Speaker 1: Uh, yeah, the podcast has started. Oh let's start. This
Speaker 1: is this addict that happened here? This is it could
Speaker 1: happen here. That's right, and you're Robert Evans. We also
Speaker 1: have Shrine, Lanny Unis and Christopher Wong with us. Christopher, Hi, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess I'm sort of running this show today, even
Speaker 1: to Robert has You're right done? The intro question mark? Um,
Speaker 1: always with a question mark. That's how the pros do it.
Speaker 1: Can you can tell professionals? Yeah? But speak speaking of professionals,
Speaker 1: we have we have Karina Domingus with us, who is
Speaker 1: in fact actually a professional and has spent eight years
Speaker 1: working in reproductive health issues of Karina. Welcome to the show,
Speaker 1: and thank you for joining us. Thank you, thank you
Speaker 1: for having me. It's lovely to have you on, Karina.
Speaker 1: What's uh, what's going on? How are thanks? Things? Things
Speaker 1: are okay? I think I can say that doesn't seem true, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but they're okay. Um, yeah, okay. I pulled out of
Speaker 1: a crash truck once and as I was trying to
Speaker 1: like staunch the bleeding from a cut in his hand,
Speaker 1: I asked how he was and he said, okay, So
Speaker 1: I'm guessing it's that kind of Okay, you nailed it. Yeah, Karina,
Speaker 1: do you wanna tell us a little bit about your
Speaker 1: background and the work that you do and you know
Speaker 1: why why why? We We just really wanted to have
Speaker 1: you on the show. Yeah, I would love too. So again,
Speaker 1: my name is Karna Dominguez. I am from Chicago born
Speaker 1: and raised. UM. I've worked in reproductive health for about
Speaker 1: eight years, but really what I consider about fifteen years
Speaker 1: or so. UM. I have experience in working in the
Speaker 1: community and different capacities. UM. I love reproductive health. I'd
Speaker 1: consider myself a reproductive health nerd UM. And it all
Speaker 1: started when I was a teenager growing up in Chicago,
Speaker 1: where just in the city life, you see a lot
Speaker 1: of things that don't really sit well with you. UM.
Speaker 1: I knew a lot of young girls who were getting
Speaker 1: pregnant at young ages, experiencing trauma and specifically sexual trauma
Speaker 1: UM and not knowing who to go to or where
Speaker 1: to go. So these were mostly young girls of color
Speaker 1: who I cared for a lot. And I immediately knew
Speaker 1: that I wanted to do more activism and that I
Speaker 1: needed to do more activism. And the way my activism
Speaker 1: looks is through my education. So today I have a
Speaker 1: master's in Public Health UM and I also have a
Speaker 1: bachelor's in public health, and with that education, I've been
Speaker 1: able to provide sexual and reproductive health counseling. I practiced
Speaker 1: as a full spectrum dou LA where I have provided
Speaker 1: abortion care for people and also UM provided birthing care
Speaker 1: for people as well. I led a pregnant parenting program
Speaker 1: at a nonprofit for youth experiencing homelessness, and right now
Speaker 1: I currently manage a sexual and Reproductive health grant where
Speaker 1: we provide resources to treatment centers in the l A
Speaker 1: area to integrate sexual and reproductive health for patients and
Speaker 1: substance use disorder treatment. Cool. So we are slacking, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the thank you that made us want to
Speaker 1: chat with you. We were having a conversation show when
Speaker 1: the news first dropped that the Supreme Court was yeating
Speaker 1: Roe v. Wade into the sun UM. There were a
Speaker 1: couple of different news agencies that did like intern you know,
Speaker 1: while talking about what options we're going to remain for people,
Speaker 1: that would bring up crisis pregnancy centers, which are UM
Speaker 1: shady as hell. As I'm sure we're about to talk about.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so that's that's kind of why we brought
Speaker 1: you into what we brought you one initially to talk about.
Speaker 1: I wonder do you want to kind of introduce folks
Speaker 1: to what those are, because the gist of it is,
Speaker 1: if you like Google, how do I like find out
Speaker 1: if I'm pregnant or like you know, I'm pregnant and
Speaker 1: I need help, There's a good chance old Google will
Speaker 1: take you to one of these places, and they are,
Speaker 1: shall we say not what they seem to be? Yes,
Speaker 1: I think we can exactly say that, um and I
Speaker 1: am just going to say it in the most direct
Speaker 1: way I possibly could. A crisis pregnancy center is essentially
Speaker 1: a fake medical facility that prays on vulnerable people, specifically
Speaker 1: people who can become pregnant. So yeah, you know, we
Speaker 1: can use the term fake medical clinic, um I for
Speaker 1: the purpose just of using the most common term crisis
Speaker 1: pregnancy center, I'm going to stick to using that term. Um.
Speaker 1: But yes, there are a lot of concerns about this,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure our friend Google will pop them up
Speaker 1: for us really quick. Um. So, crisis pregnancy centers usually
Speaker 1: have names like Women's Pregnancy center or women's health center.
Speaker 1: Something health center UM, and it's a very misleading advertisement.
