Speaker 1: Welcome to Take It Happened Here, a podcast that now
Speaker 1: more than ever, is about things falling apart. It's been
Speaker 1: roughly one year since the dab's decision has annihilated what
Speaker 1: was left of the protection for legal abortions in this country,
Speaker 1: and things have gotten enormously worse in ways that most
Speaker 1: people are essentially attempting to ignore or hide from. There are, however,
Speaker 1: a lot of people who cannot essentially run from the
Speaker 1: absolute horror that has been unleashed in this country. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm going to be talking today and tomorrow with one
Speaker 1: of those people, who.
Speaker 2: Is Crystal has has the triple crown.
Speaker 1: Of abortion work of being an abortion worker, a union organizer,
Speaker 1: and on the board of an abortion fund. Yeah, welcome
Speaker 1: to the show, Crystal. And I'm sorry, You're.
Speaker 3: Sorry, Thank you, Thank you so much. Mea, it's really
Speaker 3: nice to be here again. I had a lot of
Speaker 3: fun last time, and it's nice to be talking to
Speaker 3: you again, even though I only have really horrible Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's to say, for the most part though, there are
Speaker 3: some good things, but it's mostly really awful.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I guess I guess that's where I want to start,
Speaker 1: is it's well Okay, I think I'm pretty sure that
Speaker 1: So the day this is coming out, it's going to
Speaker 1: be I think two days before the anniversary of Dobbs,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to, I guess first just ask what
Speaker 1: it's been like emotionally before we get to the sort
Speaker 1: of like more material consequences of it, if that's all right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So, as an abortion worker, this has been an
Speaker 3: incredibly difficult year, and that's that's with the context that
Speaker 3: things were not good before. Yeah, last June twenty fourth,
Speaker 3: twenty twenty two, things were not good before then, so
Speaker 3: you know, we were we were really running up against this,
Speaker 3: this this impending decision that we knew was going to happen,
Speaker 3: and then it ended up happening, and then it was
Speaker 3: really horrible, And honestly, it's been horrible every single day since,
Speaker 3: and it's just gets more horrible every single week. And
Speaker 3: that's you know, I sound so negative saying that, I know,
Speaker 3: but I just know that I'm saying that knowing that
Speaker 3: there's so many amazing people who are doing like abortion
Speaker 3: advocacy and abortion care work and offering abortion services and
Speaker 3: practical support for abortion, and it has just been a
Speaker 3: incredibly heavy year for us. We've we've seen, we've all
Speaker 3: witnessed a lot in the last year, and we're all
Speaker 3: carrying a lot and it's.
Speaker 5: It's just hard.
Speaker 3: And I'm really grateful for everyone that I work with
Speaker 3: and that I'm in community with, but it's it's been traumatizing.
Speaker 5: I know that.
Speaker 3: You know, it's really easy to say. I think like, oh,
Speaker 3: you know, this is traumatic, and that's traumatic, But I
Speaker 3: don't know what else, what other word to use to
Speaker 3: having had witnessed everything that we've witnessed in the last
Speaker 3: year and to know that there's no end in sight.
Speaker 3: It is incredibly traumatic. It's like a national trauma. We're
Speaker 3: all sharing it together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, I guess we should get into sort of
Speaker 1: what the things that you've been seeing have looked like.
Speaker 1: And I think one of the best ways to do this,
Speaker 1: I think, is by just talking about like what the
Speaker 1: process is like of trying to get someone in abortion,
Speaker 1: because it's gotten so much harder and so much more dangerous,
Speaker 1: very rapidly.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, things have changed a lot in the last year.
Speaker 3: Because you know, if we're if we're starting from when
Speaker 3: things really hit the fan. June twenty fourth, twenty twenty two,
Speaker 3: even though things were getting worse before that, because you know,
Speaker 3: for example, there was the ban in Texas that started
Speaker 3: on September first and in twenty twenty one, so that
Speaker 3: you know, things I saw a lot in my head
Speaker 3: if I can point, like when did I really know
Speaker 3: that we were we were fucked and we were going
Speaker 3: to like we were going to see the worst outcome.
Speaker 3: I would say on September first, twenty twenty one. But
Speaker 3: we saw the initial trigger bands go into effect immediately
Speaker 3: after the Dobbs decision. Uh, So you know, like for example, Texas,
Speaker 3: the bands went into effect immediately. There were other states
Speaker 3: that it was a little bit more delayed, like for
Speaker 3: example Ohio. And then there's also been a lot of
Speaker 3: back and forth because some states in which they're having
Speaker 3: bands now those are currently paused and they're being worked
Speaker 3: through the legal system. And other new bands. There's pretty
Speaker 3: much been a new band, it feels like pretty much
Speaker 3: every week, to the point where I know that I
Speaker 3: just named a couple of states just now, and just
Speaker 3: to be cautious, I just want to say that, you know, look,
Speaker 3: you can go to like abortionfinder dot org or I
Speaker 3: need an a dot com and like look up your
Speaker 3: state to see you know, if you have access in
Speaker 3: your state, it changes so frequently that you really do
Speaker 3: have to kind of rely on those reliable websites like
Speaker 3: Abortion Finder and I need an a to really make
Speaker 3: sure that you're up to date. So you know, don't
Speaker 3: like if I mentioned a state, you know, just it
Speaker 3: might have been there might have been something in effect
Speaker 3: months ago and I'm just like alluding to it. So
Speaker 3: just definitely rely on those resources that exist to see
Speaker 3: what's up to date now. But yeah, things have been
Speaker 3: incredibly back and forth for a lot of states in
Speaker 3: the last year, and it's it's just there are holes
Speaker 3: in access, there are deserts and access that just keep
Speaker 3: widening and widening and widening. The most devastating being recently.
Speaker 3: This was just this was a really bad day for
Speaker 3: me and a lot of my coworkers when there was
Speaker 3: the vote in Florida and the Florida Band is not
Speaker 3: yet an effect, but we'll eventually be going into effect,
Speaker 3: and and that was really like one of the last
Speaker 3: places that you could access an abortion in the Southeast.
Speaker 3: So now when you look at a map, which I
Speaker 3: do a lot, I now have to look at a
Speaker 3: map every single day for work and look at like
Speaker 3: you know, individual state maps and like I'm on Google
Speaker 3: Maps constantly. But there's there are places where you have
Speaker 3: no choice but to travel to get an abortion or
Speaker 3: access abortion services online if that is possible for.
Speaker 5: You, and.
