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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha roots stuff one never

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Speaker 1: told your production of iHeartRadio. And today for activists around

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Speaker 1: in the world, we kind of wanted to talk about

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Speaker 1: some of our allies in other countries around the world.

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Speaker 1: Uh recently we talked about the rebels of anti abortion

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Speaker 1: laws all around and we mentioned activists in Mexico who

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Speaker 1: have already been assisting pregnant people who are seeking abortion

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Speaker 1: access and care in Texas and of course all over

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Speaker 1: the United States. Now um And as a band has

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Speaker 1: spread throughout the country. One organization has been working for

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Speaker 1: reproductive rights and rights of women in Mexico, which is

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Speaker 1: LUs libres Um and so today we wanted to celebrate

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Speaker 1: their work and the work of one of their founders,

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Speaker 1: Veronica Crews. And of course, because we are talking about

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Speaker 1: abortion women's rights, there is a little bit of a

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Speaker 1: content warning here, So if that's something that you're trying

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Speaker 1: to not not linger on today, understandable, come back to it.

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Speaker 1: But this is something that we think it's important, especially

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Speaker 1: as we know they are one of our allies. As

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Speaker 1: I've been stioning before, as we are going through uh

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Speaker 1: this big change, as Roe V. Wade has been overturned

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Speaker 1: and vans are happening all across this nation, UM, left

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Speaker 1: and right. Uh Ohio is going through some things right now,

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Speaker 1: and we'll come back and focus on that on another episode,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure, But UM we thought it was important that

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Speaker 1: we recognize their work and what they've done. UM just

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Speaker 1: the case you're wondering. Less libres is translated as free

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Speaker 1: women or free people. UH and Then was founded in

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Speaker 1: two thousand one as a nonprofit seeking to work for

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Speaker 1: the rights of women throughout Mexico, specifically in uh Guanahato,

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Speaker 1: which they focus their time there. They've had spread since then,

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Speaker 1: obviously doing their amazing work. UM and their work has

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Speaker 1: made headlines all around the world as they've pushed to

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Speaker 1: advocate for the rights of women in their country, including

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Speaker 1: those uh again known as the Guanahato Women or says

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Speaker 1: Guanahato seven. But just to clarify the apparently or nine

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Speaker 1: women who were released, but that we're just going to

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Speaker 1: talk about the case in itself. Yes, UM into Fast

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Speaker 1: and eight last Leaps and Crews interviewed women who were

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Speaker 1: incarcerated to find out why they were currently imprisoned, and

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Speaker 1: crews discovered many of the women were in prison for

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Speaker 1: quote aggravated homicide of a family member um for the

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Speaker 1: death of their unborn child. After researching and digging deeper,

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Speaker 1: the different women had claimed either it was a miscarriage

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Speaker 1: or abortion, which was legal as several has stated they

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Speaker 1: were victims of rape UM so at the time abortion

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Speaker 1: was legal under the statutes. If rape was involved UM

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Speaker 1: and even if it wasn't legal, the actual jail time

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Speaker 1: would have only been three years rather than the thirty

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Speaker 1: many had been sentenced to. And in seven of the

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Speaker 1: women were finally released, though not exon or did after

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Speaker 1: they were able to get their cases reviewed. The sentencing

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Speaker 1: was changed and they had already served their sentences UM

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Speaker 1: and though it was a small victory, crews knew that

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Speaker 1: with appeals like these, it did not change how unjustly

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Speaker 1: the government punished women and continued to deny their human

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Speaker 1: rights right and just to clarify, the number had changed

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Speaker 1: from seven to nine probability, several other women from different

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Speaker 1: areas had also been released after they looked deeper into

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Speaker 1: the evidence, showing that yes, it was probably an abortion

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Speaker 1: or miscarriage. UM. Again, several of the women had been

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Speaker 1: had studied they were graped which was not uncommon, especially

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Speaker 1: or that it was under an arranged marriage, so of

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Speaker 1: course forced into that situation. Um And though she was

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Speaker 1: finally recognized for her work and advocacy and activism in

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Speaker 1: two thousands six as the first Mexican recipient of the

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Speaker 1: Defender of Human Rights by the Human Rights Watch, Crews

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Speaker 1: has been doing this work since she was in elementary school,

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Speaker 1: working to make sure children and need had toys and

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Speaker 1: food and candy, and then going on to traveling around

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Speaker 1: areas UM where women were not offered educational access, whether

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Speaker 1: it was due to economic or social reasons, to teach

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Speaker 1: women to read and write um and she continued that

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Speaker 1: in her education and her career as a licensed Clinical

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Speaker 1: and Forensic Social Workers o YEA social workers, and she

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Speaker 1: went beyond that becoming a leader with her community. She

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Speaker 1: organized workers to advocate for their own rights um and

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Speaker 1: when it came into their field, knowing what they had

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Speaker 1: and was able to access and to come together. And

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Speaker 1: she talked about understanding the power of collectivism, saying in

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Speaker 1: an interview quote, I have found in the world of

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Speaker 1: social activism the ideal space to struggle collectively against the

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Speaker 1: things that hurt us and at the same time for

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Speaker 1: those things that make us stronger. And she went on

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Speaker 1: in the same interview about how she discovered feminism and

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Speaker 1: their role of feminism in her life, saying this transforming

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Speaker 1: into the woman who would struggle forever against the system

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Speaker 1: that oppresses women by seeing them as having less human, social, political,

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Speaker 1: and economic worth. Since then, I have understood what it

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Speaker 1: is to be a strong woman who struggles, who raises

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Speaker 1: her voice, who expresses what she believes in feels, who dialogues,

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Speaker 1: who listens, who strives to uphold truth and reason. I

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Speaker 1: have understood that obstinacy, tolerance, tenacity, and my ability to

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Speaker 1: stay consistent would be my best weapons to assault, break,

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Speaker 1: tear down, and attack the patriarchal system that governs our

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Speaker 1: society and all the spaces that exist in our daily

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Speaker 1: life and in all environments, whether personal, family, community, or social.