Speaker 1: So they are anti abortion facilities that manipulate people into
Speaker 1: having a full term pregnancy. So these places are usually
Speaker 1: religious oriented, They have a religious agenda and it's not
Speaker 1: patient lad. So some of these larger religious based organizations
Speaker 1: that fund these what we think are smaller tiny clinics
Speaker 1: are agencies or organizations like care Net, Heartbeat International, National
Speaker 1: Institute of Family and Life, Birthright International, and RAMA International.
Speaker 1: So a lot of times you might think you're going
Speaker 1: to the small, little tiny clinic or maybe it's even
Speaker 1: like a community medical mobile unit, and it turns out
Speaker 1: there backed by big money and bigger agencies. So they
Speaker 1: typically will implant themselves in communities of color, um, near
Speaker 1: college campuses and low income neighborhoods. So what is that saying.
Speaker 1: That's saying that this is a woman's issue, this is
Speaker 1: a trans issue, this is an lgbt q I A issue,
Speaker 1: this is a bipoc issue, Black Indigenous people of color,
Speaker 1: and it's simply just an issue for everyone. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: it's so one of the things that's kind of messy
Speaker 1: about these places is that if you look at like
Speaker 1: investigations into how they work, you'll run into a number
Speaker 1: of stories of women who are like, hey, I actually
Speaker 1: like always intended to go through with my pregnancy. I
Speaker 1: just needed to like know that number one, know that
Speaker 1: I was pregnant. I needed to test or something, and
Speaker 1: these people advertised they would provide that for free. The
Speaker 1: advertise that they were providing stuff like diapers, you know,
Speaker 1: basic kind of supplies, formula for free, um. And some
Speaker 1: of them do, most of them due to some extent,
Speaker 1: but nearly all of them have some sort of like
Speaker 1: and this is outside of kind of the abortion aspect,
Speaker 1: access of it, have some sort of fucked up hoops
Speaker 1: you have to jump through in order to actually get
Speaker 1: access to any of that stuff. Absolutely, yeah, I'm really
Speaker 1: glad that you brought up, like the diaper point. I
Speaker 1: think that is a really essential thing because they don't
Speaker 1: not give out stuff, right, but it's it's messier than
Speaker 1: they want to portray it as. Yeah, yeah, totally. And
Speaker 1: and to form of manipulation, right, And I think too,
Speaker 1: it's a form of manipulation too, to deem yourself a
Speaker 1: full functioning medical facility where they actually don't provide those
Speaker 1: comprehensive services and sometimes you know, they might even stay
Speaker 1: on the outside like HIV testing, s I v M,
Speaker 1: STI testing, HIV testing, UM and they're simply not evidence
Speaker 1: based practices. So what I mean by an evidence evidence
Speaker 1: based practice is something like condom use. We know very
Speaker 1: well at this day and age that condoms are essential
Speaker 1: to prevent s t I S and HIV transmission. So
Speaker 1: a lot of these clinics they might even say like,
Speaker 1: condoms don't decrease your chances of s t I S,
Speaker 1: they don't really matter. They're not really doing anything. And
Speaker 1: that is a really big piece of information that we
Speaker 1: need to know as the average person, because that means
Speaker 1: we have a lot of young people going to these
Speaker 1: clinics and having even their foundational sexual health education at
Speaker 1: these facilities. So this is a really really important thing
Speaker 1: to take note of. UM And I would say that
Speaker 1: you know a lot of people even in my life,
Speaker 1: that have gone to crisis pregnancy centers by accident. Um
Speaker 1: are you know, being told that they can do STI testing,
Speaker 1: HIV testing, and even birth control and then as soon
Speaker 1: as you go there, you realize that's not what's happening.
Speaker 1: Usually it's going to be a lot of pregnancy related
Speaker 1: services like ultrasounds and pregnancy tests, which we know if
Speaker 1: you're an actual clinic that's those aren't the only things
Speaker 1: that someone would need for essential health care. But I
Speaker 1: would say even more like going into the manipulation and um,
Speaker 1: the gas lighting that they do within these facilities, which
Speaker 1: in my eyes is medical violence. UM. They provide even
Speaker 1: mandatory ultrasounds, make someone sit there to look at the ultrasound.
Speaker 1: They make fearful videos of misleading information about what abortions are,
Speaker 1: and sometimes even have someone who is not a medical
Speaker 1: provider showing what an abortion is in their eyes, and
Speaker 1: the video maybe of a baby that's whose limbs are
Speaker 1: being ripped apart um, even giving information like abortions can
Speaker 1: lead to breast cancer, or if you have abortion, you'll
Speaker 1: never be able to have a child, and this is
Speaker 1: your one and only opportunity UM. And sometimes even going further,
Speaker 1: you know they are sneaky and what they do, because
Speaker 1: they might even have programs that will say parent program
Speaker 1: UM or youth sexual health program and even with that,
Speaker 1: they're giving religious based agendas UM, and they are telling
Speaker 1: people misinformation about sexual health and even so might even
Speaker 1: talk about UM very heterosexual sex marriage. All of the above,
Speaker 1: So there is a very specific agenda that is going
Speaker 1: on here. Um. And we know too that a lot
Speaker 1: of these agencies can be really sneaky with what they're
Speaker 1: doing because they may even deny they are a crisis
Speaker 1: pregnancy center, and even further, if you go onto their website,
Speaker 1: they might not even have any language that they're religious
Speaker 1: based or that they are, um, not providing comprehensive services.
