WEBVTT - How the Right is Coming for Abortion Pills Next 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:08.080 Welcome back, Dick had happened here? Once again the folks 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.600 from It's going down or taking over the show? As 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:13.680 today we do a deep dive into how autonomous organizers 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:16.880 are pushing back against a wave of far right attacks 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:20.720 on reproductive freedom and autonomy across the United States. A 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:24.280 note to our listeners, this episode will include discussion on 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:28.080 both sexual and far right violence. I'm your host, Mike Andrews. 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:32.080 Let's get into it. In May of twenty twenty two, 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:35.519 Politico first reported on the historic league from the Supreme 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:39.200 Court about the overturning of Row versus Wade, the landmark 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:42.919 nineteen seventy three decision which ruled under the Fourteenth Amendment, 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:46.320 that a pregnant person has the right to privacy, including 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.560 the liberty to abort their fetus. In June of twenty 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:53.159 twenty two, the Dabb's Decisions struck down Row, ruling that 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:56.320 the Constitution does not guarantee a person the right to 0:00:56.360 --> 0:01:00.600 an abortion, triggering a wave of state governments rolling abortion 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:03.680 rights and access for many. However, the fall of Row 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:07.520 only further cemented a lack of access to reproductive healthcare 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:11.640 has already been the norm for millions. As the Hill wrote, quote, 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:15.120 as of twenty twenty, six states had only one abortion 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:18.400 clinic each in eighty nine percent of America's counties had 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:21.920 no abortion clinic at all, the cumulative effect of decades 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:26.000 of restrictions authored by anti abortion lawmakers. This is not 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:29.080 to say that things haven't gotten worse. They have in 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:31.800 the months following the dabb's decision. In states like Ohio, 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.840 where access has been attacked, A rape survivor was forced 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:37.280 to travel out of state to find an abortion, while 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:41.240 local politicians, including the state's Republican attorney general, claimed on 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:45.240 Fox News that the story was totally fabricated. In other instances, 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:48.040 people in Ohio have been denied care even though they 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:53.080 faced potentially life threatening complications. In Texas, one woman nearly 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:56.360 died due to sepsis because she was initially barred access 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.640 to an abortion by doctors. And these are only some 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:02.760 of the stories that have made headlines. The deeper impact 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.000 on this countrywide attack and reproductive health has hit low 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:09.280 income and communities of color the hardest. A recent study 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:12.280 from the University of San Francisco found that quote a 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:16.000 third of American women of reproductive age now face excessive 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:19.280 travel times to obtain an abortion, while twice as many 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:21.720 are being forced to travel more than an hour to 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:25.920 reach an abortion provider. In short, attacks on abortion, coupled 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:29.520 with the already exploding wealth gap, lack of access to healthcare, 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:33.840 the rising cost of living, and the continuing COVID nineteen pandemic, 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:38.160 will only expand existing equalities, especially for people of color, 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:41.800 the disabled, and queer and trans folks. In particular, on 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:45.320 the legal front, some states have pushed to expand abortion access, 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:49.400 and many are challenging legal attacks in the courtroom. Minnesota, 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:52.239 for instance, most recently became the first state to enshrine 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.720 abortion as a right. Meanwhile, many continued to donate to 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:59.919 abortion funds and nonprofits like Planned Parenthood, or even launching 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:03.280 mobile clinics to provide care and areas hit the hardest 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:06.600 due to recent bands. But as our first two guests, 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:09.640 Beck's part of a clinic defense group in New York City, 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.640 in ashe an abortion doula in North Carolina, reported, many 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:17.840 autonomous organizers aren't putting their faith in the courts, the cops, 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:20.840 or the state. You know. Living in New York City, 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:23.480 abortion is legal, and it is legal before a row, 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:25.720 and it's been legal after row, but that doesn't really 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:29.240 necessarily mean anything kind of is what we've seen. So 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:30.600 one of the things that we've seen is we've seen 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:34.240 on anti abortion protesters and activists coming up from red 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.360 states to target blue states now and so we've definitely 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:40.440 seen their presence increasing outside of the clinic that we 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.240 defend and soho in Manhattan. And so that's I would say, 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:44.960 is one of the biggest things that we've seen is 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.880 that they really are targeting Blue states, are targeting New 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:51.080 York City. There I'm actively trying to recruit people to 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:53.080 come to New York City, is I think the biggest 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:55.360 thing that we've seen. And then also in New York City, 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:59.200 we've been struggling a lot with a really esculatory police presence. 