Speaker 3: You know there there are resources available where if you
Speaker 3: as an individual need an abortion and you keep looking
Speaker 3: and you search and you reach out to people, those
Speaker 3: resources are out there, you know. So practical support groups exist,
Speaker 3: funding exists, Clinics and service providers will bend over backwards
Speaker 3: to get you to your appointment and help you access
Speaker 3: these services. So you know there is help out there,
Speaker 3: but it is it's really difficult, and it's it takes
Speaker 3: a lot of work to access an appointment. So everything's
Speaker 3: it takes longer to get to an appointment, it takes
Speaker 3: you have to travel further. You end up paying so
Speaker 3: much more money, Like everything is just so much more
Speaker 3: expensive than it was a year ago, because now you're
Speaker 3: not just paying, you know, for the procedure cost and
Speaker 3: then maybe like a little bit of gas money to
Speaker 3: the appointment. You're having to figure out plane tickets, hotels,
Speaker 3: gas money for whatever, like really long distances. I've seen
Speaker 3: patients driving twelve hours to get to an appointment.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And I can talk more about like what that process
Speaker 3: looks like too, but I guess I just wanted to
Speaker 3: give like a general overview of it's just getting harder
Speaker 3: to access, longer distances traveling, and and and more expensive.
Speaker 3: And luckily there is people. There are people there to help,
Speaker 3: and there is support, but it requires a ton of work,
Speaker 3: a ton a ton of work in order to make
Speaker 3: sure that people are getting the health care that they need.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And I guess, well, okay, two things.
Speaker 1: One I want to I want to start the abortion
Speaker 1: fund plug like right here, because you know, yeahs as
Speaker 1: the cost of this increases, that means, you know, like
Speaker 1: abortion funds need more money in order to be able
Speaker 1: to keep doing this because every dollar that they don't
Speaker 1: have is you know, potentially is like I'm not even touched, Like,
Speaker 1: is another person who's not gonna be able to get
Speaker 1: an abortion?
Speaker 3: Yeah, every every dollar matters. Yeah, And and I know
Speaker 3: that I feel like a lot of leftists sometimes get
Speaker 3: a little tired of hearing about oh, donate to your
Speaker 3: abortion foot donating to an abortion fund, because like they're like, oh,
Speaker 3: this this is not radical, but abortion funds are the
Speaker 3: only way in which abortions are happening right now, because
Speaker 3: it costs, like you might have to spend like two
Speaker 3: thousand to three thousand dollars on a person sometimes in
Speaker 3: order to make sure that they get healthcare. And that's
Speaker 3: just one person. So the only reason that abortions are
Speaker 3: still happening is because one people are putting that work
Speaker 3: in and make sure that they happen. And like, you know,
Speaker 3: those people are amazing, and also like people seeking healthcare
Speaker 3: are amazing. They're incredibly brave to be doing what they're doing,
Speaker 3: to be working so hard to get health care, to
Speaker 3: be navigating all of these obstacles that you have to be, Like,
Speaker 3: that's what you have to be strong.
Speaker 5: To do that.
Speaker 3: That's an incredibly brave thing to do, having to fly
Speaker 3: in an airplane if you've never flown before to access
Speaker 3: health care that you know you need. Like you're you're
Speaker 3: being really strong and you're being amazing, but you don't
Speaker 3: you shouldn't have to do that. And so it's a
Speaker 3: lot of money. So thank god that the money is there,
Speaker 3: because if the money wasn't there, then people would not
Speaker 3: be able to be helped. So I know, that like,
Speaker 3: you know, oh, donate to abortion fund, don't it to
Speaker 3: an abortion pun But really, like, if you want people
Speaker 3: to continue to get abortions now, not just waiting until
Speaker 3: like November in an election, then you need to make
Speaker 3: sure that the money.
Speaker 5: Is there for people to do that because it is expensive.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're talking to something like two or three thousand dollars, right, Like,
Speaker 1: can you person listening to this, could you right now
Speaker 1: spend three thousand dollars or something and be fine?
Speaker 2: Right? And the answer is probably not.
Speaker 1: But and you know, and there's a there are like
Speaker 1: a lot of people in this country who need abortions,
Speaker 1: who are like way less well off than you are,
Speaker 1: Like that is a shit tone of like that that
Speaker 1: is a lot of money for me, like podcaster, that is,
Speaker 1: you know, a crippling amount of money for a lot
Speaker 1: of the people who need this. And I don't know,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think there's something really bleak about the
Speaker 1: where society is structured, where your freedom and your bodily
Speaker 1: autonomy are dependent on having money. But that's basically where
Speaker 1: we're at, right, Like that's yeah, that's that's the way
Speaker 1: the system works right now.
Speaker 3: And yeah, there's a part of me that like doesn't
Speaker 3: want to lean in and like I mean, like you know,
Speaker 3: I'm I'm a socialist.
Speaker 5: I don't want to be like, oh, you know, money, money, money.
Speaker 3: But like that is the only reason people are getting
Speaker 3: healthcare is because there is money available, and people are
Speaker 3: banding together to pool that money to make it available
Speaker 3: to people who need it. So I'm just like, thank god,
Speaker 3: I'm so glad because otherwise I would not be able
Speaker 3: to get people to their appointments.
Speaker 5: And I can like.
Speaker 3: Talk out that process too, like you know, what does it.
Speaker 5: Look like now?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, let's yeah, let's actually go through this.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I want to start off with like, but it what
Speaker 3: I was when I started. So I've been working in
Speaker 3: abortion care for six years now, and when I started,
Speaker 3: I was working in a call center and I would
Speaker 3: schedule appointments. So I would get a call and I'd
Speaker 3: collect information and I would book the appointment and i'd say,
Speaker 3: you know, thank you for as you know, for reaching
Speaker 3: out to us for your services, and we will see you.
Speaker 5: At your appointment. And you know, the calls were.
Speaker 3: Long because you know, we'd have to work out financial assistance.
Speaker 3: And then also abortion care is often just like a
Speaker 3: really intimate type of healthcare to be accessing. So there's
Speaker 3: a lot of factors sometimes to discuss with the person
Speaker 3: that was accessing services, and it could be really complicated
Speaker 3: with all of those factors. So, you know, like it's
Speaker 3: always been pretty labor intensive to schedule someone sometimes, but
Speaker 3: it was it was fairly you know, fairly short phone
Speaker 3: call for the most part most of the time, and
Speaker 3: then you just get somebody scheduled and then you move
Speaker 3: on and you schedule someone else. And that was six
Speaker 3: years ago for me. And I'm not saying that more
Speaker 3: difficult situations didn't come up, because of course abortion access
Speaker 3: was not good six years ago either, but the way
Speaker 3: in which it's changed is so marked, and I feel
Speaker 3: like there's so many people have witnesses where it went
Speaker 3: from from that to it taking weeks to work with
Speaker 3: one individual to get them to an appointment because there
Speaker 3: is no clinic within eight hours driving distance to them,
Speaker 3: and so the whole intake process and the whole just
Speaker 3: like getting the funds together, I guess I'll just walk
Speaker 3: you through it because I just I don't even know
Speaker 3: how else to relate.
Speaker 5: So let's say, just like hypothetically.
Speaker 3: You know, you're an individual who is living in a
Speaker 3: band state and they're the closest actual brick and mortar
Speaker 3: abortion clinic to is nine hours away, which is the
Speaker 3: situation for so many people that I talk to and
Speaker 3: that are living in the United States.
Speaker 5: And let's say you don't.