Speaker 1: So there are a lot of different tactics that are
Speaker 1: you know, within the manipulate manipulative strategies that they use. Yeah.
Speaker 1: One of the things I've heard a lot about is
Speaker 1: like basically like not not literally physically forcing but like
Speaker 1: terrorizing people into signing like fake legal documents saying they
Speaker 1: won't get an abortion, which like really like every description
Speaker 1: I've heard about that, it is just like this is
Speaker 1: just terrorism. That's absolutely um. Yeah, And I find that
Speaker 1: to be really interesting. I have never heard of that happening.
Speaker 1: But just because I haven't specifically heard of that does
Speaker 1: not mean it's not happening. Um. And I think that
Speaker 1: you know, there, they're not all made the same, um.
Speaker 1: They all function differently, And I think that's also what
Speaker 1: is really confusing about them because they're not consistently all
Speaker 1: doing the same thing. There are still other facilities that
Speaker 1: they might do STI testing, they might do HIV testing,
Speaker 1: and so to hear that is not shocking to me.
Speaker 1: Um And the manipulative tactics that they are using for
Speaker 1: people and yeah, I mean hip book goes out the door.
Speaker 1: You know, any legal backing goes out the door with
Speaker 1: these facilities because they are not based on providing patient
Speaker 1: led services in the first place. Maybe this is an ignorant,
Speaker 1: ignorant train of thought, but if they're providing all of
Speaker 1: these like free ish services or like whatever to these
Speaker 1: people that are desperate and um, it sounds like a
Speaker 1: lot of them are like privately funded by these organizations,
Speaker 1: and the shadows like what how do they benefit? Like
Speaker 1: where like what is there other than like imposing religiou
Speaker 1: and other people, but like like financially and like I'm confused,
Speaker 1: where how they're still able to function? Yes, they function
Speaker 1: very well and without a problem. Um And as I mentioned,
Speaker 1: there's you know, five larger organizations that are funding a
Speaker 1: lot of these CPCs, but they are also um this
Speaker 1: is to be noted. They are on the CDC website,
Speaker 1: they are on the CDC directory as places that provide
Speaker 1: essential services. So I think that also goes to speak
Speaker 1: to the confusion around CPCs. And I'm just gonna go
Speaker 1: out in the limb and say I'm going to give
Speaker 1: the CDC benefit of the doubt although they do not
Speaker 1: deserve that, and say that, um, they themselves may not
Speaker 1: recognize what what these agencies are doing. And so I
Speaker 1: think that's where the awareness around the actual function of
Speaker 1: the CPCs and how they even exist in the first
Speaker 1: place needs to be shut down. And awareness needs to
Speaker 1: be brought about these places. And and we know that
Speaker 1: thirteen of them are funded by their states, so they
Speaker 1: are getting direct government money to be able to function
Speaker 1: and then on top of that also functioning with the
Speaker 1: backing of their larger organizations. Wow, are they getting federal
Speaker 1: funding too? Like I have some vague memories of like
Speaker 1: Bush administration programs that we're funding. Just I mean, if
Speaker 1: I'm not mistaken, Trump pushed a bunch of federal funds
Speaker 1: towards these facilities. Yes, yeah, I wonder, Sorry, ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 1: I was just I was wondering, like I wonder if
Speaker 1: there's a um like one or two things you need
Speaker 1: to qualify as like a what's what how did you
Speaker 1: put it on the website? CDC uh um like they
Speaker 1: offer like services, like maybe it's like, oh, this place
Speaker 1: has an ultrasound. These are like this is why this
Speaker 1: is on, you know what I mean? Like, I wonder
Speaker 1: if they just like pick and choose the bare minimum
Speaker 1: of things to like qualify to be UM considered among
Speaker 1: like people that offer like full fledged care. But I
Speaker 1: don't know what it's all scam, I don't Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I mean I think that also is just a really UM.
Speaker 1: I like that you bring that up, because I think
Speaker 1: that would be a really ignorant perspective from the CDC
Speaker 1: to think that a place that gives a pregnancy test
Speaker 1: or an ultrasound right away is not necessarily your average
Speaker 1: healthcare setting. UM. When someone is going into an appointment,
Speaker 1: typically you know they're not getting an ultrasound right away.
Speaker 1: Typically you're average person whom I think they're pregnant is
Speaker 1: going into a medical facility, is going to do a
Speaker 1: pregnancy test. Sure, but they're not just gonna immediately the
Speaker 1: first twenty minutes you're there do an ultrasound. UM. And
Speaker 1: especially knowing our healthcare system and the United States. You
Speaker 1: know that might require referrals and another facility to get
Speaker 1: that done, and you know that depends on what your
Speaker 1: insurances and what you can pay for and etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 1: But I think it's a really big red flag to
Speaker 1: just have a facility that has pregnancy tests and ultrasounds.
