Speaker 1: Hi, Brian, Hi Katie, and hello everyone listening to our podcast.
Speaker 1: We just wrapped up our conversation with Cecil Richards, the
Speaker 1: outgoing president of Planned Parenthood, someone with whom I've had
Speaker 1: conversations for the last eleven or twelve years since she
Speaker 1: became the head of Planned Parenthood. What an extraordinary life
Speaker 1: and career she's had she has. But before we delve
Speaker 1: into all that, Katie, we have some very special news
Speaker 1: for our listeners. Katie so having another baby. Brian, No,
Speaker 1: I'm not, But why don't we share your big news, Oh,
Speaker 1: the fact that I have an upcoming six hour documentary
Speaker 1: series airing on the Nazio channel. Thanks for bringing that up, Brian,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it because I have to tell you everyone,
Speaker 1: I have never worked harder in my life. I've been
Speaker 1: doing this series since last August, criss crossing the country
Speaker 1: and trying to get a handle on some of these
Speaker 1: veccine social issue is that are plaguing the country and
Speaker 1: dividing us, it seems more than ever, and from political
Speaker 1: correctness to white working class anxiety to tech addiction. I
Speaker 1: think your goal was really to go deep on controversial
Speaker 1: issues that affect all of us. Well, I don't know
Speaker 1: about you, Brian, but I feel like the news cycle
Speaker 1: is so fast and furious, and because of social media
Speaker 1: and the need to react instantaneously, we don't necessarily have
Speaker 1: the time to sit back and really consider and think
Speaker 1: about an issue. And so that's what I'm hoping to do.
Speaker 1: I'm hoping that people will see a variety of perspectives
Speaker 1: and points of view, and I'm hoping it will be
Speaker 1: a jumping off point for people to explore issues that, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: in many ways, seem to be tearing us apart. I
Speaker 1: can't wait to watch it, and I really want to
Speaker 1: encourage our audience to do the same. And I don't
Speaker 1: mean to sound too much like North Korean State TV here,
Speaker 1: but I think it's going to be and go for
Speaker 1: it now. I think it's gonna be really special and
Speaker 1: worth everyone's time. Um, particularly since these issues are really
Speaker 1: glossed over on the news. I feel like we're not
Speaker 1: even scratching the surface and you actually arrive at a
Speaker 1: deep understanding of this stuff. Well, I think one thing, Brian,
Speaker 1: and I know you and I have talked about this,
Speaker 1: but we're in the midst of seismic shifts in our society.
Speaker 1: It's like the industrial revolution replacing the agrarian society. We're
Speaker 1: going into a technological revolution. We're actually in the middle
Speaker 1: of it, and it's changing the way we think, we work,
Speaker 1: we play, we interact, we relate, and demographic changes. We're
Speaker 1: going to be a minority majority country by and that's
Speaker 1: hard for a lot of people to grapple with because
Speaker 1: it means a lot of changes. So I'm hoping that
Speaker 1: people will take the time to say, let's get other perspectives, because,
Speaker 1: as we've often talked about, we're also increasingly tribalistic, living
Speaker 1: in silos, getting affirmation, not information. So it's more important
Speaker 1: than ever to see other points of view. So I
Speaker 1: hope those things will be provided in this series. And uh,
Speaker 1: if I can just add, because you wouldn't say this
Speaker 1: about yourself, dear leader, your humility knows no bounds. You
Speaker 1: can call me d L Brian. One of the things
Speaker 1: I think you do very well is breaking down an
Speaker 1: issue without dumbing down the issue. In your previous movies
Speaker 1: on guns and gender identity and nutrition, you sort of
Speaker 1: help to explain the complications and complexity of a big,
Speaker 1: thorny issue so that all of us can understand it,
Speaker 1: and I think that's exactly what you're doing here. And
Speaker 1: so for folks who want to check it out, a
Speaker 1: new episode of American Inside Out is going to air
Speaker 1: on the National Geographic Channel every Wednesday for six weeks
Speaker 1: starting on April eleven. And for our podcast listeners, we
Speaker 1: are going to keep the conversation going here as well.
Speaker 1: That's right. Our hashtag for this series is keep Talking.
Speaker 1: We don't want people to stop learning after the episode airs.
Speaker 1: We want to facilitate conversation. So if you all watch
Speaker 1: the episode, or if you're curious about the topics, please
Speaker 1: call in or write to us with your questions for
Speaker 1: these experts, because my goal, as is the goal of
Speaker 1: National Geographic, is to keep talking. And we're going to
Speaker 1: talk more, as Katie says about how you can weigh
Speaker 1: in on these shows during the break. So for now,
Speaker 1: let's get back to today's guest on the pod, Cecile Richards.
Speaker 1: As Katie mentioned, she's been president of Planned Parenthood for
Speaker 1: over a decade. She's been on the front lines of
Speaker 1: the fight for women's reproductive health for even longer than that.
Speaker 1: Her interests in activism and organizing, as you know Brian
Speaker 1: started very early. She grew up in Texas in this sixties.
Speaker 1: She can't pay for local democrats in a very conservative state.
Speaker 1: And if you're wondering how she caught the political bug,
Speaker 1: well two words and Richard's governor and Richards so three
Speaker 1: words was her mom. I mean talk about a political firecracker.
Speaker 1: She was known for her one liners. Will have you
Speaker 1: listened to one of her most famous ones a little
Speaker 1: bit later. It's no surprise that Cecile takes a special
Speaker 1: interest in women who run for political office. In fact,
Speaker 1: she's going to be advising female candidates in the mid terms,
Speaker 1: who are expected, by the way to run in record numbers.
Speaker 1: Cecil has written a book called Make Trouble, Standing Up,
Speaker 1: Speaking at and Finding the Courage to Lead. And since
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about writing my own book, I asked her
Speaker 1: why now, why she wanted to write this book and
Speaker 1: what the experience was like for her. I love writing it.
Speaker 1: I realized I have stored up all these stories and
Speaker 1: things that had happened, not only in my life and
Speaker 1: my mom's raised for governor and a whole lot of
Speaker 1: other things. It was just fun to get them out.
Speaker 1: But I really was inspired to write it because after
Speaker 1: the last election, every day someone stopped me on the
Speaker 1: street or in the subway and said, what should I do?
Speaker 1: You know, the feeling like there was maybe one thing
Speaker 1: they could do that would change things in the country,
Speaker 1: or something they were concerned about. And I realized, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to talk to everybody in the subway, so
Speaker 1: I'll just put it in a book instead. And it
Speaker 1: felt good. I it's sort of a combination of memoir
Speaker 1: and call to action, I guess, and I hope that
Speaker 1: it inspires people to do something to make a difference.
Speaker 1: So let's let's divide it up between memoir and call
Speaker 1: to action. Brian, is there a question that you'd like
Speaker 1: to ask the Seal sort of about her biography because
Speaker 1: it's so fascinating. There's so much to unpack just about that.