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:01.920 I don't our clinice. So that's the other thing that 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.280 we're definitely really really struggling with is the response of 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:07.880 the state after Doubs. So the first thing that I 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:12.040 want folks to know is that people abortion haers, people 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:15.240 who might have abortions. Where I am in time and space, 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:19.039 they have always already been navigating some of these post 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:22.040 rorealities that a lot of folks are just getting hipped 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.000 to like after that fateful Friday in June last year. 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:28.520 And so I want to name here that we've always 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.680 had a seventy two hour waiting period in North Carolina, 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:34.400 which is one of the longest waiting periods in the country. 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:37.559 And there's a slew of other things that we find 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:42.279 both hostile and restrictive. And I'm using those words to 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:46.919 describe a situation, an ongoing situation, because these are the 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:51.159 words that are being used to describe North Carolina now 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:55.280 as we're seeing an influx of folks coming to North Carolina. 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:57.520 So I'm saying that for the folks who live here 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:01.719 always already like they've been dealing with a restrictive, hostile climate. 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:05.679 Becks just shared a little bit about like the presence 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:09.800 of anti abortion protesters, so we've always been dealing with that. 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.880 In twenty eighteen, the abortion clinic that I had two 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:17.880 abortions at in my life, they saw the most anti 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:21.480 abortion protesters in the Southeast, and we continue to see this. 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:25.800 We also continue to see as we see these anti 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:29.640 abortion protesters right a police presence, and we know or 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:33.000 I'm concerned about what that means for black folks having abortions, 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:36.320 for people who are undocumented and for people who otherwise 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:38.440 like don't want the police all up in their business. 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:42.560 In addition to what's changed since jobs are not change, right, 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:46.039 but change, we have semen influx of folks coming to 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:50.360 North Carolina from states where abortion is illegal or there 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:55.200 are bands kind of early ingestation, and we're seeing those 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:58.479 folks come to the clinics and access the services and 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:01.839 the support networks that we have here in North Carolina. 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:03.880 I think that one thing with the group that I 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:06.000 work with called ed VIC for Abortion Rights, one thing 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:08.200 that we've been working really hard on is not only 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:10.480 talking about abortion, not only talking about you know, going 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:13.360 beyond just legalizing it, but also really focusing on like 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:16.960 our communities and building mutual aid networks, building repro justice networks, 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:19.600 and also just working overall on like community defense. So 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.360 we work with a lot of mutual aid organizations all 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:24.359 over the city of New York. And that's one thing 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:26.680 that we're doing, like Ash was saying, is we're focusing on, 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:28.600 you know, how do these people who are outside of 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:31.200 our clinics are not only anti abortion, but they're also 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:33.960 anti LGBTQ. They are fascist. That is something that we 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:36.640 should be saying they are also pro police. None. None 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:40.520 of these things happen inside of a vacuum. They're all interconnected. 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:42.240 And I think that that's one thing that we really 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:44.280 really have to do is talk about how the issue 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:46.719 of abortion bridge is out to so many other things, 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.400 and we can't only fight one issue. We have to 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:50.920 fight all of them. But we also have to fight 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:52.800 the root of where these things are coming from. And 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.719 they're coming from this mass conservative movement that's been being 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:58.200 built since the nineteen seventies, you know, groups like Focus 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:01.320 on the Family, like the ETI Federalists. These groups have 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:04.320 so much influence in our society, and we need to 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:06.560 be going after all of it. We can't only be 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:10.000 going after you know, one tiny, you know, sector of 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:14.360 the massive problem, because like Ash said, it is all interconnected. Here, 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:18.280 I'm thinking about like some political education that needs to happen, 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:22.720 like and that is the framework and the theories of 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.800 reproductive Justice. I know that they recognize so many it 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.680 recognizes so many things. But one of the things that 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:33.520 grounds me that it recognizes that r J recognizes is 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:37.200 that dismantling white supremacy is key to achieving reproductive justice. 