Speaker 1: That to me is, you know, if I see on
Speaker 1: a website that those are the only two services that
Speaker 1: healthcare clinic is claiming to provide, I'm running away and
Speaker 1: I'm not going there because that's very odd. Well, it's
Speaker 1: it's very manipulative, because it's it's one of those things.
Speaker 1: One of the ways in which you can tell is
Speaker 1: something healthcare related shady as fuck is does it take
Speaker 1: advantage of the fact that very basic things that you
Speaker 1: need are extremely expensive um, And like ultrasounds, pregnancy tests,
Speaker 1: this can all be like STD tests, you know, can
Speaker 1: all be really really pricey um. And it's just so
Speaker 1: like it's fucked up that this is kind of how
Speaker 1: they're funneling religious dollars towards taking advantage of the fact
Speaker 1: that a lot of people, like legitimately some people who
Speaker 1: use these facilities. I don't know what else to tell them.
Speaker 1: Because it's like, well, we don't provide people with a
Speaker 1: lot of options in this country everywhere, you know, for
Speaker 1: for some of these services. Yeah, totally. And I do
Speaker 1: want to go into some of the people doing work
Speaker 1: and I want to really highlight what they're doing. UM.
Speaker 1: So I want to give the utmost credit to two people,
Speaker 1: UM who I do not know personally but would definitely
Speaker 1: love to UM Dr Andreas Warton Rubber and Dr Danielle Lambert.
Speaker 1: They're both associate professors at the School of Public Health
Speaker 1: at University of Georgia and they're both co founders of
Speaker 1: the CPC Maps, which originated in two thousand and eighteen.
Speaker 1: So yes, there's a brilliant map where you can search
Speaker 1: these CPCs that are close to you. UM. And in
Speaker 1: my eyes, this map is truly a piece of gold
Speaker 1: because I myself have found ones that are in my
Speaker 1: area UM and was very beneficial when I was working
Speaker 1: with clients myself directly and would refer people to different services.
Speaker 1: So this is a really great tool for healthcare professionals
Speaker 1: and social service workers, et cetera to refer to UM.
Speaker 1: And I can't even explain how grateful I am to
Speaker 1: know that there's ongoing research about the distraught impact of
Speaker 1: these clinics and the distraught impact they have on our
Speaker 1: health care system and the ability to find an abortion provider. UM.
Speaker 1: So again I hope that every service provider can find
Speaker 1: these this map, UM and use this map and really
Speaker 1: spread awareness around this. So. UM, what I want to
Speaker 1: highlight and what these two doctors have found is that
Speaker 1: just to give some more context, every single state has
Speaker 1: multiple CPCs, multiple not just one, not to multiple there
Speaker 1: are CPCs and throughout the United States, and that is
Speaker 1: obviously a much larger number than the health departments in
Speaker 1: the United States. And you know, as I mentioned, we
Speaker 1: know the CDC directory utilizes CPCs on their website and
Speaker 1: again thirteen states are funded or are funding CPCs UM.
Speaker 1: So their advertisements are going far and wide. UM. And
Speaker 1: to even go further, in the state of California, the
Speaker 1: California Woman's Law Center says that there are more CPCs
Speaker 1: then there are abortion clinics. So I think in this time, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we should be scared. That is really that's a really
Speaker 1: concerning statistic, and especially looking at how we are going
Speaker 1: to be and already are a haven state, we are
Speaker 1: going to be a haven state for all the states
Speaker 1: around US and for people throughout the United States. So
Speaker 1: what is that saying when we are a haven state,
Speaker 1: yet we are still competing with our local anti abortion
Speaker 1: strategies ourselves, we are still putting up a fight as
Speaker 1: a haven state, and I think that is so concerning. UM.
Speaker 1: And even further, just to give some more statistics, we
Speaker 1: know that of the clinics that CPCs that did not
Speaker 1: offer SCI testing also will not refer out. We know
Speaker 1: that eight offer HIV testing and that did not offer
Speaker 1: HIV testing also did not refer out. So just to
Speaker 1: summarize those numbers for you, what that data is telling
Speaker 1: me is that these clinics are not accounting for the
Speaker 1: health of the pregnant person, nor are the accounting for
Speaker 1: the health of the fetus if that pregnancy goes full term.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean I have even you know, more
Speaker 1: stats as you know your reproductive health nerd um of
Speaker 1: one of my favorite research institutes called the gut Mocker Institute,
Speaker 1: and they are phenomenal and have really great data UM.
Speaker 1: And if you haven't checked out their website, you definitely should. UM.
Speaker 1: But since we're on the bandwagon of talking about religious
Speaker 1: based affiliations. We know that seventeen percent of abortion patients
Speaker 1: are oh sorry, um okay um. Seventeen percent of abortion
Speaker 1: patients identify five themselves as mainline Protestant, as Evangelical Protestant,
Speaker 1: and percent is Catholic. Thirty eight percent have no religious affiliation,
Speaker 1: and the remaining eight percent reported a different religious affiliation.