Speaker 1: Oh sure, I mean, let's talk about your mom and
Speaker 1: Richards for crying out lout. I mean, she wanted to
Speaker 1: favorite figures in politics. Um, what was it like growing
Speaker 1: up in Dallas and Austin with Anne Richards as your mama?
Speaker 1: As you said, well, uh, you know, I grew up
Speaker 1: in Dallas and my parents at that in that era
Speaker 1: were against everything. I mean, it was just one of
Speaker 1: the every movement that came through Dallas, Texas. They were
Speaker 1: jumping onto and when the women's movement came alive, my
Speaker 1: mother just lost her mind. I mean she's like, this
Speaker 1: was the greatest um. And then we eventually they'll moved
Speaker 1: to Austin, which was a much more progressive town, university town,
Speaker 1: and that's where my mom really had the first job,
Speaker 1: if you you know, outside the home. She ran Sarah
Speaker 1: Weddington's race for state representative. And I talked about this
Speaker 1: in the book that was before really women were running
Speaker 1: for office at all, and explained who Sarah Weddington is.
Speaker 1: I know it is had of a crazy turn of
Speaker 1: faith that Sarah Weddington. Of course, at the age of
Speaker 1: twenty six, she argued the Roe versus Wade case before
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court. Of course one she was the youngest
Speaker 1: person ever um to win a case before the Supreme Court.
Speaker 1: And then when she came back home she decided to
Speaker 1: run for office. So of course the guys didn't want
Speaker 1: to run her campaign. So Mom said, well, you know,
Speaker 1: I've been raising these four kids. I'd love to do
Speaker 1: something else. She ran Sarah's race and then she kind
Speaker 1: of got the political bug herself. So it's funny. I
Speaker 1: grew up, yes with this woman who has now thought
Speaker 1: of being kind of iconic feminist politician. But for many
Speaker 1: years she was mom. She was just my mom. I
Speaker 1: didn't know any better, you know, But she was such
Speaker 1: a I mean, a dynamic woman. I'll never forget at
Speaker 1: the Democratic National Convention when she made that speech and
Speaker 1: of course the famous line that is now etched into
Speaker 1: every political junkie's brain. Evermore, let's take a listen, poor George.
Speaker 1: He can't help it. He was born with a silver
Speaker 1: foot in his mouth. And we should say, for just
Speaker 1: to provide a little more context, that was the Democratic
Speaker 1: Convention and she was attacking George H. W. Bush, who
Speaker 1: was then the presumptive Republican nominee for president. I was
Speaker 1: at that convention. I'll never forget that electric moment when
Speaker 1: your mom had that crowd eating out of the palm
Speaker 1: of her hand because she was so so funny. Well,
Speaker 1: and you know, as she said, it was time that
Speaker 1: people here with a real Texas accent sounds like I
Speaker 1: think it was kind of great to have somebody who
Speaker 1: actually sounded like a lot of Americans. It was fun
Speaker 1: when she made that joke or gave that speech, Were
Speaker 1: you at all trepidacious that she was coming across as
Speaker 1: nasty or snarky or you know, because George Herbert Walker
Speaker 1: Bush was such a gentleman, and I remember thinking, oh,
Speaker 1: that's tough. She said, clearly the crowd loved it. But
Speaker 1: did you wonder how it was playing in the rest
Speaker 1: of the country at all? Well? I didn't, of course.
Speaker 1: I was on stage with my write about in the book.
Speaker 1: I was on stage with my my two brothers and
Speaker 1: my sister, and just being in that room, it was
Speaker 1: she was landing every line. And you're right, Well, it's
Speaker 1: funny two things. One, people still stop me in the
Speaker 1: street and say I remember that line, and then they'll
Speaker 1: then they'll repeat it. Usually they get it right, but
Speaker 1: there some you know, variation on the theme, so a
Speaker 1: lot of people do remember it. And then of course,
Speaker 1: um that George Bush. He actually was really quite good
Speaker 1: about it, and they I think that was There was
Speaker 1: never any animosity, But I do wonder these days. I
Speaker 1: was just doing an interview and I said, like, it
Speaker 1: is my great regret that their mom didn't live long
Speaker 1: enough for Twitter, because I think it might have been
Speaker 1: pretty fun. Yeah, we've been pretty spicy on Twitter. I
Speaker 1: think so cecil. You said that your happiest moment was
Speaker 1: walking up Congress Avenue in Austin. Text is to your
Speaker 1: mom's inaugural as governor. But of course four years later
Speaker 1: George Herbert Walker's son defeated her for reelection. Was that
Speaker 1: the toughest moment? So, um, well, yeah, I mean, you
Speaker 1: can't have the ups without the downs, right, And I
Speaker 1: think that was that was a really tough loss. But
Speaker 1: you know, um mom was one of these big believers that, uh,
Speaker 1: you just never look back, no regrets. She never never
Speaker 1: missed a beat, and I think for her, you know,
Speaker 1: it worked out. It was very liberating. She went on
Speaker 1: to do all kinds of great stuff, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of live her life, and for a lot of the
Speaker 1: rest of us, it made us all think about what
Speaker 1: are we going to do? You know, then after a
Speaker 1: loss like that, then how do you make a difference?
Speaker 1: And of course I started a nonprofit in Texas, you know,
Speaker 1: we began to do other work. But I think that
Speaker 1: was a lesson that my mother taught me and that
Speaker 1: I tried to write about in this book, which is
Speaker 1: just you just have to look forward and keep going. Um.
Speaker 1: Having said that, you know, when your mom passed away,
Speaker 1: she was always so dear to me as a woman
Speaker 1: who was trying to be in some ways a trailblazer
Speaker 1: in television. Your mom would always talk to me and
Speaker 1: take the time to kind of encourage me. And I
Speaker 1: was so heartbroken when she passed away. It must be
Speaker 1: hard for you to see you you must miss her
Speaker 1: every day. Oh, it's very hard, and she did. She
Speaker 1: cared so much about you, and care a lot about
Speaker 1: women who were trying to make it because she knew
Speaker 1: firsthand what it was like to be put down, to
Speaker 1: be second guest, to have a double standard. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's funny because people talk about women maybe not supporting
Speaker 1: each other. There was nothing that brought her greater joy
Speaker 1: than seeing women be successful. I'm glad I got to
Speaker 1: start this job at Planned Parented before she passed away,
Speaker 1: although she got sick right just a month after I
Speaker 1: took the job, because she's the one who really encouraged
Speaker 1: me to do it. And I think if she weren't
Speaker 1: in my life, and hadn't been in my life, I
Speaker 1: don't know if I ever would have my biggest regret,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure we all feel this everyone who has children,
Speaker 1: is that she hasn't been around to see her her
Speaker 1: grandkids grow into these phenomenal young people. And uh, but yeah,
Speaker 1: she's very much with me all the time. I was wondering,
Speaker 1: if you think about some of the things she has
Speaker 1: said and things she did when you yourself face challenges,
Speaker 1: because certainly the past eleven years have been challenging many times.
