If possible, donate! 

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A variety of court cases, which have the ability to severely restrict, limit, and criminalize sexual and reproductive health care—such as abortion— are circulating throughout the U.S. Jessica Mason Pieklo, Senior Vice President and Executive Editor, at Rewire News Group and co-host of Rewire News Group's podcast Boom! Lawyered, sits down to talk with us about current court cases around the country and what these cases may mean for protecting basic SHRH care.

The pillars of these court cases include that of miscarriage criminalization, abortion ban exceptions, criminalizing medical providers, placing care limitations on emergency rooms, state abortion bans, and access to mifepristone; the decisions that come from these cases may have erect more barriers to care, spread additional stigma, and create legal concerns for patients and providers.  

Links

Jessica Mason Pieklo on Twitter

Rewire.News on Twitter

Rewire.News on Facebook

SCOTUS Is Likely to Decide if Abortion Is Health Care

Idaho's Reproductive Health Crisis and Christian Nationalism

Ohio Woman Who Miscarried Faces Charge That She Abused Corpse

Kate Cox sought an abortion in Texas. A court said no because she didn’t show her life was in danger

Take Action

Follow Rewire.News on Twitter and Facebook, and find Jessica Mason Pieklo on Twitter here. 

Take care of yourself. These court fights will require a long haul approach, and do what you need to do to engage in self-care. Make sure you are supporting direct aid services—donate, if possible, to your local abortion funds. In addition, amplify local voices, which most intimately understand the network of care.

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The Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice is a federal policy agenda that briefs every incoming administration on how to expand and protect domestic and global sexual and reproductive healthcare. Caitlin Horrigan, Senior Director of Global Advocacy for Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Candace Gibson, Director of Government Relations at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, sit down to talk with us about the 2023 Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice and how it reflects the overturning of Roe v. Wade.  

 The blueprint outlines policy actions and leadership actions—including executive actions that can be taken by the President and asks for government agencies, including asks from the Department of Homeland Security, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Links

Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice

National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice on Twitter

National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice on Facebook

Planned Parenthood Federation of America on Twitter

Planned Parenthood Federation of America on Facebook

Take Action

 First and foremost, follow NLIRJ on Twitter and Facebook and PPFA on Twitter and Facebook.

Amplify the blueprint and the policy agenda it lays out in your communities and platforms. Share on social media, share with friends, family, and policy makers, and send to related (and non-related!) organizations.

Reach out to local, state, and federal elected officials and stress the importance of achieving the vision of SRHR for all. You can contact the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. 

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The needs of LGBTQI+ people to live safe, healthy, and fulfilling lives are as important as the are universally necessary. Vivian Topping, Director of Advocacy and Civic Engagement at the Equality Federation sits down to talks with us about achieving LGBTQI+ justice, what a just world for LGBTQI+ folks looks like, and some hopes for the new year.

To support and enhance the lives of those in the LGBTQI+ community, people need access to healthcare, job training, stable housing, and more. Unfortunately, constant legislative attacks to LGBTQI+ people’s rights and safety means that the much-needed progress on these core areas is put on the backburner while acute and dangerous fires are put out. Anti-LGBTQI+ and anti-trans ideology and messaging from far-right groups can be so severe that it seeps into a variety of political and advocacy circles across the spectrum of issue areas. 

The good news? Over the past year, many states have passed transgender sanctuary laws, while 491 anti-trans bills have also been defeated. As we head into 2024, be on the lookout for continued extremism and misinformation, and also note that loud and out-spoken community resistance. 

Links

Equality Federation on Twitter

Equality Federation on Facebook

Take Action Items

Follow the Equality Federation on Twitter and Facebook and stay up-to-date on their work.

Find your local Equality Federation partner, nearby events, and other ways to get involved here! When state equality groups and LGBTQI+ communities are asking you to show up—whether at protests, voting, calling representatives, etc., be there.

If you can, you can also give to your local LGBTQI+ organizations, especially through a reoccurring donation.

rePROs Fight Back has been named a finalist in two categories in the 3rd Annual Anthem Awards. The winners of these awards are chosen by support from our community. You can “celebrate” or vote for rePROs Fight Back here: Human and Civil Rights Awareness and Media Awards and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Awareness and Media. Finalists can be celebrated online from December 5th to December 21st at Celebrate.Anthemawards.com. 

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Even years before the overturning of Roe v. Wade, reproductive health and rights organizations were noticing that their abortion content posts were being removed, suspended, shadow banned, flagged, and subject to advertising suspension. Jane Eklund, Tech and Reproductive Rights Fellow at Amnesty International USA, sits down to talk with us about abortion content digital suppression on social media platforms.

Across social media platforms, abortion-related content is often removed or interfered with in some way even though it does not violate the social media platform’s community guidelines. This can lead to decreased engagement, reach, and visibility for content related to abortion and that is often posted by sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations. Digital platforms have also become spaces were criminalization has increased; police have seized Facebook messages and Google searches to prosecute people for searching for and obtaining  abortion care.