Speaker 1: So let's summarize that religiously affiliated people are still seeking
Speaker 1: abortions too. Would you look at that ignorance is so bliss.
Speaker 1: We know that abortions are affecting people who are living
Speaker 1: in poverty and who are low income. So we know
Speaker 1: of people that are seeking abortions are either living in
Speaker 1: poverty or our low income UM. And fortunately you know,
Speaker 1: throughout the past, we know that Medicaid has been a
Speaker 1: really big funder of abortion care UM, and especially we
Speaker 1: can say that in California too, UM, that about of
Speaker 1: abortion patients are using Medicaid, and that's throughout fifteen different states.
Speaker 1: So I imagine in this time right now too, that
Speaker 1: number is probably going to decrease. UM. So again talking
Speaker 1: about haven state that has these resources, we are probably
Speaker 1: going to be mixing up how that looks UM and
Speaker 1: knowing that fifty three percent of abortion patients pay out
Speaker 1: of pocket for their procedures is already a very concerning statistic.
Speaker 1: And so we are seeing how in our time right now,
Speaker 1: we have to be looking at different resources for people.
Speaker 1: We have to put on our activist hats, we have
Speaker 1: to be supporting our community, and we have to be
Speaker 1: supporting abortion funds because already fifty three percent of abortions
Speaker 1: are paid out of pocket. Um. And just to to
Speaker 1: summarize one more point eight percent of people who are
Speaker 1: using abortion services are going to be using those within
Speaker 1: the first twelve weeks. So um, we are eating to
Speaker 1: see a lot of activism around abortion pill distribution and
Speaker 1: abortion pill education and what that looks like. No, the
Speaker 1: to like piggyback off of what Robert was mentioning earlier
Speaker 1: about how it just feels like they're taking advantage of
Speaker 1: the fact that, like things cost so much money. And
Speaker 1: I feel like, if you this work is so important
Speaker 1: because I don't think a lot of people know what
Speaker 1: they're getting into. If they're like, because we don't have
Speaker 1: a great education system in general, let alone about like
Speaker 1: reproductive health or like what happens when you get pregnant.
Speaker 1: So if you're a young person or any age and
Speaker 1: you are desperate or you're feeling shame and you don't
Speaker 1: have support from your community or something, and you see
Speaker 1: an institution that's like free ultrasound or like whatever, it's
Speaker 1: like they're praying on this desperation. And I think one
Speaker 1: of the only things you can do to combat that
Speaker 1: is like trying to educate people as much as possible
Speaker 1: that like, I don't know, people are as um they
Speaker 1: don't have the good will and good faith that they
Speaker 1: present to be to have and I guess it just
Speaker 1: like ultimately you have to be distrusting of people. And
Speaker 1: maybe that's sad, but it's the truth. Yeah, definitely, And
Speaker 1: I will say I feel like I saw that as
Speaker 1: a service provider. Um So, as I mentioned, I worked
Speaker 1: in homeless services, specifically with youth homeless services, and you
Speaker 1: see that so much. You see how there is, you know,
Speaker 1: medical oppression for people of color. There is medical manipulation
Speaker 1: and violence for so many people in vulnerable situations. And
Speaker 1: as someone that has accompanied many people to abortions and births,
Speaker 1: I have observed that myself and I have seen how
Speaker 1: so more people than not are going to experience some
Speaker 1: type of medical manipulation, and especially if you are living
Speaker 1: in poverty ESPEC. Actually if you're a person of color,
Speaker 1: especially if you're lgbt q i A. This this issue
Speaker 1: does not just stop, you know, with CPCs. If we
Speaker 1: take out all the CPCs, we also have to address
Speaker 1: so much of the institutional institutionalized racism and all the
Speaker 1: things that exist around reproductive health UM, you know, starting
Speaker 1: at how to get contraceptives too, when can you have
Speaker 1: children and how can you be a parent, and that
Speaker 1: never ends throughout the cycle, you know, and that parents
Speaker 1: even after they have babies, even if they are a
Speaker 1: person of color, even if they are lgbt q A,
Speaker 1: you know, they are still told how, when, where they're
Speaker 1: going to parent UM. And there's so much control over
Speaker 1: that rhetoric for people. So you know, I mean that
Speaker 1: even goes back to me thinking about the sterilization trials
Speaker 1: that happened against USC in the seventies and how women
Speaker 1: were forcibly sterilized, and you know that has nothing to
Speaker 1: do with CPCs. But instead we're seeing that institutions are
Speaker 1: finding this control and having these agendas, and it is
Speaker 1: not serving our society. It is not serving our health
Speaker 1: and instead it is creating more trauma in our communities
Speaker 1: and it's it's crisis. Pregnancy centers are just one of
Speaker 1: many layers of medical oppression that we are witnessing in
Speaker 1: today's world. As a person who was working in homeless services,
Speaker 1: I was program planning for a lot of the resources
Speaker 1: that we were able to provide access to for my clients.
