rePROs Fight Back

There’s a grab bag of sexual and reproductive health news from around the U.S. From the wins to celebrate to the updates to keep an eye on, Garnet Henderson, investigative reporter specializing in sexual and reproductive health and disinformation, sits down to talk with us about a host of SRHR issues that are moving through the political and judicial landscape. Issues discussed include: Nevada’s parental notification law, blocked since 1985 and made permanent in 1991, was overturned recently by a judge and will go into effect on April 30th; the Trump administration has been citing “DEI” as a reason Planned Parenthood and other affiliate’s Title X funding is being “reviewed” and threatened; the Supreme Court recently heard the arguments for Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic at the beginning of the month; and Wisconsin voters elected a Democratically-backed candidate to serve on the state’s Supreme Court, despite Elon Musk’s fundraising and $100 million dollars invested in the opposing candidate. You might be interested in the Public Health is Dead podcast: https://www.publichealthisdead.com/ 9o03 Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Within hours of the new administration’s return-to-office, disorder took over. A foreign aid freeze, a stop-work order, and the dismantling of key foreign aid institutions commenced almost immediately. Gayatri Patel, Senior Fellow with rePROs Fight Back, sits down to talk with us about glimmers of hope for protecting this foreign assistance funding and relevant agencies, as well as how we can prepare for the realistic, long-term impacts of these attacks. The assault on foreign assistance funding by the new administration—which includes the blocking of U.S. foreign assistance funding, including for development programs, humanitarian programs, and multilateral assistance—has led to the loss of food services, antiviral medications, and vaccines, among other things. This has resulted in severe harm and death. In addition, the dismantling of institutions, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the loss of funding and support for multiple UN agencies, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), will result in continued, long-term impacts on both U.S. and international programming. You might be interested in the Public Health is Dead podcast: https://www.publichealthisdead.com/ 9o03 Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

April 11th- 17th officially marks Black Maternal Health Week—a week-long campaign centered on activism, awareness, and community-building for Black mamas and Black birthing people. Elizabeth Dawes, Director of Maternal and Reproductive Health and Senior Fellow at the Century Foundation and Co-Founder of the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, sits down to talk with us about the status of the Black maternal health crisis in the U.S. and the myriad, ongoing attacks to the Black community’s health, rights, and wellbeing from the new administration. The U.S. maternal mortality crisis has seen an overall reduction in maternal death rates in every racial group except for Black birthing people-- due to racism and inequity at institutional, systemic, and interpersonal levels. This is despite continuous, targeted, and hard-fought advocacy since 2014. Solidifying key actors, distributing resources and funding, and amplifying direct, local care and Black-led initiatives can make a sizeable change and help tackle the persistent, systemic oppressions and health injustices disproportionately felt by Black individuals. You might be interested in the Public Health is Dead podcast: https://www.publichealthisdead.com/ 9o03 Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

A new case with tremendous possible consequences for U.S. sexual and reproductive health and rights has made its way onto the Supreme Court docket. Medina v. Planned Parenthood is a culmination of decades of anti-choice activist’s attacks to Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health care providers, specifically targeting efforts to kick these providers out of Medicaid. Jessica Mason Pieklo, Senior Vice President and Executive Editor of Rewire News Group and co-host of Boom! Lawyered, sits down to talk with us about the implications of this case for the country’s most vulnerable. The question in front of the Supreme Court is whether the Medicaid statute confers a right to its recipients to go to providers of their choosing. Not only does this open doors to re-defining “qualified” and “unqualified” reproductive health care providers, it allows an opportunity for legal conservatives on the court to meander around Congressional conferring of rights via statute. Oftentimes, Planned Parenthood affiliates are the only option for low-income, Medicaid patients. You might be interested in the Public Health is Dead podcast: https://www.publichealthisdead.com/ 9o03 Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