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:42.680 It also says it posits that we live interconnected lives 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:46.120 and not single issue lives. And it also for me, 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:49.480 this yields that, like we can't rely on the state 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:54.480 to provide what we need. I'm seeing abortion doulas, clinic escorts, 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:58.960 abortion funds, and other organizers and organizations really come together 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:03.400 to support people having abortions and resist criminalization and state 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:06.320 violence right now, and we need to see more of that. 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:08.680 You know, you talk about pro choice. I think it's 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:11.800 so whack, like the logics of pro choice. We need 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:14.600 to go further beyond the logics of pro choice and 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:18.640 understand that RJ says that there is no choice without access. 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:23.720 And furthermore, RJ posits that the key to controlling entire 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:27.480 communities is to controlling bodies. So if they're coming for 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:30.400 the trans people on their HRT and their access to 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:33.280 gender affirming and medical care, then they're gonna come for 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:36.240 everyone else. Then they're gonna come for the abortion avers. 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:39.720 They've been coming for the poor people. I think that, 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:43.720 like again, when we go back to that reproductive justice framework, 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:47.920 we can begin to like make these connections. And I'm 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:51.760 also saying this as an organizer, like reproductive justice is 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:54.280 my lane, but so as like environmental justice and so 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:57.280 as racial justice. And I'm on the front lines of 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:01.160 different movements, and I go back to this this framework 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:05.280 because it acknowledges that, like black people need an in too, 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:07.840 anti black racism, and we need an end to the 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:11.080 police and clean fucking water right now. I don't know 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:13.560 of a framework that says that, like we ought to 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:16.440 demand all of those things right fucking now, and that 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:19.560 we actually can't live self determined lives without all of 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:22.360 that shit. And so I'm ready to talk about RJ, 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:25.840 like I'm ready to do that political education. I think 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:29.280 it's ongoing work, and right like, you don't have to 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:32.240 be an abortion dou lah or a frontline organizer to 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:35.160 help someone get to their appointment, to fund an abortion, 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:38.880 to affirm someone's decision and support their decision to have 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:41.800 an abortion. And so we really need that, like we 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:44.840 need that vibe right now. We need people to show 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.160 up that way. I think that my biggest frustration with 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:49.240 Democrats is they've been telling us for years, like, oh, 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:51.040 you know, vote for us, vote for us. They've been 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:53.520 fundraising off of the issue of abortion for decades now. 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:55.719 They have done absolutely nothing, And I think that what 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:58.839 they've really done, is they've really made us, made us 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:02.120 as in the general like American populists feel as though 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:04.640 voting is the only way that we can change things, 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:06.160 and that voting is the only way that we can 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:09.640 like show our impact and like help our communities, when 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:11.880 in reality, it isn't. It's going out onto the streets. 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:14.199 It's also you know, doing abortion do the work. It's 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:17.360 also you know, going out defunding clinics. It's doing all 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:19.320 of this work. And we don't need the Democrats to 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:21.280 do that. And what we need to be doing is 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:22.840 we need to be talking about the state and how 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:25.280 we can go beyond the state. I also want to 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:29.480 say here, like fuck Row. Like Row is the kind 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:33.880 of legal infrastructure that made abortion possible, but it also 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.920 made it possible for like both the Democrats, the Republicans, 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:41.040 the Christian Evangelicals, anyone who was checking for it to 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:44.200 take abortion away. So like fuck Row. It also gave 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.600 us the trimester framework, which is like really whack. And 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:50.200 it also kind of made it more possible for the 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.040 states and the federal government to put in bands and 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.320 restrictions on abortion. That's something that we need to get 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:59.600 clear about as well. As we fight to decriminalize and 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:04.040 not legislate further abortion. Stay with us, it could happen here. 