Speaker 1: So all of my clients at that time when I
Speaker 1: was running the Pregnant Parenting program at a nonprofit, they
Speaker 1: were either pregnant and or parenting while also experiencing their
Speaker 1: housing and security these UM, so I strived to find
Speaker 1: what the proper resources were for them to support them
Speaker 1: in every trauma informed way I possibly could, and that
Speaker 1: were youth friendly. So there was a local agency that
Speaker 1: was very very close to where I worked UM and
Speaker 1: their services always kind of felt like limited to me,
Speaker 1: So I met with them specifically to enquire because they
Speaker 1: were always trying to find some type of partnership with
Speaker 1: us and would knock on our door or call me.
Speaker 1: So I finally was able to give them some of
Speaker 1: my time UM and so their services always felt limited
Speaker 1: and non comprehensive, and I think that is the biggest
Speaker 1: kind of like takeaway. UM. They always gave me really
Speaker 1: weird reasoning why they didn't provide birth control or STI testing,
Speaker 1: and based on their answer, as I mentioned, I just
Speaker 1: did not allow the partnership to thrive. So when I
Speaker 1: did more research, I actually confirmed from another service provider
Speaker 1: that there from another agency that they were indeed a
Speaker 1: CPC before I could spread the word. They also already
Speaker 1: had several partnerships with other homeless service providers, so they
Speaker 1: wiggled their way in UM. And these other homeless service
Speaker 1: providers were also working with young vulnerable clients. So one
Speaker 1: day I was actually invited by another agency to come
Speaker 1: to this presentation where I didn't realize happened to be
Speaker 1: the CPC. UM. The CPC was presenting at this organization
Speaker 1: and it was one of their outreach workers explaining what
Speaker 1: their services were. So I took it upon myself to
Speaker 1: make sure that I sat in that meeting and I
Speaker 1: asked questions in the room with the other service providers.
Speaker 1: I think they're about thirty other service providers that were present,
Speaker 1: and I asked out loud, why doesn't your clinic provide
Speaker 1: birth control? And the woman from the CPC, who was
Speaker 1: the outreach worker said, we can't give paps mirrors, so
Speaker 1: we're unable to provide birth control. If you know anything
Speaker 1: side note if you know, yeah, I already see the questioning,
Speaker 1: which I'm glad I received that reaction, because that is
Speaker 1: the exact reaction audience, those of us with you, Uh,
Speaker 1: all of our heads tilted and our eyes squinting. Uh, exactly,
Speaker 1: please explain how that math doesn't work? Yeah, exactly. Side
Speaker 1: note for all the listeners, if you know anything about
Speaker 1: health care, you know that a paper is not associated
Speaker 1: with being able to be prescribed birth control. So as
Speaker 1: someone that has background in healthcare, has a master's in
Speaker 1: public health, worked as a Duelah. I continue to push
Speaker 1: back during the presentation, and it was very very clear
Speaker 1: that I was onto something. Um. So this woman again,
Speaker 1: she would always try to come around, give me pamphlets,
Speaker 1: try to have us partner and say she really want
Speaker 1: to work with us in our youth. Um. She stopped
Speaker 1: after that presentation. I can tell you that. But anyway,
Speaker 1: so I keep going. I reach out to a the
Speaker 1: person who organized that presentation for the CPC outreach person
Speaker 1: to attend and speak at. So I was like, I
Speaker 1: need to get to the bottom of this, and I
Speaker 1: need to spread this word UM and tell people, hey,
Speaker 1: you're getting people from CPCs to come and speak to
Speaker 1: you to advertise your services. UM. So I see SEED
Speaker 1: a lot of the other service providers, and I expressed
Speaker 1: my genuine concerns the lack of evidence based comprehensive care
Speaker 1: they provided. But unfortunately, the person who I emailed said,
Speaker 1: clients need to make sure those decisions are their own,
Speaker 1: so they can decide if they want to go or
Speaker 1: if they don't want to go. We can't force them
Speaker 1: to say yes or no to go to a health
Speaker 1: care fassity. So I responded by asking, but what if
Speaker 1: you thought you were seeing a doctor for your health
Speaker 1: care needs and then it turns out the health care
Speaker 1: provider is providing misinformation and might not even be a
Speaker 1: healthcare provider. UM. I never got a response from them,
Speaker 1: but I still continue to make sure that I was
Speaker 1: reaching out to everyone at that meeting and just raising
Speaker 1: awareness behind it. UM. And then I wanted to take
Speaker 1: it to UM. I wanted to take it a notch up.
Speaker 1: So I called both of this. Both of the locations
Speaker 1: of the CPC one is located in Westwood side note,
Speaker 1: next to u C. L A. The other one was
Speaker 1: in South l A side note, community of Color. Both
Speaker 1: of my calls led me to the person on the
Speaker 1: phone telling me that they don't know where to send
Speaker 1: me for an abortion and that they didn't know what
Speaker 1: what Planned Parenthood was, what they did, or where they
Speaker 1: relocated when I specifically asked. So they were obviously circumventing
Speaker 1: the ability to even talk about abortions and what it
Speaker 1: was um and that was all the concern that I
Speaker 1: genuinely needed. So in my present day, I'm still concerned
Speaker 1: with these clinics, this specific clinic that is local to me.