This week, we’re bringing you a special feed drop from Rom Com Vom, a miniseries from Sex Ed with DB that unpacks beloved rom-coms, strips away their hidden toxic messages, and rewrites the script on love and sex. In this clip, host Danielle Bezalel sits down with Dr. Gretchen Sisson, a sociologist and expert on adoption and abortion, to break down Juno’s portrayal of teen pregnancy, adoption, and reproductive rights. They discuss what the film gets right, what it glosses over, and why its cultural impact still lingers today. If you enjoy this conversation, check out the full episode—plus more deep dives into rom-com tropes—by finding Sex Ed with DB wherever you get your podcasts. You might be interested in the Public Health is Dead podcast: https://www.publichealthisdead.com/ 9o03 Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

rePROs Fight Back released its 13th annual 50-State Report Card on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. The United States, overall, received an ‘F’ grade, while 5 states received an ‘A’ and 25 states failed. Jennie Wetter, Director of the rePROs Fight Back initiative and host of the rePROs Fight Back podcast, sits down to discuss this staggering loss of rights and the continuous fight for our right to bodily autonomy with Tarah Demant, Interim National Director of Programs, Advocacy, and Government Affairs at Amnesty International USA. While 2024 had some bright spots, including abortion-related ballot measures passing in 7 of the 10 states where they were on the ballot, we are still experiencing the fallout of the 2022 Dobbs decision. The human rights crisis unleashed by that decision has led states to continue restricting abortion access and has emboldened anti-rights advocates to increase their attacks on gender-affirming care. Using 11 criteria, the 50-State Report Card ranks each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia on three broad indicators relating to reproductive health and rights: prevention, affordability, and access to services. You might be interested in the Public Health is Dead podcast: https://www.publichealthisdead.com/ 9o03 Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) is a landmark federal law that revolutionized the right to emergency healthcare and provides crucial protections for pregnant people. Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, Deputy Director at the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, sits down to talk with us about the status of the case and what we can continue to do to protect emergency abortion services. When EMTALA was originally passed by Congress in 1986, the law directed every hospital in the country with an emergency department to provide whatever healthcare was necessary to any individual who visited the hospital presenting with an emergency medical condition. This is especially important for pregnant people, who require intensive attention in and outside of emergency situations. For the nearly 40 years EMTALA has been in effect, it was understood across party lines that if someone needs emergency abortion care, EMTALA protects that access. But following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Idaho’s extreme abortion ban did not feature an exception for those in emergencies. The Department of Justice sued Idaho to ensure EMTALA’s nationwide reach and the case advanced to the Supreme Court. The lawsuit against Idaho has now been dismissed under the new administration. Find Intersectionality Matters where ever you get your podcasts: https://pod.link/1441348908 Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Medicaid, the United States’ largest public health insurance program, currently insures over 72 million people with low incomes. Medicaid covers a host of health needs, including those related to sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Madeline Morcelle, Senior Attorney at the National Health Law Program (NHeLP) and co-chair of the National Coalition for Gender Justice in Health Policy, sits down to talk with us about how Medicaid is indispensable for SRH coverage and how recent proposed cuts would impact those who are enrolled. Medicaid plays an essential role in securing SRH for those with low incomes and other underserved communities, including Black, indigenous, and other people of color, people with disabilities, women and LGBTQI+ people, young people, and people with limited English proficiency. States are required to cover family planning services and supplies, pregnancy-related care, and abortion within the Hyde Amendment’s exceptions. The House recently passed a budget resolution that requires at least a minimum of $880 billion in budgetary cuts from the Energy and Commerce Committee—who’s vast majority of financial jurisdiction is centered in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Assuredly, proposed cuts would cause states to limit eligibility for Medicaid insurance and impact million’s access to SRH care. Find Intersectionality Matters where ever you get your podcasts: https://pod.link/1441348908 Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