Links

Amnesty International USA on Facebook

Amnesty International USA on Twitter

 Digital Defense Fund

Take Action

First and foremost, follow Amnesty International on Facebook and Twitter. 

Follow reproductive health and rights on social media, including their back up accounts. Plan C, Women on Web, and Shout Your Abortion have very helpful information. Like, share, and interact with their content to increase their reach. Support digital campaigns from reproductive health and rights organizations, as well. 

Make sure you talk about this issue—both abortion and abortion content suppression online. Suppression is silence, which makes space for stigmatization.

rePROs Fight Back has been named a finalist in two categories in the 3rdAnnual Anthem Awards. The winners of these awards are chosen by support from our community. You can “celebrate” or vote for rePROs Fight Back here: Human and Civil Rights Awareness and Media Awards and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Awareness and Media. Finalists can be celebrated online from December 5th to December 21st at Celebrate.Anthemawards.com. 

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As the holiday season continues and people sit down with their family and friends around dinner tables and fireplaces, personal question and general conversations about current events—some related to sexual and reproductive health and rights and transgender health and rights—may arise. Erin Matson, Co-founder, President, and CEO of Reproaction, sits down to talk with us about how to have difficult conversations, when to engage, and how to build up your boundaries during conversations, confrontations, and questions. 

Links

Reproaction on Twitter

Reproaction on Facebook

Erin Matson on Twitter

Plan C
Abortionfinder.org
Ineedana.com
Repro Legal Helpline
Repro Legal Defense Fund
Digital Defense Fund

Take Action

Follow Reproaction on Twitter and Facebook and stay up-to-date on their work. You can also find Erin Matson on Twitter here.

If you want to show that you are an ally or help challenge stigma, you can get some merchandise like this on Bonfire and show your support!  

Remember, engage in conversations to your own comfortability. Sometimes, we must protect our own mental and emotional wellbeing, safety, and security. 

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From the history of how the rePROs Fight Back podcast began to some behind-the-scenes sneak peaks, Tarah Demant, Interim National Director of Programs, Advocacy, and Government Affairs at Amnesty International USA, asks host Jennie Wetter a collection of ask me anything (AMA) questions.

Links

Amnesty International USA on Twitter
Amnesty International USA on Facebook
Tarah Demant on Twitter
Jennie Wetter on Twitter
Plan C
Abortionfinder.org
Ineedana.com
Repro Legal Helpline
Repro Legal Defense Fund
Digital Defense Fund

Take Action

If you need an abortion, check out this website to find the clinic closest to you.

Support your local abortion fund! Find your local abortion fund via the National Network of Abortion Funds. 

Follow Tarah Demant on Twitter and follow Amnesty International USA on Twitter and Facebook

As the holidays approach, remember to have conversations with your family members to your own comfortability. Feel free to push back in a big or small way. You can also wear abortion fund merchandise, like this, to break the stigma!

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November 15, 2023, is #ThxBirthControl Day! Everyone deserves access to an array of birth control methods that works best for their body, their life, and their goals. Rachel Fey, Vice President of Policy and Strategic Partnerships at Power to Decide, sits down to talk with us about the importance of accessible contraception and why we should keep ab eye out for attacks to birth control.

Misinformation and disinformation about birth control has been circulating for a long time and continues to spread—particularly since the Dobbs decision. Supreme Court justices and Congresspeople have recently questioned the constitutionality and need for affordable and accessible birth control, which means now, more than ever, is the time to rally in support for this basic, necessary health care. Join us with Power to Decide in saying #ThxBirthControl!

Links

Power to Decide on Twitter

Power to Decide on Facebook

#ThxBirthControl Merchandise

#ThxBirthControl Toolkit

Power to Decide’s Take Action Center

Contraceptive Deserts

Advancing Contraceptive Access Toolkit

The Right to Contraception: State and Federal Actions, Misinformation, and the Courts

Take Action

Follow Power to Decide on Twitter and Facebook.

Join in on #ThxBirthControl Day! Find social media toolkits, merchandise, and more information on this day here. You can find Power to Decide’s take action center here—sign up to stay informed about their work and urge Congress to support related legislation.

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Gun violence prevention and domestic violence are inextricably linked. And today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case, U.S. v Rahimi, that could potentially determine the constitutionality of a gun violence prevention law that has saved millions of lives. Sabrina Talukder, Director of the Women’s Initiative at the Center for American Progress, sits down to talk with us about this upcoming Supreme Court case and its implications for those experiencing domestic violence.  

When there is a firearm in the home during a domestic violence incident, the risk of death increases by 500 percent. And in 2017, over 5.9 million women reported being shot by a gun by an intimate partner at some point in their life. A 1996 law prevented those with domestic violence records from attaining a firearm—and the law has been incredibly effective. But adherence to originalism in the Supreme Court may discard that law and put the health and lives of domestic abuse survivors at risk.