Speaker 1: I recently found out that in my present day work,
Speaker 1: there are currently three treatment centers that are using this
Speaker 1: crisis pregnancy center as a resource. So hopefully that means
Speaker 1: more to come, because I will be working on this
Speaker 1: and in this scenario, what I am doing as an
Speaker 1: activist and as a person who cares for my community
Speaker 1: is I will be educating these treatment centers about what
Speaker 1: crisis pregnancy centers are and how they can avoid them
Speaker 1: and what comprehensive services actually look like. Have there been
Speaker 1: more sort of widespread like organizations who are working too
Speaker 1: like a let people know what they are and then
Speaker 1: be also trying to get them like not to be funded. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: there are and we need to shout them out. UM.
Speaker 1: There are. There is an abortion fund UM in Cali,
Speaker 1: Fornia called Access. They are wonderful UM. They provide abortion
Speaker 1: advocacy and awareness and education and they also provide direct
Speaker 1: services UM and fund different They have fund abortions in
Speaker 1: different capacities, so they might be funding the abortion services,
Speaker 1: the lodging, the transportation, and even a doula. And they
Speaker 1: partner with a lot of other agencies that are doing
Speaker 1: the work. The agency is called Reproductive Transparency Now and
Speaker 1: they are a Chicago based nonprofit. They provide a lot
Speaker 1: of information, data, awareness research UM to raise awareness around
Speaker 1: what CPCs are and why we should be avoiding them.
Speaker 1: And I think I can say that I have the
Speaker 1: same goal as them in my personal life, but to
Speaker 1: ensure that they do not exist and are all shut down. UM.
Speaker 1: So they are wonderful. I would highly suggest looking into
Speaker 1: Reproductive Transparency Now and also Active Sorry Access Reproductive Justice
Speaker 1: UM who are doing a lot of really great work.
Speaker 1: And then I also do want to squeeze in other
Speaker 1: resources for people as well. Yeah. UM, And you know,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned first and foremost, I think the number
Speaker 1: one thing we need to know is that crisis pregnancy
Speaker 1: centers should not exist in any capacity. UM. But if
Speaker 1: you are a person who's providing resources, who is working
Speaker 1: with clients, who works in healthcare treatment centers, wouldever it
Speaker 1: be please utilize Crisis Pregnancy Center map dot com. Again,
Speaker 1: this is the UM, the website that was created by
Speaker 1: two associate professors at University of Georgia, and I want
Speaker 1: to make sure that this spreads far and wide, UM,
Speaker 1: because is it will be the matter of providing referrals
Speaker 1: and circumventing CPCs UM. And I want to acknowledge that
Speaker 1: a lot of my data from this, from the information
Speaker 1: that I've been speaking on, is from the Crisis Pregnancy
Speaker 1: Center Map dot com UM, and from Reproductive Transparency as well. UM.
Speaker 1: So first and foremost that map is a necessity. UM.
Speaker 1: Another resource that I would like to share to be
Speaker 1: able to find your state's abortion fund is abortion Funds
Speaker 1: dot org and you can search state by state, so
Speaker 1: you know, I'm in California, so that's going to be access. Again,
Speaker 1: an organization that is an abortion fund, but they do
Speaker 1: more than than fund abortions. UM. I also really encourage
Speaker 1: people to find their local evidence based du lahs, midwives,
Speaker 1: women health practitioners near them. And I know that there's
Speaker 1: a lot of fear existing right now due to the
Speaker 1: inappropriate politicians that are making disgusting decisions, but know that
Speaker 1: abortion pills can be access and there are people that
Speaker 1: can help guide you through UM. So I would say
Speaker 1: making sure that we are accessing the resources on a
Speaker 1: website called plan c pill dot com. It's a great
Speaker 1: resource where you can find where to purchase abortion pills
Speaker 1: and where to seek medical and legal support as well.
Speaker 1: So if you have a question about how to take
Speaker 1: medical abortion pills, or you need to understand the legality
Speaker 1: of your state and the area near you, you can
Speaker 1: you can look on this website UM as a resource. UM.
Speaker 1: I just also want to emphasize like what community care
Speaker 1: looks like right now. UM. If you're a person who
Speaker 1: can get pregnant, this is truly a time to seek
Speaker 1: preventative care. And I know that that's a loaded can
Speaker 1: of worms for a lot of people. So I just
Speaker 1: I really want to plug this in if you would
Speaker 1: like to learn about pregnancy prevention you can take a
Speaker 1: look at bedsider dot org to assess your needs. I
Speaker 1: would highly recommend pairing that with talking to a provider
Speaker 1: who understands your lifestyle and can support you with finding
Speaker 1: one that works best for you, because every single contraceptive
Speaker 1: is going to look a little different. If you're a
Speaker 1: person who does not like birth control, I want you
Speaker 1: to know to please still seek preventative methods UM, whether
Speaker 1: that's a barrier method or whether that's more so of
Speaker 1: a holistic method like fertility awareness method. I encourage you
Speaker 1: to still speak to someone you can trust to ensure
Speaker 1: you're using that method correctly. And again there are duelas
Speaker 1: and midwives that can help guide you in the right
Speaker 1: direction for holistic practices UM. And to continue on to
Speaker 1: my community UH, my community kind of recognition. I hope
Speaker 1: that this is also time where if it's feasible for
Speaker 1: you too, if you can't yourself, find UM friends and
Speaker 1: family that you trust and people around you UM to
Speaker 1: either receive yourself or to get it from other people. UM.