Speaker 3: Have a car, and you have children, and you don't
Speaker 3: want everybody to know your business, so you like, you
Speaker 3: don't want everybody in your family knowing that you need
Speaker 3: an abortion and that you're looking for that type of
Speaker 3: health care. So you're trying to do what you can
Speaker 3: by yourself, and you're googling, and you're looking at different resources.
Speaker 3: And what I witness a lot as a healthcare worker
Speaker 3: helping someone through this process is there's a lot of
Speaker 3: dead ends when people are trying to find someone that
Speaker 3: can provide them with those abortion services. They you know,
Speaker 3: they're looking at the clinics that are close to them,
Speaker 3: and they're seeing that they're nine hours away and they
Speaker 3: can't get to them. They're looking up fight tickets and
Speaker 3: they're seeing it's like eight hundred dollars for their and
Speaker 3: back and they can't afford that on top of the
Speaker 3: procedure cost. And let's just say hypothetically they're early in
Speaker 3: the pregnancy, and the procedure might cost maybe four hundred,
Speaker 3: five hundred and six hundred dollars, which is still a
Speaker 3: lot of money. That's still a lot of money, So
Speaker 3: I don't want to pretend like that's not But on
Speaker 3: top of that, then there's also the plane tickets, trying
Speaker 3: to find a way to the airport and all of that,
Speaker 3: and they're just reaching a lot of dead ends like
Speaker 3: I can't possibly go here, and I can't possibly go here,
Speaker 3: and okay, like maybe I can go online and order
Speaker 3: some medication, but it might not arrive for several weeks,
Speaker 3: and what if it doesn't arrive. I mean, that's like
Speaker 3: a really scary thing to be doing, like knowing you
Speaker 3: need healthcare and knowing that you're relying on the mail
Speaker 3: and like hoping that you get your packet and that
Speaker 3: you can trust wherever you're purchasing the medication from. And
Speaker 3: if you can't even really like let's say that you're
Speaker 3: you're further along and you may be are like twenty
Speaker 3: weeks and your options are incredibly more limited, and you're
Speaker 3: paying a lot more if you don't have insurance coverage
Speaker 3: with most people don't, So you're paying like maybe up
Speaker 3: to I like it, two thousand and three thousand, four
Speaker 3: thousand for a procedure, and you just need help, and
Speaker 3: you need to ask for help, which is already like
Speaker 3: a not a good spot to be in because you're
Speaker 3: accessing health care and you have no choice but to
Speaker 3: ask for help, and you shouldn't have to.
Speaker 1: That's really fucking hard, right, Like I mean, I think
Speaker 1: on an intellectual level, I think everyone has an experience,
Speaker 1: which is how hard it is to ask for help
Speaker 1: for stuff that's like incredibly minor. And then you're doing
Speaker 1: this for a really intimate like healthcare decision, and yeah.
Speaker 3: Like super personal, like your decision might be based on
Speaker 3: like a bunch of factors that are just like really
Speaker 3: personal for you. And you wish you didn't have to
Speaker 3: tell people, or you wish you didn't have to talk
Speaker 3: to so many people about an appointment because you know,
Speaker 3: for most healthcare appointments, even though healthcare in general is
Speaker 3: not easy to access, you just call and you schedule
Speaker 3: the appointment, and maybe you have to pay a copay
Speaker 3: and that's annoying. And then maybe the appointm is four
Speaker 3: months out and that's awful too, but you know, it's
Speaker 3: this just makes everything worse for the individual. So let's
Speaker 3: just say, like, you know, they keep trying, and they
Speaker 3: keep trying, and they keep looking, and you know, let's
Speaker 3: say they get to me, and I'm somebody who I do.
Speaker 3: I do scheduling now for patients who need to travel,
Speaker 3: and I help them get financial assistance for the cost
Speaker 3: of travel and for their appointment. So a lot of
Speaker 3: times when I get in touch with someone, they've already
Speaker 3: encountered so many dead ends, and when I am not
Speaker 3: the dead end, they're filled with so much relief that
Speaker 3: a lot of times this happens almost every day now,
Speaker 3: someone will get in touch with me and they'll just
Speaker 3: start crying when I tell them that I can help them.
Speaker 3: And that is not a good feeling, because I feel
Speaker 3: like maybe in like other types of work, or maybe
Speaker 3: even like before, like maybe years ago, like when somebody
Speaker 3: was like grateful, it might feel good, like, oh, I'm
Speaker 3: so glad I can help them.
Speaker 5: But when someone who is like a caregiver, a worker.
Speaker 3: Somebody who needs health care and they're scared and they're
Speaker 3: crying out of relief, it does not feel good. It
Speaker 3: makes me feel really horrible because they have already been
Speaker 3: robbed of their dignity by the time that I talk
Speaker 3: to them, and I hate that. It's just it's disgusting
Speaker 3: that they've already been put in this situation that is dehumanizing,
Speaker 3: and I just it doesn't feel good when they cry
Speaker 3: in relief. It just does not feel good. So, just
Speaker 3: continuing this the tale of you know, this patient accessing
Speaker 3: an appointment. So so let's say, you know, they can
Speaker 3: get an appointment in a clinic. It's not in their
Speaker 3: state because there's no it's not legal to provide an
Speaker 3: abortion in their state, so they have to travel two
Speaker 3: states away and get to the clinic. So the flight
Speaker 3: tickets are eight hundred dollars and the cost of the
Speaker 3: appointment is four hundred, So already that's twelve hundred dollars,
Speaker 3: which luckily, I am so grateful and glad that I
Speaker 3: have the ability to arrange financial assistance for that, and
Speaker 3: I can work with individuals.
Speaker 5: To do that.
Speaker 3: Thank Thank the Lord, like they honestly, I shouldn't know,
Speaker 3: not thank the Lord, thank the people the Lord. Yeah, yeah, Like,
Speaker 3: thank these people so much. I'm just like so glad
Speaker 3: they exist and they're there and that they're such hard workers.
Speaker 5: Oh my god.
Speaker 3: But yeah, so that's twelve hundred dollars that we can
Speaker 3: that we can look into covering. So that way the
Speaker 3: person pays whatever they are capable of paying, even if
Speaker 3: that's nothing, because you know, some of these people like
Speaker 3: like they're living paycheck to paycheck because they're taking care
Speaker 3: of their children and like their family is coming first.
Speaker 3: That is what is happening, is they are taking care
Speaker 3: of their family and they are being a good caregiver.
Speaker 3: So the you know, the money is going to food
Speaker 3: on the tabe. So that's that's like twelve hundred dollars.
Speaker 3: But then there's a couple other things you have to
Speaker 3: factor in, is like does this person need a hotel
Speaker 3: because that can be an additional what like one hundred
Speaker 3: and two hundred depending And does this person have a car?