Speaker 1: And is there something that she told you that you
Speaker 1: just hold in reserve, that you pull out when needed. Well,
Speaker 1: I think, well, one of course, and I do write
Speaker 1: about this, which is I almost didn't go to the
Speaker 1: interview a planned parented because I thought, well, I don't
Speaker 1: know how to do that job. I've never run anything
Speaker 1: like that. It's so big, and what if I fail?
Speaker 1: And Mom was the first one to say, look, you
Speaker 1: only regret the things you don't try, and so you know,
Speaker 1: what's the worst thing that could happen? And I feel
Speaker 1: like that is a mantra, and I just kind of
Speaker 1: not only carry throughout my own life, but also try
Speaker 1: to encourage other women to take a chance that they
Speaker 1: might otherwise not not try. The other time, tim though,
Speaker 1: I just really had to channel her was going into
Speaker 1: that congressional hearing. You know, I had to appear before
Speaker 1: Congress for more than five hours to talk about planned parenthood.
Speaker 1: And you know, she said, when I took this job
Speaker 1: at Planned parent and she said, you just got to remember,
Speaker 1: this is about women's health, and this is about millions
Speaker 1: of women who need access to affordable healthcare, and that's
Speaker 1: who you've got to be thinking about. And so it
Speaker 1: really helped me carry those women into that hearing room,
Speaker 1: women who frankly, are never going to have the chance
Speaker 1: to talk to Congress. But she was a really practical person.
Speaker 1: Focus on the people you're here to help before we
Speaker 1: get to planned parenthood. You mentioned trailblazing women. And before
Speaker 1: you took that job, you work for Nancy Pelosi, who
Speaker 1: was the first woman's Speaker of the House, And I'm
Speaker 1: curious what your thoughts are on pressure for her to
Speaker 1: step aside as Democratic leader. UM. A lot of operatives
Speaker 1: in the party believe that would be better for candidates
Speaker 1: running for the House not to have to deal with
Speaker 1: her as an issue, because she's pretty popular nationally. Do
Speaker 1: you think she's being treated unfairly? Look, I feel like
Speaker 1: we need more women in office, not less. In fact,
Speaker 1: I can't wait until Congress. If half of Congress could
Speaker 1: get pregnant, we would quit fighting about planned parented in
Speaker 1: birth control and a lot of other issues. I do
Speaker 1: think that she has been attacked mainly because she's so effective,
Speaker 1: and that is why I think the Republican Party has
Speaker 1: gone after her so hard. Is because she's the only leader.
Speaker 1: Even when the Republicans are in control of Congress, she's
Speaker 1: the only leader who can actually get a bill passed.
Speaker 1: And frankly, we wouldn't have the Affordable Care Act if
Speaker 1: it weren't for Nancy Pelosi. And uh So, when I
Speaker 1: was reading your CV, I was interested in learning that
Speaker 1: you only worked for her for years. That right, like
Speaker 1: a year and a half. Congress was not for me,
Speaker 1: but I took it was like taking a graduate course
Speaker 1: in the hill. I mean, I feel like I had
Speaker 1: this incredible perch of being able to see what it
Speaker 1: was like to run a leadership office and to bring
Speaker 1: new people into the system. And Nancy was an amazing
Speaker 1: teacher and we've remained friends. We've worked on all kinds
Speaker 1: of women's healthcare issues ever since. So it was invaluable,
Speaker 1: but It's also a lessened to me that you know
Speaker 1: you can take a job and then say I'm actually
Speaker 1: better on the outside, which is really what I decided
Speaker 1: and kind of what led to my job at Planned Parenthood.
Speaker 1: We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back
Speaker 1: with more of Cecil Richards in a moment. We heard
Speaker 1: from a lot of you about our last episode, which
Speaker 1: focused on the aftermath of the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
Speaker 1: One email from listener Emily Krutzer. Krutzer, Emily, I'm sorry
Speaker 1: if I'm mispronouncing your name, but your email really stood
Speaker 1: out to us. That's right, she wrote this, Brian, my
Speaker 1: in laws recently purchased a pontoon boat for their lake
Speaker 1: house in Virginia. My husband and I are working through
Speaker 1: the online course to get our license to drive the boat.
Speaker 1: We commented last night how we could buy a handgun
Speaker 1: or an assault rifle quicker and easier than we could
Speaker 1: complete the online voting license course. We have a toddler
Speaker 1: and hope we are able to make a change to
Speaker 1: our insane gun laws or lack thereof, because the world
Speaker 1: he is growing up in scares me. I think it
Speaker 1: scares a lot of people, Emily, and I think when
Speaker 1: people talk about gun control, they're really talking about common
Speaker 1: sense gun legislation, and so I think it shouldn't scare people.
Speaker 1: I think people who want common sense gun laws also
Speaker 1: want to respect the ability of law abiding American citizens
Speaker 1: to own a gun and to buy a gun with
Speaker 1: certain safeguards. So thank you for writing in, and best
Speaker 1: of luck with your voting license. It's like, just because
Speaker 1: you want people who drive to have to get a license,
Speaker 1: doesn't mean you disrespect people who drive cars. Um. I
Speaker 1: think you can balance rights and responsibilities anyway. We love
Speaker 1: hearing from all of our listeners and we definitely want
Speaker 1: to hear what you all think of the big issues
Speaker 1: that Katie is going to be tackling in her Natio
Speaker 1: series America Inside Out. To kick things off, the first
Speaker 1: episode on April eleven, is called Rewriting History. But it's
Speaker 1: not writing as you would think of. It's writing R
Speaker 1: I G H T I n G, because we're really
Speaker 1: examining what history we've learned, what history we're taught, and
Speaker 1: the memorial landscape and how that reflects the American story,
Speaker 1: rightly or wrongly. I traveled throughout the South including Charlottesville, Virginia,
Speaker 1: where I went to college, to explore the controversy over
Speaker 1: removing Confederate statues and monuments. So, listeners, here's our question
Speaker 1: for you. How do you feel about Confederate monuments and
Speaker 1: how about the building, schools, and roads all across the
Speaker 1: South that are named after Confederate generals? Do you think
Speaker 1: that they should be removed or renamed? And if not,
Speaker 1: why not? So please call and leave a message with
Speaker 1: your thoughts. I'd love to hear how you feel about this.
Speaker 1: Nine two two, four, four six three seven. I know
Speaker 1: people feel very strongly or feel free to email us
Speaker 1: at comments at correct podcast dot com. And now back
Speaker 1: to our conversation with Cecil Richards. Let's step back and
Speaker 1: actually talk about Planned Parenthood and what it does and
Speaker 1: the services that it provides. Because I think there's a
Speaker 1: lot of misunderstanding and a number of people, particularly on
Speaker 1: the right, portray Planned parent clinics basically as abortion centers.