Speaker 1: Have pregnancy tests around you and make sure that if
Speaker 1: you feel like you might be pregnant UM, whether you
Speaker 1: are using an actual method or if you're not using
Speaker 1: a method currently, make sure you very least have pregnancy
Speaker 1: tests around you, UM, so that you know you can
Speaker 1: detect early on if you are pregnant. UM. Normalize buying
Speaker 1: your friends pregnancy tests for their birthdays. I have. We
Speaker 1: just have to normalize that as a community, and normalize
Speaker 1: buying abortion pills in case someone you know might need
Speaker 1: them in the future, or it might be someone that
Speaker 1: you don't know who could use them. UM. And to
Speaker 1: have that accessible if that is feasible for you financially. Um.
Speaker 1: And then yeah, I think just to summarize, like, this
Speaker 1: is truly a time for community support and when the
Speaker 1: government doesn't support us, we we need to figure out
Speaker 1: unfortunately how and um, if you got the ability, go
Speaker 1: get uh, go get go get snipped. Uh. You know
Speaker 1: there's there's options out there. UMS. Yeah, I provide vasectomies
Speaker 1: by the way, if you can just find me in
Speaker 1: my house. UM. I'm not good at it yet, but people,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna figure it out. I'm gonna figure
Speaker 1: it out. For I got one of those I got
Speaker 1: one of those sharpening wheels, and my butter knives are
Speaker 1: pretty They've got a good edge. They got a good
Speaker 1: edge these days. It's genuinely incredibly disappointment disappointed, and you're
Speaker 1: not using the machete for this. This is this feels
Speaker 1: like a portrayal. Well, there's other reproductive healthcare I used
Speaker 1: the machete for, but that that that does have to
Speaker 1: do with crisis pregnancy centers action. Well, I'll have a
Speaker 1: bunch of referrals for you then, I know, or to
Speaker 1: send them. That that kind of leans into another topic
Speaker 1: I'm covering today. Unfortunately. Um well, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for coming on and for talking to us. This has
Speaker 1: been very enlightening. Um I wish uh it wasn't such
Speaker 1: a bleak subject. But people need to know the fox
Speaker 1: going on. People needed to know this a lot earlier.
Speaker 1: But you know, I mean, broadly speaking, the thing I
Speaker 1: keep coming back to in this whole fight is the
Speaker 1: frustration of like the rest of us, Like life is
Speaker 1: hard enough, There's like so much going on. People are
Speaker 1: like busy trying to trying to get by, trying to
Speaker 1: do their lives, trying to like find pieces of happiness
Speaker 1: in the world. And there's this fucking group of the
Speaker 1: worst people in the country that have just made this
Speaker 1: made fucking access to reproductive healthcare up for everyone the
Speaker 1: focus of their entire life for thirty years, and unfortunately
Speaker 1: now we have to like do that make the opposite
Speaker 1: the focus of our lives because we kind of just
Speaker 1: not all of us obviously, like you've been in this
Speaker 1: fight for a while, but most of us kind of
Speaker 1: we're not paying as much attention as needed to be paid.
Speaker 1: Um like most people in the end, I'm not trying
Speaker 1: to throw blame on folks, but like, clearly the majority
Speaker 1: of people in the country who support access to reproductive
Speaker 1: health care weren't paying enough attention, you know, Like that's
Speaker 1: the that's the only way to frame it totally. And
Speaker 1: it's almost as if we are picking up the mess
Speaker 1: that others are are creating. Um yeah. And you know,
Speaker 1: after experiencing COVID as a society, everyone's a public health
Speaker 1: professional now and a doctor. Um, so it's clearly, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sending referrals to you, thank you. Um yeah. And
Speaker 1: people have a lot of things to say. And with
Speaker 1: that being said, I'm really glad that that these are
Speaker 1: conversations being had. It. I'm glad that friends around me
Speaker 1: now who I have never known to talk about reproductive
Speaker 1: health are going there and talking about it and also
Speaker 1: opening the door up for you know, people like me
Speaker 1: to talk about evidence based practices and what the reality
Speaker 1: is and and who's doing the work, and um, everything
Speaker 1: that that focuses around reproductive health. So I I appreciate
Speaker 1: this conversation. I appreciate that there are podcasts discussing this information.
Speaker 1: It's necessary and these issues are not going anywhere, and
Speaker 1: you know, we're going a little backwards. So I really
Speaker 1: appreciate your time on this. Yeah, thank you for coming
Speaker 1: on the show. And UM, all right, everybody, that's the
Speaker 1: fucking episode, though, do something else. It could Happen Here
Speaker 1: is a production of cool Zone Media. Well more podcasts
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Speaker 1: You can find sources for It could Happen here, updated
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Speaker 1: for listening.