rePROs Fight Back

The disability rights movement and reproductive rights movement both revolve around the ability to control one’s own body and life. Sam Crane , legal director at the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, talks to us about the disability rights movement’s long history of facing reproductive rights and reproductive autonomy restrictions, and why centering the experiences and voices of people with disabili...

  Reproductive rights and the rights of transgender individuals are issues that are deeply rooted in bodily autonomy and have been under constant assault for the past year (and many years before). Jessica Mason Pieklo , Senior Vice President and Executive Editor at Rewire News Group and co-host of the Boom! Lawyered podcast and Katelyn Burns , columnist for MSNBC, writer for Medium, and co-host of...

Rape and other forms of sexual violence have been reported by health workers, human rights observers, and civilians in conflict zones, including Rwanda, Bosnia, Tigray, and Myanmar. Yet, survivors of these human rights abuses are rarely provided the sexual and reproductive healthcare they need. Jill Filipovic, freelance journalist and author of The H Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness and OK...

Note: This episode and the episode’s shownotes utilize the term “women,” when talking about the Turnaway study results, because women made up all of the participants. Many people, including trans men and non-binary individuals, still require access to safe and timely abortion care. On December 1st, 2021, the Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organizati...

It’s that time of year again—time to tune in for a reprisal of our most popular series! Longtime supporters of rePROs Fight Back have likely heard our past podcast episodes, SRHR Hero Origin Stories , SRHR Hero Origin Stories: Round 2 , and SRHR Hero Origin Stories: Round 3, where we talked to a number of amazing heroes in the field of reproductive health, rights, and about how they began working...

(note recorded before the oral arguments in Texas case) On Monday, November 1st, 2021, the Supreme Court heard arguments on Texas’s extreme and dangerous abortion ban, SB8. Ianthe Metzger , Director of State Media Campaigns with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, sits down to talk with us about abortion access in Texas, the Texas SCOTUS case, and the upcoming Mississippi case in Decembe...

Purity culture, or the expectation that women remain sexually “pure,” is widespread throughout evangelical communities. Purity culture stems from the idea that men are inherently sexual beings and that women are not, placing the burden on women to be the gatekeepers of sexuality in evangelical communities, as well as to “control” the desires of men. Becca Andrews , reporter with Mother Jones Magaz...

Young people deserve access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare—but those needs aren’t always easy to acquire in the United States. Diana Thu-Thao Rhodes , Vice President of Policy, Partnerships, and Organizing at Advocates for Youth, sits down to talk with us about the barriers young people face when in need of sex education and sexual and reproductive health services. Young peopl...

On September 1st, 2021, Texas effectively banned abortion in the state. Amy Hagstrom Miller , founder and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health and Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, sits down to talk to us about the tremendous stress that Texas’s new legislation has already had on patients, abortion providers, clinic staff, and abortion funds.  Texas’s SB8 outlaws abortion care after six weeks of pregnancy—far...

Afghanistan’s fall to the Taliban and the destruction caused to Haiti by a 7.92 magnitude earthquake have created two simultaneously unfolding humanitarian situations. Rachel Moynihan , Advocacy and Communications Specialist at the United Nations, sits down with us to discuss the work that UNFPA does to support and expand access to sexual and reproductive health and rights for populations in human...

As Afghanistan falls to the Taliban, a humanitarian crisis is quickly unfolding in the country. Hundreds of thousands of individuals have been displaced, with women and girls making up 80 percent of those displaced individuals. Gayatri Patel, Vice President for External Relations at the Women’s Refugee Commission, sits down to talk with us about the situation unfolding in Afghanistan, what it mean...

 It’s no secret that 2021 has seen endless attacks on abortion access. Most notably, Texas is attempting to not only ban abortion at six weeks but allow anyone in the U.S. to sue any person involved in providing abortion care or helping someone in Texas access abortion care. Jessica Mason Pieklo , Senior Vice President and Executive Editor at Rewire News Group and co-host of Boom! Lawyered podcast...