Speaker 1: Can you just describe what Planned Parenthood actually does? Sure? So,
Speaker 1: we just celebrated our hundredth anniversary, and we provide health
Speaker 1: care to about two and a half million people every year.
Speaker 1: The vast majority of our services are preventive care, so
Speaker 1: for a lot of women we do birth control STI
Speaker 1: testing and treatment. For many women they get their their
Speaker 1: full women's health exams, so they get breast cancer screening
Speaker 1: and cervical cancer screening. I know we went to a
Speaker 1: plan period at health Center, actually Katie and I together,
Speaker 1: and we also provide access to safe and legal abortion,
Speaker 1: which we think is really important. I will say, I
Speaker 1: think we do more on any given day to prevent
Speaker 1: unintended pregnancy than any organization in America. And one of
Speaker 1: the I think untold stories about some of our success
Speaker 1: in the last few years, particularly when Obamacare helped get
Speaker 1: more coverage for women's birth control, is we're now at
Speaker 1: a thirty year low for unintended pregnancy in the US,
Speaker 1: and actually the lowest rate of teenage pregnancy ever. And
Speaker 1: to me, that is a sign of you know, the
Speaker 1: fact that plan period is actually isn't the problem. It's
Speaker 1: the solution for many many folks in this country, and
Speaker 1: I think it's why our approval rating is really at
Speaker 1: an all time high now. At the same time, you know,
Speaker 1: there seems to be a real smear campaign against planned parenthood,
Speaker 1: and you and I have talked before, how can you
Speaker 1: change the perception up planned parenthood or how is that
Speaker 1: used to kind of galvanize conservatives in this country? And
Speaker 1: and how do you how do you fight that? Well,
Speaker 1: it's I actually think there's some people that just not
Speaker 1: really don't really understand that in fact, we are very popular.
Speaker 1: In fact, I just looked at Fox News and Wall
Speaker 1: Street Journal did a poll last week. We were the
Speaker 1: most popular organization, uh that they pulled it. And that's
Speaker 1: coming from Fox News. So this is not a this
Speaker 1: is not a any anything biased in our favor. And
Speaker 1: in fact, after this last really debate over funding for
Speaker 1: planned parenthood over the last fourteen months that has happened
Speaker 1: since the Trump at administration, in the Kaiser pole of Americans,
Speaker 1: including a majority of Republicans and Democrats, support federal funding
Speaker 1: for planned parenthood. So I think we are doing a
Speaker 1: good job of telling our story. That said, there are
Speaker 1: always going to be people that don't want to support
Speaker 1: women's health care, whether it's provided by Planned parented or others.
Speaker 1: And in fact, I mean our patients, they come from
Speaker 1: every walk of life. They don't come in to make
Speaker 1: a political statement. Plenty of Republican women use Plan parenthood
Speaker 1: as their only source of healthcare. So what does it
Speaker 1: mean to defund planned parenthood and where does that stand?
Speaker 1: Because it seems like that old chestnut resurfaces periodically. And
Speaker 1: it's also I think as many of these big hot
Speaker 1: button culture war issues have become a proxy for conservative
Speaker 1: bona fetus among the electorate in some ways. So help
Speaker 1: us understand this back and forth on defunding and where
Speaker 1: it stands now? Sure, And of course the original congressional
Speaker 1: member who wanted to defund Plan Parented was Mike Pence,
Speaker 1: who is now the Vice president. So that's really I
Speaker 1: think a lot of two where this is continue to
Speaker 1: come from. So Plan Parented is not in the federal budget.
Speaker 1: That's one thing I'd love to make clear. It's not
Speaker 1: a line item. Uh. We basically work like every other
Speaker 1: healthcare provider that provides services inventive services, and that because
Speaker 1: of the High Amendment, if I'm not correct, federal funds
Speaker 1: cannot go to anything withding abortions. But they don't go
Speaker 1: for do they go for preventative health? Yes, essentially what Medicaid.
Speaker 1: This is for women on Medicaid or other public programs,
Speaker 1: they could come to Planned parenthood. They may may go
Speaker 1: to another healthcare provider or a hospital. We simply get
Speaker 1: reimbursed for the services that we provide, and in fact,
Speaker 1: in the national Family Planning program, we are the largest
Speaker 1: provider of family planning. What what this administration is trying
Speaker 1: to do is basically say to two women, you can't
Speaker 1: go to planned parent period period. And that's so to me.
Speaker 1: They're singling out one healthcare provider, even though in many
Speaker 1: of these communities we may be the only local healthcare
Speaker 1: provider of preventive care. I was in you know, I
Speaker 1: write about in the book. I went to Paul Ryan's
Speaker 1: district to see we have three health centers there. We
Speaker 1: only provide preventive services, family planning, We provide a breast
Speaker 1: cancer screenings. You know, if he had been successful last year,
Speaker 1: those centers would not have been able to provide healthcare
Speaker 1: to the majority of women who would have happened to
Speaker 1: those women. I mean, that's the problem he and other
Speaker 1: politicians is that, well they can just go elsewhere. What
Speaker 1: I've been out there, there isn't an elsewhere to go.
Speaker 1: And that's what our patients were That's why they were
Speaker 1: calling Congress and why I think of the calls that
Speaker 1: were coming into Congress were coming from women. They're saying,
Speaker 1: there isn't anywhere else for you to go. And if
Speaker 1: you don't, if you live in Kenosha, Wisconsin, driving to Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: UM for just for your basic healthcare is uh is
Speaker 1: sometimes impossible. So these I think are important facts for
Speaker 1: people to understand. Number one, the federal funding that reimburses
Speaker 1: Planned Parenthood doesn't support abortion services. And that's that's true today,
Speaker 1: that's been true for years and years. And the second
Speaker 1: fact is that not all Planned Parenthood centers even provide
Speaker 1: abortion services, that many of them are just providing you know,
Speaker 1: basic health care to people. That's correct, UM. And and
Speaker 1: also that we operate just like every other hospital or
Speaker 1: healthcare provider, you know. I mean many hospitals provide abortion
Speaker 1: services and they also provide an abundance of other services.
Speaker 1: I think the most important thing we can focus on
Speaker 1: this country is getting more people, uh, not only women,
Speaker 1: everyone access to affordable preventive care. Because we know, whether
Speaker 1: it is a cancer screening, whether it is just getting
Speaker 1: a well woman visit or getting family planning. It's incredibly
Speaker 1: important that we don't take away that access because we've
Speaker 1: seen in Texas where they did try to get rid
Speaker 1: of planned parenthood even though they were unsuccessful. Um, dozens
Speaker 1: of women's health centers shut down. We've seen a rise
Speaker 1: in maternal mortality rates and fewer women being able to
Speaker 1: access birth control, and that just is just doesn't make
Speaker 1: any sense. What about all the laws that are being
Speaker 1: passed thee seal. I think it's what three hundred laws,
Speaker 1: state laws or local laws that prevent abortions from being
Speaker 1: provided in certain geographic areas. So talk about that because
Speaker 1: US that is preventing a lot of women from not
Speaker 1: only getting preventative healthcare, but abortion services or they have
Speaker 1: to drive to another state. Um, how did all these
Speaker 1: bills get passed and what impact are they having on women?