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:16.520 We'll return after these words from our sponsors. On July 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:20.240 twenty seventh, nineteen ninety six, Eric Rudoff said off a 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:23.640 nail bomb during the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. The 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:27.520 explosion killed one person immediately. All over one hundred more 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:31.920 were horrifically injured. In the communicate, claiming responsibility for the bombing, 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:37.800 Rudoff denounced the Olympics, abortion and LGBTQ rights with talking 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.240 points that seemed ripped right out of Tucker Carlson's nightly 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:45.600 news headlines. He wrote, the world converged upon Atlanta to 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:49.240 celebrate the ideals of global socialism. The purpose of my 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:54.400 attack the Washington government sanctioning of abortion on demand. Along 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:58.280 with abortion, another assault upon the integrity of American society 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:02.640 is the considered effort to legitimize the practice of homosexuality, 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:08.240 whether it's gay marriage, homosexual adoption, hate crime laws including gays, 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:12.959 or the attempt to introduce a homosexual normalizing curriculum into 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:17.040 our schools. All of these efforts should be ruthlessly opposed. 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:21.080 The existence of our culture depends on it. Rudolph would 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.960 go on to carry out more deadly attacks against abortion 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.880 clinics in a queer nightclub, releasing communications under the banner 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:31.880 of the Army of God, a group which endorsed leaderless 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:35.400 resistance and was linked to the white supremaci Christian Identity 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:39.559 movement and the murder of multiple abortion providers. The Army 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.040 of God was just one formation that grew out of 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:45.840 Christian Identity, a mix of white supremacy and Christianity. The 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:49.040 priests that Jews were Satanic and people of color were 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.920 subhuman and needed to be destroyed in a racial holy war. 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:58.640 Christian identity adherents set up paramilitary compounds, Bible camps, radio stations, 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:02.280 and churches from the Aryan Nations to the Covenant of 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:04.360 the Sword in the Arm of the Lord, and they 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:07.600 helped usher in a wave of homegrown terrorist groups such 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:11.440 as The Order and individuals like Timothy. They carried out 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:15.679 the Oklahoma City bombing. Meanwhile, above ground, groups like Operation 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:20.040 Rescue cheered on the violence against abortion providers while organizing 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.400 mass protests at clinics with the aim of shutting them down. 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:26.959 In twenty fifteen, when a gunman killed three people in 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:29.720 a mass shooting at a clinic in Colorado Springs. The 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:33.160 far right anti abortion movement had carried out eight murders, 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:37.240 seventeen attempted murders, forty two bombings, in one hundred and 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:41.320 eighty six arsons, all targeted against abortion clinics and providers. 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.040 Wanted to know more about the history of far attacks 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:47.080 on abortion access if they were indeed rising in the 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:50.680 current post Stops period. We sat down with bullitsa Fowler 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:56.160 of the National Abortion Federation. Unfortunately, since abortion was legalized 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:59.880 with the versus Weight decision, there has been a really 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:06.040 coordinated campaign of harassment and violence to target abortion providers 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:10.520 and try to stop access to legal abortion. And we've 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:14.600 been tracking this since the late seventies. There have been 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:18.880 a number of escalating events, everything from clinic protests and 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:22.160 clinic blockades all the way up to arsons and murders 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:26.000 of providers just because they do this work. So when 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:30.400 we talk about this, it's very real, it's very real threats, 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:35.320 and it is really terrorism that's happening by a coordinated 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.640 group of people and individuals who really are aimed at 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:43.680 stopping any access to legal abortion care. So we definitely, 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.640 and have seen for a long time that there is 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:51.040 an overlap between the people that target abortion providers and 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:53.520 the people that are involved in other types of violent 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:58.720 and extremist movements, including white nationalists. We've known that for 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:03.080 a long time existed many years. In fact, in the eighties, 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:07.560 the KKK began creating one imposters listing the personal information 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:11.240 of abortion providers, and the first provider who was murdered, 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:13.920 doctor David Gunn, who was murdered in nineteen ninety three, 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:17.320 