Katie’s special series, Abortion: The Body Politic, has wrapped, but we wanted to give the very last word to a special group of people — people who have had abortions. These first-person stories reveal the lengths people have always had to go through to get an abortion — enduring unnecessary waiting periods, lengthy travel, parental consent needs, manipulative partners, unsupportive family members, shame, guilt, and more. These abortion stories span decades, cultures, race, faiths and gender. They reveal how common abortion is and yet how consistently stigmatized. This episode is dedicated to abortion storytellers everywhere whose voices and personal experience help normalize abortion for all.  This episode includes stories from Busy Philipps, Gloria Steinem, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and more. 

More about the organizations mentioned in this podcast: 

• We Testify
• Shout Your Abortion
• Physicians for Reproductive Health
• ReproAction

Action items:

• How to find, contact, and donate to your local abortion fund
• Learn about abortion laws in your state
• How to get abortion pills in any state
• How to share your abortion story [Also, We Testfy]
• Support reproductive justice organizations, like Sister Song and Latina Institute for Reproductive Rights
• Check out Vote Save America about how to take action at the ballot.
• Follow all the organizations and people featured in this series!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Abortion: The Body Politic started on the ground, visiting two abortion clinics 15 minutes away from each other in two very different states: Missouri and Illinois. On this last episode, we check back in with someone who works in those two clinics to understand the immediate impact the Supreme Court decision had on their patients. Then we consider, what now? Katie interviews Rep. Jayapal (D-WA) who has been a legislative leader in the fight for reproductive rights to understand what lawmakers can do to protect abortion now and in the future. Finally, we hear from a new generation of activists, actors (like Busy Phlipps), musicians (like MILCK and Amanda Shires), and TikTokers about how they are using their platforms, social media and art to not only normalize abortion but also share information (when that information could be criminalized), and, perhaps, change hearts and mind one person at a time. 

More information on this episode’s guests and resources:

• Planned Parenthood
• National Advocates for Pregnant Women
• ReproAction
• Rep. Pramila Jayapal
• Paula Ávila-Guillén
• Gen-Z For Change
• @OliviaJulianna
• Busy Philipps
• MILCK
• Whole Woman’s Health

Action items:

• How to find, contact, and donate to your local abortion fund
• Learn about abortion laws in your state
• How to get abortion pills in any state
• How to share your abortion story [Also, We Testfy]
• Support reproductive justice organizations, like Sister Song and Latina Institute for Reproductive Rights
• Follow all the organizations and people featured in this podcast!

Books and more:

• Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It’s Different Than You Think), by Reshma Saujani
• It’s time for Republican women to speak up for reproductive rights, by Kathryn Kaufman, The Washington Post
• This Will Only Hurt A Little, by Busy Philipps
• Amanda Shires demands more artists stand up for abortion rights, Rolling Stone
• Take It Like A Man, by Amanda Shires
• We Won’t Go Back, by MILCK, BIIANCO, & Autumn Roe (feat. Ani DiFranco)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Part 5 of Abortion: The Body Politic, Katie looks abroad for models of progress — and regress — when it comes to reproductive rights and abortion access. What are the trends and how does the U.S. now compare? We check in with the Center for Reproductive Rights to find out. Perhaps no region has seen more progress than Latin America. Human Rights lawyer and one of the founders of the Green Wave movement, Paula Ávila-Guillén, shares her experiences on the front lines of the decades-long fight for reproductive justice and what Americans can learn from our sisters to the South. We also hear from an activist in Mexico who is helping people across the border access abortion care they can no longer get in the United States. And academic, Lina-Maria Murillo gives us context for the unique relationship the United States and Mexico share when it comes to abortion access. There’s no denying the fact that many of the countries we are highlighting are largely conservative and Catholic. What does the progress these Catholic countries have made say about our own complicated assumptions about religion and abortion. We hear from several leaders of faith from a Jewish Rabbi to a Baptist Reverend and leaders from organizations like, Catholics for Choice and SACRED, about how they have worked reproductive rights and abortion access into their faith practice.

More information on this episode’s guests and resources

• Center for Reproductive Rights

• Women’s Equality Center

• Paula Ávila-Guillén

• Las Libres

• Lina-Maria Murillo

• Physicians for Reproductive Health

• Catholics for Choice

• Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

• SACRED: A Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity

• Sister Song

Books and more:

• When Abortion Was a Crime, by Leslie J. Reagan
• A Complicated Choice: Making Space for Grief and Healing in the Pro-Choice Movement, by Reverend Katey Zeh

Guests include:

• Paula Ávila-Guillén, human rights lawyer, Green Wave activist
• Veronica Cruz, founder of Las Libres
• Leah Hoctor, senior regional director for Europe at the Center for Reproductive Rights
• Lina-Maria Murillo, professor at Iowa focusing on reproductive rights along the borderlands
• Jamie Manson, Catholics for Choice
• Katey Zeh, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
• Rabbi Kelly Levy, Congregation Beth Israel, Austin, Texas
• Kenyetta Chinwe, Sister Song, SACRED

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.