Links

Center for American Progress Women on Twitter (they will be live Tweeting the case today)

Center for American Progress on Twitter

Center for American Progress on Facebook

The Supreme Court Case United States v. Rahimi Underscores the Ugly Truth About Originalism and Women

Take Action

Make space for survivors who are telling their stories and listen to their experiences. 

You can follow Center for American progress on Twitter and Facebook to keep up-to-date on their gun violence prevention work.

Read more about the concept of Originalism here.

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In the wake of the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion access has become dependent on one’s location. Accessing an abortion involves considerations like employer-sponsored healthcare coverage and taking time off of work. Barbara Camens, union side labor attorney, sits down to talk with us about the importance of access to affordable, comprehensive reproductive health care as part of the collective bargaining process. 

25 million women if reproductive age now live in a state that bans or severely restricts abortion. In order to access abortion care, people need to travel to other states, which includes taking time off of work, possibly taking time off of work on short notice, incurring significantly higher medical costs under employer healthcare coverage, and more. As terms and conditions of employment, this means employers should be required to bargain in good faith with unions. 

Links

Why & How to Form a Union

Abortion Model Collective Bargaining Agreement Language

Plan C
Abortionfinder.org
Ineedana.com
Repro Legal Helpline
Repro Legal Defense Fund
Digital Defense Fund
Abortionfinder.org
Ineedana.com
Repro Legal Helpline
Repro Legal Defense Fund
Digital Defense Fund

Take Action

If you are a member of a union, hold your union accountable for safeguarding legal, accessible abortion access and ensure that the issue is taken up in the collective bargaining process.

If you are not a member of a union, think about unions as obvious allies in the fight for progressive change. Alliances can be made between the labor movement and the reproductive rights movement, and tapping into that power can result in powerful change. Call on friends in the labor movement or reach out to people in the labor movement to have these discussions.

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The culture of fear that the anti-abortion movement uses also underlines the anti-queer and anti-transgender movement. Garnet Henderson, Senior Multiplatform Reporter for Rewire News Group and host and producer of ACCESS: A Podcast About Abortion, sits down to talk with us about how these two movements are connected and how anti-rights actors may influence access to gender-affirming care in the near future. 

A year since the dismantling of Roe v. Wade, 25 million women of reproductive age now  and more nonbinary and transgender people live in states where the law increases barriers to abortion care. And, across the U.S. this year alone, 583 bills have been introduced in 49 states which are designed to block trans people from receiving healthcare, education, and other basic rights. Harassment and threats against healthcare providers, misinformation and disinformation, and fear-laden rhetoric are all increasingly overlapping elements of the anti-abortion and anti-trans movement. Using these tools, a collection of anti-rights actors are able to influence legislation, spread false information, and impact people’s access to basic healthcare.

Links

Garnet Henderson on Twitter
Garnet Henderson for Rewire News Group
ACCESS: A Podcast About Abortion

Anti-Trans Activists Are Trying to Scare Gender Care Providers Away

Will Conservatives Use the ‘Crisis Pregnancy Center’ Playbook to Attack Trans People?

New Human Rights Campaign Foundation Report: Online Hate & Real World Violence Are Inextricably Linked

Open Letter by New York Times contributors to New York Times on their coverage of transgender issues

Take Action

Combat misinformation about transgender individuals and abortion care in your inner circles. If you hear people spreading stigma, fear, and mis- and disinformation about people and healthcare, challenge them. 

Donate to mutual aid funds or any individual’s personal GoFundMe for gender affirming care.

If you live in a state that is challenging gender affirming care, show up to testify in person or reach out to your local legislature to combat any harmful legislation.

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The Green Wave movement has swept through Latin America and has increased the liberalization of abortion law. Still, criminalization, and medical privacy and medical secrecy concerns can impact someone’s access to care or have patients and professionals facing prison sentences. Gloria Orrego-Hoyos, fellow with the Health and Human Rights initiative at Georgetown Law’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, sits down to talk with us about the status of criminalization, medical privacy and medical secrecy when it comes to abortion across Latin America.

Some Latin American regions criminalize abortion to the extreme. In El Salvador, abortion carries a charge of “aggravated homicide” and can punished by up to 30 years in prison, while in Nicaragua, those who access an abortion face a sentence of up to two years in prison, with medical professionals facing sentences of up to six years in prison for administering care. Some medical professionals feel pressure to, and do end up, reporting abortions to the police. Many doctors are also afraid to provide care until the most dangerous point, due to the shadow of the criminal system. 

Links

Gloria Orrego-Hoyos on Twitter

Plan C
Abortionfinder.org
Ineedana.com
Repro Legal Helpline
Repro Legal Defense Fund
Digital Defense Fund

Take Action

Follow Gloria on Twitter to stay up-to-date on her incredible work. You can also follow the O’Neill Institute here.

If you ever find yourself on the other end of criminalization for accessing abortion care, you can contact the Repro Legal Helpline and the If/When/How’s Repro Legal Defense Fund. 

Try to have conversations in your homes, in your places of work, and with your friends about abortion and access to basic healthcare in an effort to break stigma. 

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