was murdered by someone who was a white supremacist who 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:22.440 had been mentored by someone who was a former KKK member, 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:26.760 And so we've seen the overlap of these groups, and 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:30.160 in the last couple of years we've seen that overlap 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:35.000 be more coordinated and more public. So on January sixth 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:38.120 at the insurrection, a lot of our members were watching 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:41.400 on TV and recognized people because they were the same 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:44.640 people that protest at their clinics. In fact, providers that 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:47.400 even noted that day of pulling in the parking lot 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.000 and not seeing their usual protesters and wondering what was 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:52.520 going on because they saw less people outside of clinics, 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:54.840 And we later found out it's because many of them 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:59.120 were at the Capitol, and a number of people who 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:03.360 are active the anti abortion movement have boasted about being 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.480 at the insurrection, posted video and pictures of themselves at 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:09.960 the insurrection, and so it's very clear to us and 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:14.240 we very much see that overlap. We also see more 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.240 more of these right wing groups actually showing up and 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:21.040 participating at anti abortion events, so attending some of the 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.000 marches around the country in a more visible way than 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:27.880 we've seen in the past. Sometimes these right wing groups 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:31.200 will do quote unquote security for the anti abortion movement, 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:33.800 so when they have people who are speaking or they're 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:39.320 holding large events to target providers, they'll get security assistance 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:44.200 from white nationalist groups. And so, you know, it's particularly 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:49.080 disturbing to see. It doesn't surprise us because we've been 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:51.520 we've known that there's an overlap in these groups for 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:55.080 a really long time. But as as we've seen in 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:58.520 recent years, as people seem to be more okay being 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:01.440 more visible about their membership in these groups or more 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:06.320 vocal about their hate, we're seeing it more publicly. The 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.359 anti abortion movement is not doing anything to distance themselves 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:13.000 from these groups. So since the leak happened, last May, 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:19.120 we immediately saw an increase in harassment and online posts 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:23.120 that were threatening toward abortion providers. Even though we got 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:25.879 a preview of the decision and we knew what was 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:28.880 coming and that it would lead to clinics closing, that 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.960 wasn't enough for some people. We saw calls for people 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:34.560 to go and burn clinics, or go and take matters 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:36.520 into their own hands and not wait for the decision, 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:39.480 to go and try and stop abortions from being provided 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:45.040 that moment, and so we track those types of online posts. 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:47.879 We saw a real spike in May and June around 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.680 the decision, and we also started immediately hearing from our 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:55.320 member clinics that they were seeing an increase in protesters 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:58.439 and increase in threats, and it increase in the intensity 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:03.120 and hostility of those activities, so more really aggressive protesters 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:07.040 that were touching patients and staff, yelling at patients and staff, 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:11.320 photographing patients and staff, and you know, since the decision, 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.720 we have seen a number of clinics close in places 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:18.320 that are considered more hostile to abortion rights. But we 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:21.520 know from our past experience that when a clinic closes, 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:24.959 the protesters don't just give up and go home. In 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:29.480 many cases, anti abortion individuals will travel the same paths 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:31.680 that patients are traveling, and they will go to other 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:35.000 states where abortion remains successible and target the clinics there. 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:37.639 So we are seeing an increase in activity in the 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:41.040 places where abortion is remaining legal and where patients are 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:43.800 going to get care. And we're still you know, we're 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.240 just now collecting the numbers for twenty twenty two, so 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:48.960 we don't we don't have those for a little bit, 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:52.240 but we do know anecdotally and what we're hearing from 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:53.960 members and what we're seeing on the ground is that 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:56.800 there is an increase in that activity. There have been 0:18:56.840 --> 0:19:01.320 a few arsons this year. We're also seeing clinic invasions continue, 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:06.359 and these are instances where people might pose as patients. 