Speaker 1: I think the toughest thing is that any any legislation
Speaker 1: that's passed that that reduces women's access to healthcare, including
Speaker 1: abortion services or birth control, of course, it hits women
Speaker 1: who have already the least access to healthcare the most.
Speaker 1: And you're right, state legislatures, as they are increasingly frankly
Speaker 1: under Republican control, they use this as a political wedge
Speaker 1: issue and the real challenge and again I'm going to
Speaker 1: use Texas as an example, since it's my home state.
Speaker 1: What we saw is after the legislature began to pass
Speaker 1: these bills, women told their stories about having to drive
Speaker 1: hundreds of miles um to get access to a clinic.
Speaker 1: And again, if you're working at um a Walmart, or
Speaker 1: you're working somewhere at minimum wage and you have to
Speaker 1: take several days off and then find a way to
Speaker 1: get to a big city, it's really prohibitive. Women started
Speaker 1: telling their stories about actually crossing the border into Mexico
Speaker 1: because to get an illegal abortion. Because what we do
Speaker 1: know is that abortion existed before it was legal. It
Speaker 1: was simply unsafe, and young, healthy women died in emergency
Speaker 1: rooms all across America. So to me, the most important
Speaker 1: thing we can do is get everyone preventive services, get
Speaker 1: birth control available, you know, everywhere we can, and then
Speaker 1: make sure that women can get safe and legal abortion
Speaker 1: and get it early when it's frankly as safest for women,
Speaker 1: because let's face it, nothing is full proof, right right,
Speaker 1: And can any of these laws be overturned. I mean
Speaker 1: now that there's obviously been a backlash against these laws,
Speaker 1: that it's it's hurting women, as you mentioned, with the
Speaker 1: least amount of access. So other than telling their stories,
Speaker 1: what can be done or changing the face of the legislature. Well,
Speaker 1: of course, I think that's most important now is if
Speaker 1: if women voted in bigger numbers, we would change the
Speaker 1: direction political direction. And it's interesting since this administration has
Speaker 1: come in the consciousness of women and men in this
Speaker 1: country about the threat to reproductive rights and healthcare is
Speaker 1: very very high. This is going to be a highly
Speaker 1: motivating issue, I think this November, and I imagine in
Speaker 1: as well. The other thing, of course is litigating and
Speaker 1: in fact Texas because people never gave up. And I
Speaker 1: tell this story in my book, is that even though
Speaker 1: the legislature passed these really very bad bills against women,
Speaker 1: eventually the Supreme Court, with three women on the court,
Speaker 1: which made all the difference, overturned the law. So I
Speaker 1: think that it's a it's something we have to continue
Speaker 1: to fight. But I do think it's important that women
Speaker 1: vote um and recognize that that their voices are going
Speaker 1: to be incredibly important. So a couple of things. One,
Speaker 1: is it actually true that women are more pro choice
Speaker 1: than men? Because I've seen some survey research that indicates
Speaker 1: there's not a huge difference between the genders. It's um.
Speaker 1: I mean, it kind of depends on what you look at,
Speaker 1: but yes, men are equally supportive of abortion rights in
Speaker 1: some cases. It's funny though, at least in my experiences,
Speaker 1: it tends to be an issue that women vote on more. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I was actually just looking at the most
Speaker 1: recent polls that are coming out that not only support
Speaker 1: Plan parented, support funding for a Plan parented, they're also
Speaker 1: showing the strongest support for Roe versus Wade since it
Speaker 1: was decided. And actually we're at the lowest abortion rate ever,
Speaker 1: and I think the gender difference isn't as great as
Speaker 1: you might imagine. Many men, you know, they understand the
Speaker 1: importance of not only access to safe and legal abortion,
Speaker 1: actually access to birth control to late term abortions have
Speaker 1: been such a contentious issue, and I think it's something
Speaker 1: that people feel uncomfortable discussing, really don't want to talk about,
Speaker 1: and don't necessarily understand. And I think most most women,
Speaker 1: even those who are very pro choice and feel like
Speaker 1: women should have access to abortion, feel un comfortable with
Speaker 1: the notion of an abortion after a certain period of time.
Speaker 1: So can you help us understand that? Seceial and give
Speaker 1: us some some real world numbers and circumstances, because I
Speaker 1: think that's helpful for people to hear. Sure, and I
Speaker 1: think I want to have to go back and check
Speaker 1: and I think my numbers are right. But um, almost
Speaker 1: every abortion it happens before twenty weeks. I mean I
Speaker 1: think it's like like up in the high ninety percent. Um.
Speaker 1: What I from talking to O. B. G. Y N S,
Speaker 1: who I really respect because they deal with some of
Speaker 1: the most difficult pregnancies For women who terminate after twenty weeks,
Speaker 1: it's usually from a medical complication, and these are often
Speaker 1: heartbreaking stories for families of very much wanted pregnancies that
Speaker 1: went wrong. And so what I've really grown to appreciate
Speaker 1: and respect, certainly in my nine time at planned parenthood
Speaker 1: is really the difficult and heartbreaking decisions that that women
Speaker 1: often and their families have to make with their medical
Speaker 1: provider about those pregnancies. And you can you give us
Speaker 1: some some examples that I know, I just think it
Speaker 1: for people to really grasp this, they have to appreciate
Speaker 1: sort of real world example. Well, I mean their stories. Uh.
Speaker 1: This is what's been amazing to me is to see
Speaker 1: families willing to go on television, uh and or go
Speaker 1: on and write their stories. These are stories that I
Speaker 1: think are so personal and so sad. They shouldn't have
Speaker 1: to share them with national television audiences, but they have
Speaker 1: been willing to because they feel it is so important.
Speaker 1: I was actually just with a couple and their child
Speaker 1: of in albany or Um. They were speaking at a
Speaker 1: m with a lot of legislators about their own pregnancy
Speaker 1: that she had had a had terminated a late term.
Speaker 1: She was there with her husband and they told the
Speaker 1: story of that pregnancy where it was incompatible with life,
Speaker 1: it was not going to survive, and it was heartbreaking
Speaker 1: for them. They had one of this baby, and now
Speaker 1: part of being able to terminate that pregnancy meant she
Speaker 1: could have a healthy pregnancy later and it meant the
Speaker 1: world to her. But those are the stories that families
Speaker 1: have had to tell and had to tell to folks
Speaker 1: in Congress. And again, I think it's just the danger
Speaker 1: of having politicians begin to play doctor um begin to
Speaker 1: make a decision a deeply personal decision for women and
Speaker 1: their families. Again, it's why I wish we could focus
Speaker 1: on We we could do so much more to make
Speaker 1: sure women never face an unintended pregnancy, or if they
Speaker 1: do that they can get the care they need early on.