Speaker 3: Can they pay for the gas money, especially if they're driving,
Speaker 3: because like let's say they can get to an airport,
Speaker 3: but the airport is still two hours away. You still
Speaker 3: need gas money, You still have to park at the airport,
Speaker 3: you gotta pay for airport parking. And then you get
Speaker 3: on the air You get on the airplane and you
Speaker 3: fly over to the state where your appointment is. You
Speaker 3: get off the airplane, and then there is surge pricing
Speaker 3: for lyft and Uber and let's say the Uber, it
Speaker 3: can be anywhere from like maybe fifty dollars or one
Speaker 3: hundred dollars depending on what's going on, And that is
Speaker 3: just more money that needs to be spent.
Speaker 1: The fact, the fact that they're going to hit by
Speaker 1: fucking Uber surge process is so monstrous.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and like airports in general, like like getting out
Speaker 3: of an airport using a ride shair is pretty terrible.
Speaker 3: But yeah, you got to pay the surge pricing, so
Speaker 3: and then you get to the clinic and then you
Speaker 3: have your services, which is just really like when you're
Speaker 3: accessing healthcare.
Speaker 5: I mean we're all we all access healthcare.
Speaker 3: We're all human beings who need health care. Like, you
Speaker 3: really want to be able to focus on that appointment
Speaker 3: and the care you're getting. But at this point, they've
Speaker 3: already traveled, like they've been on a journey. So they
Speaker 3: arrived to the appointment and get the health care that
Speaker 3: really should have been what they should have been able
Speaker 3: to focus on, and then they got to go back,
Speaker 3: so then they got to do the whole thing they
Speaker 3: got through, go through airport security, get back, get the
Speaker 3: uber from the airport, and then let's say they have
Speaker 3: a two hour flight back, and that's I mean, that
Speaker 3: could be done in all than one day, but sometimes
Speaker 3: it can't.
Speaker 2: Be.
Speaker 3: Like sometimes it's just not possible to do all that
Speaker 3: in one day. And that's like another obstacle that I
Speaker 3: come across is that a lot a lot. I would
Speaker 3: say most of the patients I talk to are already parents,
Speaker 3: So they're like, I have to be back that evening
Speaker 3: because I don't have childcare overnight, Like I don't have
Speaker 3: overnight childcare. So then I'm like trying to get them
Speaker 3: back the same evening because because they're a parent, And
Speaker 3: then like, can you imagine just like you know, just
Speaker 3: like imagine your own parents, like your own like mom,
Speaker 3: just like zipping away for one day to go get
Speaker 3: like a really simple health care procedure and then they
Speaker 3: have to like rush back and you're already in bed, and.
Speaker 5: It's just so stressful. It's so stressful for the for the.
Speaker 3: Parent, for any any family members that might be like
Speaker 3: kind of like sharing this whole stressful experience with them,
Speaker 3: Any friends, any loved ones, and it's just you have.
Speaker 2: To find time off too.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, I didn't even get into that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I don't know, Like I just I said
Speaker 3: a lot of numbers just now, so I know, I
Speaker 3: started off with twelve hundred and then I tacked on
Speaker 3: about a bunch of extra things.
Speaker 5: Oh and I didn't mention that you're gonna.
Speaker 3: Have to eat that day, you know, like, yeah, you're
Speaker 3: in another state and you have to get food. So
Speaker 3: like it easily for one person starts racking up until
Speaker 3: like over two thousand, and that's why abortion ones are
Speaker 3: really important. But that's also that's a lot. That's a lot,
Speaker 3: and that's a lot on top of like an intimate
Speaker 3: healthcare appointment. And you know, just just outlining how much
Speaker 3: someone has to do to get to an appointment, there's
Speaker 3: even a couple other factors to consider too, because a
Speaker 3: lot of these people who are having to fly or
Speaker 3: drive these long distances to their appointment, they would have
Speaker 3: never been in that situation otherwise. So you know, these
Speaker 3: are individuals who have never flown on a plane before,
Speaker 3: maybe because like they've just never been in a.
Speaker 5: Situation in which they needed to fly on a plane.
Speaker 3: They've always been able to drive to like vacations and everything,
Speaker 3: like you know, like, oh, family vacation, you drive maybe
Speaker 3: like four hours, and you know, you have fun, and
Speaker 3: you just don't want to go on a plane.
Speaker 5: It makes you nervous. That's a lot of people live
Speaker 5: like that.
Speaker 3: So all of a sudden, these people have no choice, like, oh,
Speaker 3: you have to get on a plane and otherwise you're
Speaker 3: gonna have to drive twelve thirteen hours. So they get
Speaker 3: on a plane and they're scared because they've never done
Speaker 3: it before, because they're already stressed out that they're going
Speaker 3: to a doctor's appointment. They're already stressed out that they're
Speaker 3: relying on basically strangers to get them there, which is
Speaker 3: that's like a whole other topic is like you have
Speaker 3: to rely on strangers, and that's you know, people shouldn't
Speaker 3: have to do that. And then also you have to
Speaker 3: navigate an airport. So a lot of my job has
Speaker 3: become looking at maps, Like I'm looking at a map
Speaker 3: like how far away is this someone from a clinic?
Speaker 3: How far away are they from an airport? You know,
Speaker 3: can they go here? Can they go here? But I'm
Speaker 3: also on the phone with people kind of describing how
Speaker 3: airports work, like here's what airport security looks like. People
Speaker 3: are afraid of TSA, and I don't blame them. I
Speaker 3: fucking hate TSA. They're always passholes.
Speaker 5: Fuck them. They make everything worse.
Speaker 3: You got to go through TSA and you gotta yeah,
Speaker 3: I gotta know how to get your tickets, and you
Speaker 3: got to know how to where, you know, to get
Speaker 3: to a terminal. A lot of people don't, like if
Speaker 3: you've never flown before, they might not know that they're
Speaker 3: supposed to get on that little training you know, you
Speaker 3: know what I'm talking about, Like you will train, you
Speaker 3: go to your terminal, and like a lot of people
Speaker 3: don't know that, and all of a sudden they have
Speaker 3: to find out really fast and I have to explain it.
Speaker 3: And that's part of their abortion care. Part of people's
Speaker 3: abortion care is now talking them through an airport, and.
Speaker 5: That that has sucks.
Speaker 3: That's become like the daily experience. That's become the daily
Speaker 3: experience where it's like, yeah, six years ago, these used
Speaker 3: to be like Okay, I'm gonna bookr appointment. You're going
Speaker 3: to come in. Your appointment's going to be maybe like
Speaker 3: I don't know, five hours and then you and then
Speaker 3: you leave and you drive home, and maybe you're only
Speaker 3: driving like thirty minutes, maybe an hour, maybe two hours.
Speaker 3: And now we're having people who, you know, flights or
Speaker 3: it's a twelve hour drive, who are a flight there,
Speaker 3: who are a flight back. The flight lands at like midnight,
Speaker 3: you know, like and then your kids are in bed, and.
Speaker 5: It's like it's so.