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Speaker 1: But also do so with gusto from a position of

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Speaker 1: equality and as a citizen, and from profound human conviction.

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Speaker 1: This places the others at a disadvantage. And yeah, this

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Speaker 1: whole interview was amazing, and the interview was done by

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Speaker 1: Dangerous Women Project dot org And in the article is

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Speaker 1: why I'm not considered to be a dangerous woman Veronica story.

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Speaker 1: So if you want to read that, you should is

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Speaker 1: it is so empowering to hear her talk about her

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Speaker 1: being a dangerous woman and why men than governments who

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Speaker 1: oppressed people should be afraid and what they are doing

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Speaker 1: and why they're doing it. So if you'll have time,

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Speaker 1: go check that out. Um and yeah, she used all

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Speaker 1: of these in her work to fight for rights of

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Speaker 1: women in Mexico and seeing the dangerous women suffer due

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Speaker 1: to the lack of abortion access in Mexico, she worked

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Speaker 1: to help women on a practical level. Crews developed training

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Speaker 1: programs where volunteers could could assist in a company even

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Speaker 1: council women through abortion procedures, and more recently has been

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Speaker 1: assisting and getting safer abortion access through at home medically

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Speaker 1: induced procedures by mail or from a local pharmacy. But

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Speaker 1: it isn't just her work in abortion access and freedom,

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Speaker 1: but her work in teaching and advocating for young girls

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Speaker 1: around areas of Mexico that makes her so fierce. A

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Speaker 1: part of her program includes her and her workers to

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Speaker 1: teach safe and correct sex education to young girls and teens.

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Speaker 1: The groups worked with other anti women violence groups to

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Speaker 1: help elevate educational opportunities for young girls in the community.

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Speaker 1: And though Last Libres started small, they have since collaborated

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Speaker 1: with a Global Fund for Women to create an umbrella

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Speaker 1: organized Szation to decriminalize about the stigma or concerning women's

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Speaker 1: rights and working with stays and governments in trying to

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Speaker 1: create UH safe havens as well as opportunities to talk

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Speaker 1: about why it is important to decriminalize these things rights.

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Speaker 1: And as the current director of Las Libres, she has

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Speaker 1: continued to seek to gain access for women in her country.

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Speaker 1: In one thanks too many women like Cruise and organizations

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Speaker 1: like Plus three Brays, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that

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Speaker 1: penalizing abortion was unconstitutional, which opened the doors for more access.

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Speaker 1: But as Crews has said, quote, the fact that abortion

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Speaker 1: is a crime rather than a human rights reflects how

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Speaker 1: this system does not want women to be free. Um

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Speaker 1: And though she has said this about Mexico, we could

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Speaker 1: say the same about the US today. Um and she

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Speaker 1: and Las Debres have been showing their support for the

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Speaker 1: US as bands have been happening in this country. They

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Speaker 1: have been assisting those in Texas since the beginning of

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Speaker 1: these stringent UM whether it is in providing assistance physically

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Speaker 1: or in solidarity, they have been there and when it

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Speaker 1: came to what was happening with Roe v. Wade, of course,

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Speaker 1: UH Crews stated in an encouragement statement to the US saying, quote,

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Speaker 1: US women, please remember that things here in Guana Wato

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Speaker 1: used to be much worse than that than what women

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Speaker 1: are experiencing now in Texas. So don't give up hope.

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Speaker 1: Remember that we have a resource, the solidarity of women,

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Speaker 1: that goes beyond money. And we women, contrary to what

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Speaker 1: some men empower belief, count as people to remind male

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Speaker 1: policymakers at every opportunity that no one can claim to

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Speaker 1: support human rights without supporting the rights of women. UM.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, her works go beyond all of that. Just

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Speaker 1: researching how she has been such a fierce leader as

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Speaker 1: well as a loud voice in women's rights in Mexico,

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Speaker 1: it is uh inspirational to see. And yeah, Lost Liberals

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Speaker 1: has been doing so much to assist Texas, especially with

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Speaker 1: some of the probably most harsh bands we've seen in

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Speaker 1: the United States, and they continue to do so. Um.

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Speaker 1: They've kind of helped do a whole underground network for

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Speaker 1: Texas as it's been um, and it's unfortunate that we're here,

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Speaker 1: but it is great to see and always encouraging to

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Speaker 1: see when we have allies like Last Libres and Cruise

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Speaker 1: as well. Yes, yes, yes, yes, and always so important

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Speaker 1: to remember that there have been people doing this work

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Speaker 1: for so long UM and continue to do this work

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Speaker 1: so it's always a delight in an honor to shop

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Speaker 1: them out. So yes UM. And also, as always, listeners,

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Speaker 1: if you have a suggestion for this segment, please let

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Speaker 1: us know. You can email as at Steffanie and mom

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Speaker 1: Stuff at I hurt me dot com. You can find

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Speaker 1: us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast or on Instagram

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Speaker 1: at stuff When Never Told You. Thanks. It's always to

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Speaker 1: our super producer Chris Dona, thank you, and thanks to

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Speaker 1: you for listening Stuff I Never Told You. Protection by

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