Speaker 1: And we're doing a terrible job. But I think the
Speaker 1: later term issue is really used to criticize planned parenthood.
Speaker 1: So I think the more that that can be explained
Speaker 1: and understood, the better I think. There's you know, I
Speaker 1: find increasingly I know about you, um, Katie, but I
Speaker 1: find increasingly very few people who haven't known somebody either
Speaker 1: in their own family, UM, or a colleague or friend
Speaker 1: who hasn't gone through a really difficult pregnancy. And I
Speaker 1: think we need to show more empathy and compassion um,
Speaker 1: and not make this a political issue. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: politics writ large, Let's talk about the Trump administration. I
Speaker 1: know you've said this White House has been worse for
Speaker 1: women than any administration I've seen in my lifetime. Tell
Speaker 1: us the factors that contributed to that statement. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I mean the first is, of course, his first day
Speaker 1: in office or first action, was to in state the
Speaker 1: most restrictive global gag rule ever, and that was really
Speaker 1: to prevent access to family planning services, all kinds of
Speaker 1: other preventive health care for women around the globe. And
Speaker 1: we are seeing you know, because we work with women
Speaker 1: in Africa and Latin America, explain what that gag rule did.
Speaker 1: Just to remind our listeners, it basically would prevent anyone
Speaker 1: that either counsels women about their legal right to an abortion,
Speaker 1: some in some cases provides services, but even just the counseling,
Speaker 1: they would no longer be eligible to get federal funds
Speaker 1: to do not abortion services. No, no, as you said earlier,
Speaker 1: federal funds don't go for abortion services. But they couldn't
Speaker 1: even get money any anymore to do HIV prevention or
Speaker 1: maternal healthcare if they brought up the potent, if they
Speaker 1: even told women their legal rights. I mean, that's how
Speaker 1: restrictive this is, and women are suffering. Then of course
Speaker 1: this administration, Paul Ryan said his first month on the job,
Speaker 1: you know, our number one priority is going to be
Speaker 1: to overturn Obamacare and defund Plan Parenthood. So just putting
Speaker 1: aside defunding Plan parent which would have impacted millions of women,
Speaker 1: is that meant millions of women in this country who
Speaker 1: have relied on the Affordable Care Act to get healthcare
Speaker 1: would lose it. Women on Medicaid would lose their access
Speaker 1: to preventive care. There was even an effort in the
Speaker 1: White House they wanted to take away the obligation for
Speaker 1: women to be able to get maternity benefits. This is
Speaker 1: how far they have gone. It's not imp not only
Speaker 1: about birth control, we're even making it harder for women
Speaker 1: to get maternity care in America. And then, of course
Speaker 1: we've now seen under his Health and Human Services, which
Speaker 1: is the agency that deals with health care, and effort
Speaker 1: to basically end sex education for young people in many cases,
Speaker 1: which is I think, as a mother of three children,
Speaker 1: is just incredible. Uh and has tried to make it
Speaker 1: more difficult in that. I'm sorry to interrupt a number
Speaker 1: of people I know say, well, you know, I want
Speaker 1: my kids just taught abstinence. I don't want them taught
Speaker 1: about sex in school. That's my job as a parent.
Speaker 1: What's what's your response to that? Well, I mean, first, um,
Speaker 1: absolutely the best educators in America are parents. But also
Speaker 1: I think every parent, I'm really shocked you say that,
Speaker 1: because I've never heard a parents say that. Most parents say, well,
Speaker 1: please someone teach my young teach my kid about safe sex,
Speaker 1: including abstinence. I mean, every program plan parent runs has
Speaker 1: abstinence as part of it. But I think most parents
Speaker 1: realize at some point their son or daughter will probably
Speaker 1: become sexually active, and the worst thing that could happen
Speaker 1: would be that they're unsafe. It's interesting all the medical
Speaker 1: research shows that young people who get sex education they
Speaker 1: delay becoming sexually active, and when they do, they're much
Speaker 1: more likely to use prevention. So I actually think that
Speaker 1: the problem is not teaching abstinence. It's teaching abstinence and
Speaker 1: nothing else. And we know what happens when when you
Speaker 1: don't teach young people, as they get bad information or
Speaker 1: no information. I think teaching abstinence is insane. I think
Speaker 1: it should be part of the lexicon of sex. Yes,
Speaker 1: I mean yeah, I mean I just think it's completely unrealistic.
Speaker 1: I mean, remember when you were a teenage boy, Brian, oh,
Speaker 1: many many years ago. I personally I agree, I agree
Speaker 1: with you. I literally was having dinner with a woman
Speaker 1: last week who said to me that, you know, she
Speaker 1: was a very devout Christian, that she didn't believe that,
Speaker 1: you know, teachers in public schools should be discussing sex
Speaker 1: with kids. That was her fervent belief. And there are
Speaker 1: a couple of other people I've talked to who have
Speaker 1: similar beliefs. Can they can? They absolutely? And all in schools,
Speaker 1: I mean every at least when my kids went all
Speaker 1: the way through public school, and there was always an
Speaker 1: option to opt out. I think the problem is if
Speaker 1: you say, well that one person who doesn't want their
Speaker 1: child to have any sex education should then prevent every
Speaker 1: other child from having it. So and look, I mean
Speaker 1: when my kids went away to college, I was thank
Speaker 1: goodness they had had sex education in high school, because
Speaker 1: once you get to college, there's not a lot of
Speaker 1: other educational opportunities out there. So again, this is something
Speaker 1: that I find and we also had planned parented. We
Speaker 1: do a lot of sex education. We always include, you know, everything,
Speaker 1: including abstinence as an option. But we think it's important
Speaker 1: that young people just have the information they need to
Speaker 1: stay healthy and safe. And were you optimistic when you
Speaker 1: have that meeting with Avanca early on in the Trump
Speaker 1: presidency that there might be a little room for advocating
Speaker 1: for women. I was. I was skeptical, but I felt
Speaker 1: like if there was any opportunity to um really either
Speaker 1: educate her and Jared turned out came as well about
Speaker 1: what we do and how important we are at too
Speaker 1: many women in this country that I had to take
Speaker 1: that opportunity. What did you think of them? Uh? I
Speaker 1: mean I think they I think they were trying to
Speaker 1: figure out how to make a deal to make the
Speaker 1: issue go away. And essentially, well, essentially what Jared said
Speaker 1: was we would just like a headline that reads planned
Speaker 1: parent to discontinues abortion services, and um, I just said,
Speaker 1: we're not going to do that, that this is important
Speaker 1: for women. It's you know, they rely on us and
Speaker 1: we're not going to trade away their rights. But that
Speaker 1: was essentially I think they were. That was my impression
Speaker 1: of him, Um, that he wanted to make a deal.