A complete lack of abortion access and a climate of fear amongst patients and providers has descended over Texas in the past few years. Wendy Davis, former Texas state senator and Senior Advisor for Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, sits down to talk with us about the current landscape for abortion access in Texas and her famous 2013 filibuster. Texas currently has a complete ban on abortion with extremely limited exceptions. Only a few years prior, in 2021, Texas passed SB 8, which banned abortion at six weeks of pregnancy and allowed virtually any private citizen the ability to sue someone who accessed or attempted to access an abortion. Recent ProPublica research has found data on increased poor health outcomes and death due to the impacts of the present abortion ban. The Texas legislature has denied the data to be reviewed by the state’s Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee. Find Intersectionality Matters where ever you get your podcasts: https://pod.link/1441348908 Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Reproductive justice is the human right to control our bodies, our sexuality, our gender, our work, and our reproduction. This right can only be achieved when everyone, especially those most marginalized, have the complete economic, social, and political power and resources to make healthy decisions about their bodies, families and communities. Bridgette Jackson, Director of Public Policy at In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, Kat Olivera, Director of Government Relations at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice (NLIRJ), and Fajer Saeed Ebrahim, Senior Policy Manager at the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), sit down to talk with us about the reproductive justice policy agenda. NAPAWF, NLIRJ, and In Our Own Voice lead the Intersections of Our Lives Collaborative, which developed the comprehensive policy framework for achieving reproductive justice. The agenda is structured around three key pillars: healthy body, healthy families and communities, and healthy democracy. The policies included are focused on accessible sex education, abortion and contraception equity, gender-affirming care, and resistance to the criminalization of bodies. Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which was previously the largest bilateral donor across the world, was created in 1961 to use the U.S.’s soft power to influence and assist other countries. It has since grown into a department with more than 13,000 employees, the majority of which have worked overseas to provide emergency and humanitarian response, food assistance, economic growth activities, and more. Elissa Miolene, reporter at Devex, sits down to talk with us about the impact of the past few week’s chaotic attacks to USAID. Within hours of President Trump returning to office, there was a foreign aid freeze, followed by a stop-work order. Disorder took over, with a Congressional communication that USAID would be downsized, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announcing he would take over USAID, and waves of furloughs and layoffs at the agency and with partners that USAID works with. The deterioration of USAID has, of course, resulted in people in countries around the world being unable to access dependable care and resources. Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

The first day of President Trump’s administration, the outright attacks on the transgender community began. A drove of extreme executive orders has ruthlessly targeted transgender individuals’ safety and wellbeing. Chris Geidner, author of Law Dork, sits down to talk with us about these heinous assaults, their already-felt impacts on transgender individuals, and what to expect in the near future. The Trump administration’s collection of executive orders includes those that place rigid definitions on the term “sex” and force transgender women in prison to be housed in men’s facilities, ban transgender women from competing in women’s sports, declare transgender individuals unfit for military service, and prevent transgender children from accessing gender-affirming care. Multiple lawsuits have already arisen that challenge the initial executive order, which largely erases and others the transgender community. Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

The global gag rule, which prevents non-governmental organizations who receive U.S. global health funding from providing, counseling on, referring for, or advocating for abortion in their own country and using their own, private resources, has been reinstated by President Trump. Lori Adelman, Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Global, and Caitlin Horrigan, Senior Director of Global Advocacy at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, sits down to talk with us about what the expanded global gag rule is, what it means for health practitioners and patients abroad, and how it can be repealed. When the global gag rule is in place, there is a deep disrupting in health service delivery, bolstering an anti-human rights agenda globally, undermining trust in medical providers, and weakening civil society allies. Communities have less access to centralized, essential care, which can force people to turn to unsafe methods of abortion. Thankfully, there are policy solutions. The Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights Act (Global HER Act), which was reintroduced this week, would take away presidential power to reinstate the global gag rule. Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

The Helms Amendment stipulates that “no foreign assistance funds may be used to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning” abroad and has been in effect since 1973. But the amendment is often overinterpreted as a complete and total ban on U.S. funding for abortion care, even in the most extreme cases and in countries where abortion is legal. Rachel Marchand, Public Policy Manager with rePROs Fight Back, sits down to talk with us about the direct harm of Helms and why it’s far past time the amendment is repealed. The Helms amendment ignores the well-established foundation of reproductive rights as human rights and limits the accessibility of safe and timely abortion care for those that are subject to U.S. foreign assistance. Subsequent harm—including unsafe abortion and maternal mortality, among others—is disproportionately felt by Black and brown communities, young people, people experiencing poverty, LGBTQI+ individuals, and those in humanitarian and conflict settings. Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

2024 marked the 30th anniversary of a host of significant moments for sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice. Dázon Dixon Diallo, Founder and President of SisterLove, Inc. and SisterLove International South Africa, sits down to talk with us about this momentous occasion, the timeline of reproductive justice, and a hopeful look into the future. In 1994, an array of geopolitical events set the context for women’s leadership and representation. 1994 was also the year that a group of Black women in Chicago defined the concept of reproductive justice, the year that the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was passed, and the year that the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) was held in Cairo, Egypt, where 180 countries agreed upon the definition of sexual and reproductive health and rights. We can achieve similar progress 30 years from now, as long as the real implications of lack of abortion access and holistic access to sexual and reproductive health care and information continue to be understood. Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