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:09.000 In some cases, they go to a lot of work 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:12.639 to try and infiltrate the clinic and find out about 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:17.480 their practices for making appointments, and then they will pose 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:21.360 as patients, make fake appointments and try to get into 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:25.560 the clinic forcibly if they if they have to, and 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:29.640 then once they're inside they're harassing patients, they refuse to leave. 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:32.439 In some cases they hand out flowers or sing or 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:38.719 yell in California, they walked through the halls screaming the 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:41.640 name of the doctor, ordering the doctor to come out 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:44.160 and face them, and it was very traumatic for staff. 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:46.560 They didn't know if this person was armed or what 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:49.560 they were doing. And you know, they had patients in 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:52.239 procedure rooms with them or in counseling rooms, and they 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:55.199 were locking the door and sheltering in place, and it 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:58.320 was very frightening. And we continue to see these types 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:03.639 of invasions happen across the country. Ironically, however, laws passed 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:06.720 in the nineteen nineties designed to protect people seeking abortions 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:10.240 and reproductive healthcare have now been weaponized against those who 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:12.800 have been taking action in the wake of the Daub's decision, 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:16.680 most notably under the banner of Jane's Revenge, a moniker 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:19.960 used by anonymous activists taking action, usually in the form 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:24.040 were broken windows and graffiti against anti choice, crisis pregnancy 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:28.000 centers and beyond. As Natasha Leonard wrote in the Intercept, 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:31.240 Congress passed the Face Act in nineteen eighty four, owing 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:35.600 the assassinations and mass clinic blockades, making the physical obstruction 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:38.320 of clinics a federal offense. As well as threats of 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:41.600 force and violence against clinic workers and clinic property. In 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:44.280 its thirty years on the books has been used sparingly. 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:47.879 Now this laws being used to prosecute to reproductive rights 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:51.600 activists who allegedly spray painted the outside walls of misleading 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:55.920 and dangerous crisis pregnancy centers known as CPCs and now 0:20:55.960 --> 0:20:58.760 face up to twelve years in prison for the graffiti. 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:01.359 This use of the ACE Act against those fighting to 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:05.560 protect reproductive freedom and autonomy by weaponizing laws supposedly aimed 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:09.520 at those threatening it mirrors the numerous domestic terrorism charges 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:12.919 lodged against forest defenders in Atlanta, made possible by a 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:16.399 bill in twenty seventeen following the massacre of nine black 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:20.880 parishioners by the white supremast. Dylan Roof stay with us, 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:23.480 it can happen here, will return after these words from 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:30.199 our sponsors. As the culture War is deepened on the 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:33.640 right and even mainstream GEOP leaders have embraced white nationalists 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:37.359 talking points, many openly neo Nazi and white supremise groups 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:39.800 have come to see the anti choice movement as a 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:42.639 lucrative recruiting ground in a point of engagement with the 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:46.320 wider right wing base. Again, we hear from clinic defender 0:21:46.359 --> 0:21:50.520 Becks in New York, an abortion doula Ash in North Carolina. 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:52.720 In our case in New York City, the group that 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:55.399 we defend, the Clinic Front, is this Catholic group that 0:21:55.480 --> 0:21:59.560 gets an armed escort from the NYPD. So that's one 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:01.360 thing that really scares me, you know, when we talk 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:04.120 about a far right is that the NYPD has been 0:22:04.119 --> 0:22:06.639 aiding these far right groups and getting them escorts for 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:08.960 a very very long time. And so I think that 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:11.160 kind of like goes to a lot of the fears 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:12.480 that a lot of us have when it comes to 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:15.080 this kind of collaboration and the changing face of anti 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:18.639 abortion protesters. We already know down here that cops and 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:22.359 clan go hand in hand, and unfortunately, like newly white 0:22:22.760 --> 0:22:24.800 radicalized I don't know if you can call them that, 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:28.120 but like politicized white women who want to defend clinics, 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:32.720 they saw they they realize these realities, like the cops 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:35.520 are not here to defend you or people who want 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:39.720 to have abortions, and we actually don't need the cops 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:43.720 to have abortions and to make reproductive justice a real 0:22:44.280 --> 0:22:47.720 possibility in all of our lives. I'm thinking here also 0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:51.600 about like the need to decriminalize abortion and not legalize 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:56.480 abortion again, as an abolitionist, as an abortion doula, and 0:22:56.520 --> 0:23:00.600 as someone who's had abortions, I'm making these connect and 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:03.480 as a trans person. Right, I'm making these connections that 0:23:03.560 --> 0:23:07.399 like the folks who are standing outside of abortion clinics, 0:23:07.400 --> 0:23:10.159