Speaker 3: Much, and you can see why people give up, and
Speaker 3: people are giving up. In fact, the numbers are the
Speaker 3: numbers are hard to hear. I know that there was
Speaker 3: a study that showed that in the first six months
Speaker 3: after the DABS decision, thirty six thousand people who wanted
Speaker 3: an abortion couldn't get one. And that is only in
Speaker 3: the first six months, So I'm sure that that number
Speaker 3: is much I'm like dreading seeing new numbers, but I'm
Speaker 3: sure the number is much higher now. So when you're
Speaker 3: faced with all of this, people do give up because
Speaker 3: it is too much, which is the whole point of
Speaker 3: all of the bands and everything that's happened. The point
Speaker 3: was to make people give up. And I think that
Speaker 3: a lot of leftists maybe don't want to acknowledge that
Speaker 3: people are giving up. They want to believe that people
Speaker 3: will keep trying and they'll find those resources and they
Speaker 3: will get to the appointments because help is available, but
Speaker 3: not everyone finds the help that is out there, and
Speaker 3: not everyone can make it work. Like there's a lot
Speaker 3: of reasons why people can't do this ridiculous thing I
Speaker 3: just described. And then as abortion care workers, we see
Speaker 3: them give up. And I think that's kind of been
Speaker 3: the biggest one of the biggest changes for me is
Speaker 3: just how often I see people give up and just
Speaker 3: having to witness that because it's like, well, what does
Speaker 3: it mean when someone gives up? What does it mean
Speaker 3: when someone stops trying to get the healthcare that they're
Speaker 3: looking for? They're changing their entire plans, like, you know,
Speaker 3: because like everyone, not everyone, but a lot of people
Speaker 3: have like ideas of what they're doing with their life,
Speaker 3: and they're like, I want to have this many kids,
Speaker 3: I want to have them at these times, and I
Speaker 3: want to be with this person, or I don't want
Speaker 3: to be with anyone, and I want to work this
Speaker 3: job and go to the school or whatever. You know,
Speaker 3: You're making plans and then all of a sudden, because
Speaker 3: of this situation, you have to change your plans. And
Speaker 3: there's even worse things happening than that, But I think
Speaker 3: that that's bad enough, is that you can't get what
Speaker 3: you need and you just have to just change your
Speaker 3: life and accept defeat and take a path that you
Speaker 3: did not want to take. And it's fucking sad, and
Speaker 3: it's more than sad sad as an understatement, I don't
Speaker 3: know what word it is. It's horrible because this has
Speaker 3: been taken from them, The choice has been taken from
Speaker 3: them completely, and that's that is going to have effects
Speaker 3: that we are going to see for decades to come.
Speaker 5: And that's kind of.
Speaker 3: Hard to wrap your brain around, Like what does it
Speaker 3: mean for that ten and tens of thousands of people
Speaker 3: to not have had the health care that they need.
Speaker 3: It means that we're going to see like the negative
Speaker 3: health effects for years to come because that is a
Speaker 3: lot of people. That is a lot of that's a
Speaker 3: lot of people, and that's going to impact people in
Speaker 3: really long term ways for a really long time. And
Speaker 3: knowing that is really I don't know, words are kind
Speaker 3: of failing me. Yeah, it's like it's like beyond traumatic,
Speaker 3: beyond Yeah, I'm sure there will be studies in years
Speaker 3: from now I'm sure, but like it's been a year
Speaker 3: and I can say, like it's those it's gonna the
Speaker 3: data is going to be really bad. The data is
Speaker 3: going to be really bad based on everything that I've
Speaker 3: already seen.
Speaker 4: So suffering is not something you can quantify.
Speaker 1: And you know, the amount of human suffering that's been
Speaker 1: unleashed by this is, yeah, like one of the worst
Speaker 1: crimes that's happened in the century, full of like unspeakable crimes.
Speaker 3: And the suffering looks different for each individual, you know,
Speaker 3: like because it's just the whole, the whole, it's autonomy.
Speaker 3: You're losing control over your life and your body, and
Speaker 3: your family and your and there's just so many things,
Speaker 3: and it looks different for each person. So for some
Speaker 3: people it's like you have to just fucking change everything
Speaker 3: that you're fucking doing. You can't control your life or
Speaker 3: your body. And then for other people it can be
Speaker 3: even worse than that.
Speaker 5: Where where you are you're.
Speaker 3: Risking death because pregnancy is incredibly dangerous. So there are
Speaker 3: people who who are putting themselves in really dangerous situations
Speaker 3: with their pregnancies and they're being denied the care that
Speaker 3: they need. So you see people who are being forced
Speaker 3: to risk their life because they can't get the care
Speaker 3: they need, and people are losing their body parts, and
Speaker 3: they're for tis because recently I read a story and
Speaker 3: then there's these horror stories every day, which I like,
Speaker 3: I read them because I want to know everything that's happening,
Speaker 3: but I also am so resentful that like every day
Speaker 3: there's like a new like horror story about these services.
Speaker 3: But recently there was someone there was somebody who wasn't
Speaker 3: able to get timely abortion care it had to continue pregnancy,
Speaker 3: ended up losing her uterus, even though she did not
Speaker 3: she wanted to have more kids. She like wanted to
Speaker 3: continue having children, so all of a sudden, because she
Speaker 3: couldn't get an abortion, she couldn't continue to expand her
Speaker 3: family in the way that she wanted. Sterilized effectively, Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 3: Like yeah, so it's the suffering is so different for
Speaker 3: each individual and so intimate to them there, and it's
Speaker 3: it's going all the way up to like just like
Speaker 3: state mandated, just like body horror basically, and and it's deadly.
Speaker 5: It's really deadly, which is hard to talk about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, just having said that, should
Speaker 1: we talk a little bit about Gabriela Gonzalez and how
Speaker 1: you know, the other thing about abortion care is that
Speaker 1: it's not just that pregnancy is dangerous physically, it's that
Speaker 1: pregnancy like pregnancy is really dangerous socially because you know,
Speaker 1: we live in an incredibly patriarchal society and that means
Speaker 1: patriarchal violence is a real threat.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and this is always this Unfortunately one component of
Speaker 3: abortion care is it often involves interpersonal violence or more
Speaker 3: you know a lot of people say domestic violence, and
Speaker 3: it's because a lot of partners will try to control
Speaker 3: someone through through pregnancy and it's a tactic of abuse
Speaker 3: that that does come up. And if somebody does get
Speaker 3: pregnant while they are in that kind of relationship, and.
Speaker 5: That's that's a big thing.
Speaker 3: You know, a lot of times they it makes sense
Speaker 3: that if they're trying to get away from someone that
Speaker 3: you know, they don't want to continue the pregnancy. So
Speaker 3: and then that might be something that the partner might
Speaker 3: be intimately involved in where either they know about it
Speaker 3: or they don't know about it, and if they know
Speaker 3: about it, they could be pressuring the individual. It's unfortunately
Speaker 3: something that is often a component of this healthcare is
Speaker 3: that that is a factor that the person seeking healthcare
Speaker 3: is dealing with. So in terms of and all of
Speaker 3: this is I'm like, this is all really really triggering
Speaker 3: stuff too, and so trigger warning. But with Gabrielle A Gonzalez,
Speaker 3: that was something that happened. I think it was in
Speaker 3: it was in May. I remember it was in mid May.