Speaker 1: So what is the deal? So you guys put that
Speaker 1: headline out and and somehow there would be more funding
Speaker 1: for a planned parenthood. And again, being able to receive
Speaker 1: federal funding is incredibly important night and again I will
Speaker 1: talk to anyone any time about that and about the
Speaker 1: important care that it allows us to provide to women.
Speaker 1: But I wasn't going to trade away, um a right
Speaker 1: that women have and you know, in many states, we
Speaker 1: may be the only access to safe and legal abortion.
Speaker 1: They that I was shocked. I was shocked, and again.
Speaker 1: I had heard the President on the campaign trail of
Speaker 1: say that he knew many women had gotten great care
Speaker 1: from Planned Parenthood and really relied on them, but that
Speaker 1: he also wanted to defund us. And so I knew,
Speaker 1: at least somewhere in the back of his mind he
Speaker 1: he knew about the important work that we do. So
Speaker 1: that made me a little more hopeful. But it didn't
Speaker 1: work out, and so then we had to basically organize
Speaker 1: around the country to protect access to that care. Unfortunately
Speaker 1: we were able to what happened to President Trump in
Speaker 1: his supportive planned parenthood or is acknowledge that planned Parenthood
Speaker 1: provides critical services to women. I don't have the foggiest
Speaker 1: idea what's going on with President Trump. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Do you think Mike Pence has his ear on this issue?
Speaker 1: Mike Pence is opposed to reproductive healthcare for women, has
Speaker 1: been a staunch opponent not only of Planned Parenthood but
Speaker 1: of women's reproductive healthcare. So whether it's that influence, I
Speaker 1: just can't I can't begin to guess what is in
Speaker 1: the President's head. And what do you make of Ivanka
Speaker 1: Trump's role is the supposed advocate for women inside the administration.
Speaker 1: Do you think she's been able to get anything positive accomplished.
Speaker 1: I mean, I haven't seen anything. I think it's and look,
Speaker 1: I feel like she plays these two roles. One obviously
Speaker 1: is the President's daughter, and in that role she is,
Speaker 1: you know, should do whatever she feels like she needs
Speaker 1: to do. But she's now I think one of the
Speaker 1: highest ranking women in the White House, and I have
Speaker 1: been really disappointed, particularly in terms of women's access to healthcare. Um,
Speaker 1: how just how much they have tried to roll back
Speaker 1: women's access to care. And when we talk about the
Speaker 1: National Family Planning Program, which is really at risk in
Speaker 1: this administration, it was signed into law by a Republican president.
Speaker 1: This has been a bipartisan effort to make sure women
Speaker 1: have access to affordable birth control. And so I would
Speaker 1: have I would have hoped at least some of those
Speaker 1: really basic basic health care issues would have been supported
Speaker 1: by this White House, but they haven't. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: what's next for you, se Seal, because I know you're
Speaker 1: going to be working to help more women enter politics. Um,
Speaker 1: what will that look like? Well, I don't really know, Katie,
Speaker 1: And I'm kind of excited about just getting out there
Speaker 1: and hearing from women in the countryside. I think there
Speaker 1: is again we are seeing just record engagement by women,
Speaker 1: not only as activists, as marchers, as going to town
Speaker 1: hall meetings, you know, calling Congress, but now of course
Speaker 1: as candidates. I think we have twice as many women
Speaker 1: running for Congress as we did two years ago in
Speaker 1: my home state of Texas, the first two Latinas that
Speaker 1: probably will come to risk this year. That's really exciting
Speaker 1: to me. And I think there's just you know, doing
Speaker 1: all I can to both listen to what women care
Speaker 1: about and also making sure that they understand how important
Speaker 1: voting is to the issues that are important to them.
Speaker 1: Also giving them the confidence to take the plunge you
Speaker 1: talked about telling your mom, you know, are wondering if
Speaker 1: you were right for this job, you would never run anything.
Speaker 1: And I think so many women there's a real confidence gap.
Speaker 1: Men I think are overconfident about their abilities. And it
Speaker 1: was interesting, I'm doing these hours for National Geographic on
Speaker 1: big social issues, and they say when a woman fails,
Speaker 1: she blames herself. When a man fails, he blames other people.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think there's just this inherent confidence
Speaker 1: gap that really has to be tackled to get more
Speaker 1: women out there. I agree, and I that's why it
Speaker 1: is an exciting moment. I think the ground is shifting
Speaker 1: in the United States in terms of women doing things
Speaker 1: they never thought they could do before, whether it's run
Speaker 1: for office, organize in their community, stand up at a
Speaker 1: town hall meeting. I remember it was in Arizona, and
Speaker 1: I write about this in the book, seeing a sixteen
Speaker 1: year old stand up at a town hall meeting in
Speaker 1: front of hundreds of strangers and take on a United
Speaker 1: States Senator about her her need to access Plan parent
Speaker 1: to finish high school. Those are the kinds of heroic
Speaker 1: stories that to me are um that say maybe women
Speaker 1: are ready to you know, as we say, now you know,
Speaker 1: start before you're ready. Just get going. And as Mom
Speaker 1: used to say, never turned down a new opportunity. And
Speaker 1: what's the worst thing that could happen? You know, if
Speaker 1: it doesn't work out, you'll go do something else. And
Speaker 1: I think that more and more women are seeing that
Speaker 1: it's really exciting. So this is an exciting time for you.
Speaker 1: Are you going to miss being the head of Plan Parented,
Speaker 1: especially at a time when it's still under attack and
Speaker 1: in the cross hairs. Well, I mean I've done it
Speaker 1: for twelve years and it's been the I mean job
Speaker 1: of a lifetime for sure. But I think it's also
Speaker 1: important as a leader to step aside and make room
Speaker 1: for someone else. I think the organization is stronger now
Speaker 1: than ever. I mean, we've just you know, polling shows
Speaker 1: that membership shows that we now have I think more
Speaker 1: almost twelve million supporters, which is twice the membership of
Speaker 1: the n r A for example. So if all of
Speaker 1: those folks actually speak up, speak out vote, we really
Speaker 1: can change the direction of the country. You know, I
Speaker 1: think some people may listen to this podcast and the
Speaker 1: very rosy picture you've painted about you know, surveys around
Speaker 1: people being pro choice in the number of members and
Speaker 1: planned parenthood and other issues, and think themselves, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: but a couple of years ago we elected Donald Trump
Speaker 1: as president. We have unified Republican pro life, anti choice
Speaker 1: control of the Congress. Republicans are dominant politically across the country.
Speaker 1: How do you explain that disconnect? Well, I don't mean
Speaker 1: to be painting a rosy picture. I think it's all
Speaker 1: up to what people do. And look, the Republicans maybe
Speaker 1: in charge of Congress, but their actions aren't necessarily supported
Speaker 1: by people in this country. And so I think that's
Speaker 1: actually what we are seeing here is a Congress that
Speaker 1: is wildly out of step with where the American people are. UM.