All faith traditions have diverse opinions and practices on reproductive health, rights, and justice. In fact, the majority of people of faith in the U.S. support access to abortion care. Rev. Katey Zeh, ordained Baptist minister and CEO for the Religious Community for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), sits down to talk with us about the organization’s recent blessings and spiritual support provided at abortion clinics. The movement and infrastructure of Christian nationalism coopts Christian language for a political agenda, including one which is anti-abortion; still, individuals in faith groups aren’t a monolith. RCRC visited the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, which had lost its ability to provide abortion care post-Dobbs. The clinic went just over the border and purchased some medical office space to open the Women’s Health Center of Maryland, where abortion care could be provided. RCRC brought the West Virginia staff to Maryland and performed the blessing on the Maryland clinic. The New York Times shared a story on this blessing in December, 2024. Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Sexual and reproductive health faced unrelenting attacks this year, and the assault will likely only increase in 2025 under the Trump administration. Susan Rinkunas with the Cut, Jezebel, and Vice, and an independent journalist covering abortion and politics, sits down to looks back with us on sexual and reproductive health and rights in 2024 and what we can expect in the coming year. 2024 was marked by the attempted redefinition of abortion bans by incoming President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, extremists using the exact same playbook to attack both abortion and transgender health and rights, the Alabama Supreme Court case that declared frozen embryos as people, and a host of abortion ballot measures around the country. 2025 is likely to bring a Supreme Court justice retirement, loosening abortion clinic buffer zones, a goal to defund Planned Parenthood, and continued attacks to gender-affirming care and birth control. Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Human rights are born out of the belief that every individual is equal and deserving of life, dignity, respect, and freedom. States must then deliver on those obligations. But through nominations, harmful policy, and mass confusion, the returning administration has a broad ability to dissolve human rights. Rori Kramer, Director of U.S. Advocacy at the American Jewish World Service, sits down to talk with us about the foundations of human rights and what we can expect from the coming administration. Human rights were codified via the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with the U.S. as an early champion. When these rights were established, they were indivisible and applied to all humans equally. At present, in some countries, authoritarian governments seek to criminalize democracy and the exercise of human rights. Some of these states are feeling empowered by the U.S. and its direction-- especially as the U.S. plays in outsized role in international human rights standards. In the first Trump administration, the Geneva Consensus Declaration and Commission on Unalienable Rights were used to shift and mold the framework of what human rights really are; those may return. Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

The incoming Trump administration won’t just devastate sexual and reproductive health in the United States—the harm will absolutely ripple abroad. Rachel Clement, Senior Director of Government Strategy at PAI, sits down to talk with us about the prospect of global human rights under the incoming administration and potential harmful policy to come. Already, less than 1% of the U.S. budget goes to foreign assistance. And, under the Trump administration, it’s incredibly likely that UNFPA will be defunded, in tandem with cutting funding in other UN spaces like the WHO, UNESCO, and UN Women. During the last Trump administration, the Geneva Consensus Declaration was created to undermine the United Nations and multilateralism in general, while the Commission on Unalienable Rights, out of the State Department, sought to re-define human rights; these tools and others like them might reemerge. In all, attacks to gender and sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world will be enormous, especially with the probable reintroduction of the expanded Global Gag Rule. Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

A new Supreme Court case, United States v. Skrmetti, will challenge Tennessee’s Senate Bill 1, which prohibits gender-affirming care for transgender minors. Katelyn Burns, columnist for MSNBC, first ever openly trans Capitol Hill Reporter, co-host of the podcast Cancel Me Daddy, and co-founder of the publication the Flytrap, sits down to talk with us about this case and what realities the trans community will face under the new administration. Tennessee’s law would ban best practice medical care for trans youth up to 18, require youth being treated to cease care within nine months of the law’s effect, and allow for private right of action against medical providers providing gender-affirming care. This specific case is aimed toward transgender minors but will be used as an entry point to target adult care, too. This is on top of extremely likely increases to attacks to transgender folks’ health and rights under the incoming Trump administration, bolstered already by harmful cabinet nominees. Support the show Follow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!