Speaker 3: Because the news hit. It hit hard for us for
Speaker 3: like a lot of abortion care workers and practical support
Speaker 3: you know, advocates, because it's the thing that we we
Speaker 3: try so hard to keep our patients safe when they
Speaker 3: disclose things to us, you know, they we the patient
Speaker 3: safety is the number one priority. And the fact of
Speaker 3: the matter is these bands make it harder for people
Speaker 3: to access the services safely. So in the case of
Speaker 3: Gabriella Gonzalez, I just want to say her name. She
Speaker 3: was a mother of three children. She was twenty six
Speaker 3: years old when she was murdered by her ex partner
Speaker 3: after she accessed an abortion in another state. So she
Speaker 3: was located in Texas, she had to travel to Colorado
Speaker 3: to get an abortion and when she came back, unfortunately,
Speaker 3: she was murdered by her ex and just like a couple,
Speaker 3: just like a couple of things on that is. It's
Speaker 3: just if you are trying to be discreet and you're
Speaker 3: trying to you know, take care of your healthcare, it's
Speaker 3: hard to keep things private if you have to fly
Speaker 3: to another or drive to another state.
Speaker 5: It's just this situation is is just so.
Speaker 3: Much more complicated than it would be if you could
Speaker 3: access those services at home or near where you are.
Speaker 3: It's easier to keep that information private, it's easier to
Speaker 3: handle that situation in a timely way.
Speaker 5: So I feel like, I mean, our.
Speaker 3: Country is failing everyone pretty much, but I am torn
Speaker 3: apart and devastated, and this news hit so hard to
Speaker 3: learn about Gabriella Gonzalez and what happened to her, and
Speaker 3: knowing that, you know, we try so hard to keep
Speaker 3: our patients safe and being careful about communications, being careful
Speaker 3: about what we hand patients, even like there are some
Speaker 3: times like it's like, well, I cannot give you any handouts,
Speaker 3: So here's how we're going to provide you the information,
Speaker 3: because it's you know, people can't even have that information
Speaker 3: on their phone or or in their purse on their person,
Speaker 3: and trying so hard and then just having like the
Speaker 3: state defy you in every way, and and it's just
Speaker 3: really it's trapping people in the in this these violent
Speaker 3: situations that you say, I mean, these situations have always existed,
Speaker 3: but ever since these abortion bands went into effect, it
Speaker 3: is made them even even more dangerous.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean, you know, and I think in
Speaker 1: terms of just sort of getting at what the people
Speaker 1: who support this stuff believe, like they know about this,
Speaker 1: like this is this is what they want to happen, right,
Speaker 1: like this is you know, this is this is what
Speaker 1: this is what this is what it actually means to
Speaker 1: have an ideology that's based on patriarchal control.
Speaker 2: Is this ship yep?
Speaker 1: It's this like this is this this violence and that
Speaker 1: like this kind of coercion is what they want. These
Speaker 1: are all so you know, like again these are there's
Speaker 1: a reason. These are also people who want to end
Speaker 1: out fall divorce, right like they like their entire ideology
Speaker 1: is based on men being able to inflict violence, yep.
Speaker 3: And and you know, and these are what pro life people.
Speaker 3: And you know, gabriel A Gonzalez was a mother of
Speaker 3: three children. She was a mother and her children needed her.
Speaker 3: And now she's gone, And and I feel like the
Speaker 3: abortion bands and the like the the demolition of abortion
Speaker 3: services in the United States has led to this situation
Speaker 3: and will continue to lead to more situations like this,
Speaker 3: and they're all devastating and and I hate it. I
Speaker 3: just it's fucking awful. It's so fucking bad. And I
Speaker 3: know that, like, like where do I go from there?
Speaker 1: After saying like the in the world, and then yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I mean, I guess, I guess. The
Speaker 1: thing I can say after that, right, is like, if
Speaker 1: you want to live in a world that is not
Speaker 1: just utterly controlled by the most evil people who've ever
Speaker 1: lived by, you know, that is defined by enormous entries
Speaker 1: of human suffering, like these people their politics, to logistical
Speaker 1: support networks, their parties, like the entire political apparatus that
Speaker 1: is doing it needs to be completely destroyed, like like
Speaker 1: raised to the ground in a way that it like
Speaker 1: literally can never recover. And that is the thing that
Speaker 1: is possible, right, It is possible to completely destroy political movements.
Speaker 1: It is possible to just drive them so far underground
Speaker 1: that people forget they even existed. And you know, and
Speaker 1: then that has happened to movements before that were you know,
Speaker 1: as powerful.
Speaker 2: As this one. So it can be done.
Speaker 1: It's just it requires, you know it, it requires a
Speaker 1: level of political will that most that you know, politicians
Speaker 1: don't give a shit about because this is not something
Speaker 1: that affects them.
Speaker 3: And speaking of politicians not giving a shit, going back
Speaker 3: to like, you know, the initial reflection on like you know,
Speaker 3: it's it's been a year since Roe v Way was
Speaker 3: overturned in the Dobbs decision, and what has happened, Like
Speaker 3: what have the politicians done to alleviate all of this
Speaker 3: suffering that you know, I've been talking about, And it's
Speaker 3: it's very little. Like the biggest win that we've had
Speaker 3: is mif A pristone not being banned, which is horrible
Speaker 3: because like, oh and then that was that whole yeah,
Speaker 3: than that whole step, but that's like a whole other thing.
Speaker 3: But that is such a blique win, especially since it's
Speaker 3: not even gone and we're going to see this issue
Speaker 3: come back with mif A pristone. And and that's another
Speaker 3: thing too, because if that does happen, like missapriostal is amazing,
Speaker 3: and MISA pristal is very effective, and taking these prostile
Speaker 3: only for abortion is effective. But it's also more symptomatic
Speaker 3: and given just like you know, like we were talking
Speaker 3: about people like just people being exposed to violence, people
Speaker 3: having to act doing just like moving mountains and having
Speaker 3: to cross mountains and go on a journey to get
Speaker 3: these abortion services and literally what can be often a
Speaker 3: thirty minute to an hour appointment if you're you know, lucky,
Speaker 3: it's not always like that. But anyways, like these services
Speaker 3: aren't complicated, like you know, like it's not like a
Speaker 3: like these y, yeah, we have the technology, like like
Speaker 3: to get medication, you just go and you get the medication.
Speaker 3: They tall you how to take the medication, and they
Speaker 3: make sure they can prescribe you the medication you get it.
Speaker 3: It's not like that can be like a fifteen minute appointment.
Speaker 3: And then if you're if you're like under a certain
Speaker 3: gestational age, a first time master abortion can be only
Speaker 3: like five minutes. Like this this is not complicated healthcare.
Speaker 3: This is very simple healthcare. And you're adding all these
Speaker 3: extra factors in so when you're when you have to
Speaker 3: prescribe someone in medication that is more symptomatic, which is
Speaker 3: just adding like it's just one more complication and.