Speaker 1: I mean, as we know, one of the reasons that
Speaker 1: planned parent it is still open all across the country
Speaker 1: was that we're Republican women stood up in the United
Speaker 1: States Senate and prevented, um prevented that from happening. So
Speaker 1: I do think it's a mistake to assume just because
Speaker 1: they're in power, and just because Donald Trump is in power,
Speaker 1: that somehow people support his agenda, because it's in pretty abundant,
Speaker 1: that abundantly clear from all all the polls and everything
Speaker 1: we've seen that the American people, uh don't necessarily support
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. And by the way, he got three million
Speaker 1: fewer votes than his opponent. And just to wrap things up,
Speaker 1: because we know you have to go secial, but looking
Speaker 1: ahead to two thousand eighteen, of course, they're prognostic eights
Speaker 1: all over the place of what do you think is
Speaker 1: going to happen in terms of the congressional the midterm
Speaker 1: elections and is there anybody you're looking at or hoping
Speaker 1: for in look, I think is just completely wide open,
Speaker 1: and it looks like everybody in the world is thinking
Speaker 1: about running, and I think that's good. And not me,
Speaker 1: but a lot of people are talking about running, and
Speaker 1: I think that's really really exciting, including a lot of
Speaker 1: including a lot of women. I have no idea what's
Speaker 1: going to happen in ten but I do know from
Speaker 1: this and over this last fourteen months, we have seen
Speaker 1: um women and others absolutely beat all odds, you know,
Speaker 1: And that's what happened. And just to bring it back
Speaker 1: to my experience with and Richards again, which I write
Speaker 1: in my book, no one ever thought she could win.
Speaker 1: We never had a single pole showing that she was
Speaker 1: going to win, including the day before the election. But
Speaker 1: she did win because there was a grassroots explosion of
Speaker 1: energy and Texas that that put her over the edge.
Speaker 1: And I hope that that's an inspiration for people to
Speaker 1: think that you never know what that one thing you
Speaker 1: do that might make a difference. Uh so just get
Speaker 1: out here and do it well. Apathy is no longer
Speaker 1: an option. Is that really? That's right? I think that's right,
Speaker 1: and it to me, it's always been so madening to
Speaker 1: see the number of people who don't get out to vote.
Speaker 1: It just makes me insane. It's heartbreaking, and I think
Speaker 1: one of the things I do hope to work on
Speaker 1: in the next few months is that many of the
Speaker 1: laws have been passed actually make it harder for people
Speaker 1: to vote, including women and working women, and so we
Speaker 1: have to do an extra special job to make sure
Speaker 1: they can get to vote before we wrap the seal.
Speaker 1: Your daughter worked for Hillary, she's now Kamala Harris's press secretary.
Speaker 1: How hard do you think it is in this country
Speaker 1: to elect a woman as president? Because a number of
Speaker 1: senior women on Hillary's campaign, so that they really underestimated
Speaker 1: the sexism that they think really prevented Hillary from crossing
Speaker 1: the finish line. Yeah, um, so just once like correction,
Speaker 1: Lily is her communications director, Lily Adams my daughter, just
Speaker 1: you know from no uh And I mean it's a
Speaker 1: real or real honor to work for Pamala. Look, I
Speaker 1: would say that our senator here is I think that
Speaker 1: the important thing about Hillary running um was that it's
Speaker 1: it was hard, It was a you know, there was
Speaker 1: a double standard there probably always will be. But it's
Speaker 1: going to be easier for the next woman who runs.
Speaker 1: So I absolutely think a woman is electable in this country.
Speaker 1: But it's gonna just keep trying and trying and trying.
Speaker 1: As we always say his progressives, you lose, you lose,
Speaker 1: you lose, and then you win, and when you do
Speaker 1: it's huge. So it just means you have to keep trying.
Speaker 1: I was wondering if how much Clinton fatigue also fed
Speaker 1: into the thing with Hillary, you know, because sometimes I think, yes,
Speaker 1: very sexist gender hurt her in many ways. But I
Speaker 1: also feel like people I don't know if people were
Speaker 1: retired of the Clintons a little bit, weren't they. Well,
Speaker 1: I just think, look, there's always going to be a
Speaker 1: reason why. You know, there's no no one's perfect, No
Speaker 1: one's a perfect candidate, and I've I have worked and
Speaker 1: tried to help elect many imperfect male candidates. So I
Speaker 1: think somehow we always think women have to there. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is what mother would say, you know, we're expected
Speaker 1: to be perfect in every single way. And uh so again,
Speaker 1: I think there are many women in the field now,
Speaker 1: women who are in office, women who are business leaders.
Speaker 1: I think there are a lot of women who would
Speaker 1: make a great president. And I think a lot of
Speaker 1: women are looking around, looking at who's in office and
Speaker 1: saying I think I could do a better job than
Speaker 1: the guy who's in there. Cecile Richards. The name of
Speaker 1: the book is make Trouble, standing up, speaking out, and
Speaker 1: finding the courage to lead right on system. Thank you, Thanks,
Speaker 1: thank you as always to the Currect Podcast production squad
Speaker 1: are pod Squad. That's johnnah Palmer our producer, Jared O'Connell,
Speaker 1: our audio engineer, Nor Richie, our assistant producer, and special
Speaker 1: thanks today to Julian Nicholson from the Invisible Studios, who
Speaker 1: is here in l A. Thanks to Alison Bresnik who
Speaker 1: keeps my social media buzzing, the wonderful Emily Bena over
Speaker 1: at Katie Currect Media, and it's always my assistant who
Speaker 1: is great, Beth the Mos. Katie and I are the
Speaker 1: show's executive producers. Mark Phillips wrote our theme music and
Speaker 1: as I said during the break, we want to hear
Speaker 1: your thoughts on Confederate iconography. I just like to use
Speaker 1: the word iconography. I feel like it makes me sound
Speaker 1: so smart. Do you think Confederate statues in the South
Speaker 1: really they're also in other places across the country, by
Speaker 1: the way, not just the South should be removed? Why
Speaker 1: or why not? The number to call again is nine
Speaker 1: to nine, two to four, four six, three seven or
Speaker 1: right in it comments at current podcast dot com. You
Speaker 1: can of course email us also with your guest ideas,
Speaker 1: questions and feedback to You can find me on Twitter
Speaker 1: at Goldsmith b. Katie of course is under Katie Kuric
Speaker 1: on just about every major social media platform. She's been
Speaker 1: insta storying up a story. Have been up a storm
Speaker 1: literally because it's it's snowing here today, so I have
Speaker 1: been insta storing up a storm. Anyway, that does it
Speaker 1: for us. As always, thank you all so much for listening.
Speaker 1: We really would love to hear your feedback because we
Speaker 1: want this to be an interactive medium for all of us.
Speaker 1: So we'll talk to you next week and have a
Speaker 1: great day. Bye bye y