It’s no secret that state legislatures across the country are working tirelessly to restrict access to abortion care. From forcing patients to travel to neighboring states to stigma-based counseling sessions, accessing an abortion comes with countless hurdles. Jackie Blank , Federal Legislative Strategist and Campaign Manager for the Women’s Health Protection Act Campaign at the Center for Reprodu...

Reproductive health and the Catholic church have been heavily featured in the current news—from the Fulton v. Philadelphia Supreme Court case to the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops moving to deny President Joe Biden, who is Catholic, the sacrament of communion. Jamie Manson , President of Catholics for Choice, talks to us about these recent instances of the Catholic Church’s reach over sexual a...

When many people hear the term ‘self-managed abortion,’ they may think unsafe abortion or pre-Roe v. Wade methods of terminating a pregnancy. Nowadays, self-managed medication abortion is extremely safe, effective, and can be done in the comfort and privacy of one’s own home.  Erin Matson , Executive Director of Reproaction, sits down to talk with us about the myths, barriers to care, and the acti...

The Global Gag Rule has been intermittently preventing global communities from accessing comprehensive healthcare for the last 37 years. This Global Gag Rule Repeal Week of Action, it’s important to recognize that ending this harmful policy is extremely urgent. Rebecca Dennis , Senior Legislative Policy Analyst at PAI, sits down to update us on the Global Gag Rule, the impacts it has had around th...

Did you know that in a 2016 referendum, 86% of D.C. residents voted in favor of statehood? Dr. Serina Floyd, OB/GYN and Medical Director/Vice President of Medical Services at Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. and Kory Stuer , Public Affairs Manager at Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, D.C, sit down to talk with us about the importance of statehood for Washington, D.C...

Under the Trump administration, global LGBTQI+ health and rights faced an unprecedented assault. Andrea Gillespie, Sexual Health and Rights Policy Advisor with the American Jewish World Service (AJWS), sits down to talk with us about progress made by the Biden-Harris administration and what pieces of legislation we can advance to prevent backsliding.   Under the Trump administration, global LGBTQI...

What does a world that has achieved abortion justice look like? It has access to a full spectrum of reproductive health care, where abortion is affordable, accessible, safe, de-stigmatized, without barriers, and never based on income or zip code. Daniela Ochoa Diaz , Federal Strategies Manager with All* Above All, sits down to talk with us about what we need to accomplish to reach abortion justice...

On Monday, May 17th, the Supreme Court announced that they would hear a court case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (JWHO) , out of Mississippi that seeks to ban almost all abortion at 15 weeks or later. Dr. Daniel Grossman , obstetrician/gynecologist, Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California San Francisco, and Di...

While Roe v. Wade may be the law of the land, abortion has always been inaccessible and a right on paper only for so many in the United States. Since the passage of Roe, there have been 1,200 abortion restrictions enacted, with 2021 on track to be one of the worst years for abortion restrictions. Jamille Fields-Allsbrook , Director of Women’s Health and Rights at the Center for American Progress a...

We have just passed 100 days of the Biden-Harris Administration! Christina Krysinski , Counsel and Senior Manager of Policy at NARAL Pro-Choice America sits down to talk with us about the reproductive health and rights victories achieved during this period, as well as what the administration can do more of to ensure health and rights for all.  In his second week in office, President Biden ended th...

Last week the Biden took two actions to expand access to reproductive health care: the FDA lightening restrictions to medication abortion access during the pandemic and the Biden administration beginning its rollback of Trump’s harmful Title X program rules. Dee Srivastava , Policy Analyst at Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Nina Serriane , Legislative Affairs Manager at Planned Parent...

April 11 – 17, 2021, marks the fourth annual Black Maternal Health Week . In this bonus episode, Dr. Jamila Perritt , board certified OB/GYN and President and CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health and Dr. Mishka S. Peart , OB/GYN and fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health, talk to us about the importance of highlighting and discussing the disparities in abortion, contraception, and mat...

LGBTQ+ people, overall, lack equal rights and access in the United States. In fact, in most of the U.S., LGBTQ+ people face discrimination in housing, credit, public accommodations, jury service, and other public arenas that don’t directly involve marriage or employment. It’s also no secret that Republicans around the country have been passing legislation for years that attacks the health and righ...