Speaker 5: The attack on abortion services.
Speaker 3: Has always been death by a thousand cuts, and this
Speaker 3: is just like one more cut that we really really
Speaker 3: do not need.
Speaker 5: So but that was a win.
Speaker 3: And and and it's like that is such a shitty win.
Speaker 3: And then you have some states that are becoming like
Speaker 3: sanctuary states where they're like, you know where I hate
Speaker 3: I hate saying that word.
Speaker 5: I'm so sorry.
Speaker 3: I didn't mean to say sanctuary states because it's really
Speaker 3: not that. But they're saying like, we're a safe place
Speaker 3: for you to get an abortion and we're never we're
Speaker 3: always going to have abortion services. And it's like, what
Speaker 3: does that mean if you have so many patients traveling
Speaker 3: from other states that you're booking five weeks A.
Speaker 6: Yeah, well they won't And it's like they won't fucking
Speaker 6: fund it, right, Like, yes, this is the thing that
Speaker 6: like I'm just like unbelievably fucking angry about, right, is it,
Speaker 6: like you know, dobbs In in terms of just the
Speaker 6: raw sort of politics of it, Right, in terms of
Speaker 6: pure getting votes, this is the best thing that's ever
Speaker 6: fucking happened in the Democratic Party.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: They have been reaping the fucking electoral rewards for this,
Speaker 1: and what have they been fucking doing for fifty goddamn years,
Speaker 1: like nothing, right, and this and this is the thing
Speaker 1: that like, Okay, you know, if if if you look
Speaker 1: at the way the right has been like fucking dealing
Speaker 1: with this, right, it's at every single step, right, you know,
Speaker 1: they they're constantly involved in lawsuits. They they're they're constantly
Speaker 1: pushing the boundaries and doing literally whatever they can within
Speaker 1: the within and without the bounds.
Speaker 4: Of the law.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've talked about the sort of vigilante campaigns, right,
Speaker 1: but like you know, like doing things like like like
Speaker 1: you know, I mean the one of the classic ones
Speaker 1: is requiring like facilities that do abortions to have like
Speaker 1: a specific length of hallway or like like with a
Speaker 1: different Yeah, and like they've been doing all this fucking
Speaker 1: legal bullshit to make it as hard as as humanly possible.
Speaker 2: Right, is there a democratic version of this?
Speaker 1: No? No, they fucking they came to the height of
Speaker 1: min like even even the states to have the ship
Speaker 1: like they're they're not fucking funding it, right, They're not
Speaker 1: fucking paying like they they're ship that they could be
Speaker 1: doing and they just they don't care because this is
Speaker 1: this is a you know, this is a very nice thing.
Speaker 1: They can trot out in their fucking fundraising meetings and
Speaker 1: they can get people to vote for them, but they're
Speaker 1: not gonna they're not gonna wage this kind of campaign
Speaker 1: that the Republicans have been like, they're not gonna wage
Speaker 1: a pro access campaign on the scale at all, right,
Speaker 1: but they're not gonna not gonna wage we on the
Speaker 1: scale the Republicans have been doing to like make sure
Speaker 1: that you fuck can't get these services.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like these blue states they're not safe. And
Speaker 3: there's like the ridiculous that there was like stockpiling mesapostal
Speaker 3: or whatever some states were saying they were doing. And
Speaker 3: it's like, if you're really looking out for people and
Speaker 3: you're really trying to defy these awful human rights violating laws,
Speaker 3: then send the medication to band states.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I help patients.
Speaker 3: In band states, like don't abandon Texas, don't abandon Louisiana
Speaker 3: and Mississippi, like help them, and because like where are
Speaker 3: they going? They're going to blue states. Like there's like
Speaker 3: there's like a ripple effect. And I feel like I
Speaker 3: talked about this last time when I was on talking
Speaker 3: to you Where Okay, you can't get these healthcare services
Speaker 3: near you, so you go somewhere else, and the people
Speaker 3: locally can't get those services, so then they have to
Speaker 3: travel further. And there's like this ripple effect to the
Speaker 3: point where like I'm sure that like blue states are
Speaker 3: seeing more appointments than ever, and I know for a fact,
Speaker 3: like here in Pennsylvania, here in Pittsburgh, where literally we're
Speaker 3: seeing we're always seeing people in Ohio just because they'll
Speaker 3: even though abortion is legal in Ohio, it's just there's
Speaker 3: a lot of restrictions there, so it's a little tricky.
Speaker 3: But then there's like West Virginia and like Kentucky and Tennessee,
Speaker 3: and you're seeing so many more patients, so you're booking
Speaker 3: out further. And it's like if you're let's say you're
Speaker 3: eight weeks and you find out, so if you're eight
Speaker 3: weeks pregnant, then you're you've only missed your.
Speaker 5: Period like for like a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3: It's really like, you know, you can find out you're
Speaker 3: a weeks running.
Speaker 5: You're like, you just found out, really.
Speaker 3: And you call somewhere near you to get an appointment,
Speaker 3: but the appointment is five weeks away, so all of
Speaker 3: a sudden, you go from eight weeks to thirteen weeks,
Speaker 3: It's like what the heck? Yeah, like it's totally different options,
Speaker 3: Like and that's happening in blue states, and it's like,
Speaker 3: so this is impacting literally everyone, but no politicians or
Speaker 3: even like big talking heads are really doing anything about
Speaker 3: it because it just gets worse. There's just more bands constantly.
Speaker 1: And I want to talk a bit about this the
Speaker 1: sanctuary bullshit too, because I like this is like the
Speaker 1: third fucking issue that we've seen politicians be like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're a sanctuary state. It's like, yeah, okay, Like I
Speaker 1: remember when I was doing fucking anti ice raids stuff, right,
Speaker 1: do you know how much time we fucking spent trying
Speaker 1: to stop raids like ice raids in saying in quote
Speaker 1: unquote sanctuary states, Like it's bullshit.
Speaker 2: It's always been fucking bullshit. They don't mean it, and you.
Speaker 1: Know, like all of the fucking like this is the
Speaker 1: sanctuary state thing is just like a thing that they
Speaker 1: fucking say so that they can you know, just sort
Speaker 1: of like like rally their based support and like build
Speaker 1: towards whatever presidential run they're going to do in twenty
Speaker 1: Like thirty two whatever, and it doesn't. It's not it's
Speaker 1: not helping people, and it's just not going to Yeah.
Speaker 5: It's not.
Speaker 3: It's it's not a strategy that works. And I mean,
Speaker 3: it's just entirely selfish. It's it's it's it's rage inducing
Speaker 3: because it's you know, how do I feel as an
Speaker 3: abortion worker. You know, it's been a year since Roe
Speaker 3: v Way was overturned, and I have to witness all
Speaker 3: of this needless suffering and trauma and people's safety being
Speaker 3: compromised and people being hurt and people giving up, and
Speaker 3: and then these politicians are not doing anything. I am
Speaker 3: so I'm full of so much anger that it's it's
Speaker 3: sometimes numbing, Like sometimes I'm so angry that I kind
Speaker 3: of feel nothing like it kind of like it's like
Speaker 3: it's so far down the spectrum that I like just
Speaker 3: it just turns into like a non emotion basically, like
Speaker 3: so much anger that it's blinding and feels like nothing.
Speaker 5: And I don't even know what.
Speaker 3: I don't even know what to do with it other
Speaker 3: than focus into just like continuing to provide healthcare. Where
Speaker 3: it's like, oh, I'm so angry and I'm so mad,
Speaker 3: and I feel so terrible. I am going to make
Speaker 3: sure that this person gets an abortion. Like that's what
Speaker 3: I can do. I can, I can get people to
Speaker 3: an appointment, and I don't I want to do more.
Speaker 3: I want to go and and just like raise everything
Speaker 3: to the ground and be like like you were saying,
Speaker 3: but I can't be the only one doing.
Speaker 5: That, like we all have to do ye, Like we
Speaker 5: all have to raise.
Speaker 3: Everything in the ground because this is so untenable and
Speaker 3: so unfair and and is creating such a huge ripple
Speaker 3: of suffering that we're all going to be experiencing for decades.
Speaker 5: And I'm really bitter about it.
Speaker 3: I'm super angry and super bitter, and and it's not
Speaker 3: going to get better too. It's it's not I have
Speaker 3: to be honest about that, because if I'm not, then
Speaker 3: I'm not going to be prepared. But we're going to
Speaker 3: continue to see these bands, they're not going away right now.
Speaker 3: Then if a person issue is going to come back
Speaker 3: and and we're going to keep seeing it and it's spreading,
Speaker 3: and you know, I know that that's like a whole
Speaker 3: other topic too, but the ripple effects are really immense,
Speaker 3: and every time someone is hurt, well, every individual.
Speaker 5: Like when I heard that thirty six thousand number, that
Speaker 5: really hurt.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because you know, I know how many patients I've
Speaker 3: seen in the last year, and it is it's less
Speaker 3: than thirty six thousand. So like, I'm happy every time
Speaker 3: I help someone, I'm so happy, and I'm like, yes,
Speaker 3: you know, I helped this person get healthcare.
Speaker 5: I'm really happy.
Speaker 3: And then I look at that thirty six I was
Speaker 3: a number, and I'm like, oh my god, there are
Speaker 3: so many other people who were not able to find help,
Speaker 3: and I'm and I don't like, like I said, like
Speaker 3: I don't even feel good when someone is like thanking
Speaker 3: me and they oftentimes people will say people will say
Speaker 3: to me, I hear this almost every day. You have
Speaker 3: no idea how grateful and thankful I am. And it's like,
Speaker 3: I really don't. I don't know because I'm not in
Speaker 3: your shoes, and I feel I'm and I'm sorry that
Speaker 3: I that you had to come to me like this,
Speaker 3: Like I'm sorry. I feel I'm so sad in like
Speaker 3: such a deep visceral way that when someone is saying
Speaker 3: like you'll never know know how thankful I am that
Speaker 3: they just weren't able to go to their local doctor's
Speaker 3: office or even have the medication mail to them and
Speaker 3: and have it like come in like two days and
Speaker 3: just take it and follow up with the doctor on
Speaker 3: the phone if needed, you know, something super simple which
Speaker 3: would make sense.
Speaker 5: And I'm just I'm I just I hate it. I
Speaker 5: fucking hate it. I just keep coming to that. I'm like,
Speaker 5: this is so bad, this is so bad. I want
Speaker 5: to keep doing it, but it sucks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're gonna talk more about this next episode, and
Speaker 1: also how the things that we're seeing in abortion care
Speaker 1: have been spiraling out and spreading to other sectors of
Speaker 1: the healthcare system, including trends healthcare. But in the meantime,
Speaker 1: we have an enormous number of links to different abortion
Speaker 1: funds and various abortioned worker groups who also need your support.
Speaker 1: So yeah, please support them. And yeah, so that that's
Speaker 1: going to be the next episode is because again again
Speaker 1: like this this isn't a you know, once you have
Speaker 1: like an evil like this has been unleash into the world,
Speaker 1: it doesn't just stay in one place, right, keeps moving,
Speaker 1: It keeps going after different people, it keeps expanding, and
Speaker 1: it keeps just rippling through the world. And so when
Speaker 1: we're talking about that, we're gonna be talking about yeah,
Speaker 1: like you know, I mean the fights that abortioned workers
Speaker 1: have been having. And then we're gonna we're gonna we're
Speaker 1: gonna give you a brief bit of hope at the
Speaker 1: end of what you can do, because like, fuck it,
Speaker 1: the world does not need to be like this, Like
Speaker 1: this is not you know, I mean, there's there's the
Speaker 1: old David Graber lines like that is the ultimate hidden
Speaker 1: truth of this world, is that it is something that
Speaker 1: we make and could just as easily make differently.
Speaker 5: Let's do it. Let's make it different.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's fucking do that. It's not let's not let's
Speaker 1: not make a fucking immense engine of human suffering. Yeah,
Speaker 1: before we go for this episode, Uh, do you have
Speaker 1: stuff that you want to plug in terms of like
Speaker 1: abortion fund links, in terms of resources.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, So I know that I was talking about
Speaker 3: just abortion funds in general. So find your local abortion fund,
Speaker 3: go to abortion funds dot org and you know whatever
Speaker 3: your local abortion fun support it.
Speaker 5: And if you feel like you.
Speaker 3: You know, your local abortion fund, like you've been supporting
Speaker 3: them or they get a lot of support and you
Speaker 3: want to support maybe like funds elsewhere that are doing
Speaker 3: doing the good work. Then I would recommend the Texas
Speaker 3: Equal Access Fund, the T Fund in Texas. They are
Speaker 3: being so amazing and I love them. And also I
Speaker 3: know that the Chicago Abortion Fund is a huge fund,
Speaker 3: but I just I love them so much, so I
Speaker 3: just they can't have enough money.
Speaker 5: Just go donate to people. They're so amazing.
Speaker 3: So Texas Equal Access Fund, the T Fund, the Chicago
Speaker 3: Abortion Fund, They're doing such important work. So you know,
Speaker 3: if you if you're looking for someone outside of your
Speaker 3: local abortion fund which you should be supporting, then also
Speaker 3: check them out as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so, Crystal, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1: We will be back tomorrow. We will be talking more
Speaker 1: about this. We'll be talking about what you can do,
Speaker 1: and yeah, until then, donate to your abortion funds and yeah,
Speaker 1: make make make the lives of the people who did
Speaker 1: this fucking miserable and destroy their political power. Yes, it
Speaker 1: could happen here as a production of cool Zone Media.
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Speaker 5: You can find sources for it. Could happen here.
Speaker 2: Updated monthly at cool zonemedia dot com slash sources.
Speaker 5: Thanks for listening.