Speaker 1: Hey everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to Work in Progress, Whips, smarties and friends. I
Speaker 1: am really excited to bring you a special episode today.
Speaker 1: It's no secret to any of you who lives in
Speaker 1: this country or is engaging in what is happening in
Speaker 1: this country that our rights are under attack. These conversations
Speaker 1: we're having about our autonomy, about science, medicine, and health
Speaker 1: care certainly, and they're also incredibly personal because they're about pregnancy,
Speaker 1: pregnancy loss, miscarriage and abortion. And so I just want
Speaker 1: to offer a trigger warning to anyone if these are
Speaker 1: sensitive subjects for you, I hope you can stay to
Speaker 1: hear from the VP, but if it feels hard or overwhelming,
Speaker 1: I just wanted to give you a warning, and of
Speaker 1: course say take care of yourself first and foremost. And
Speaker 1: in the wake of recent tragedies, namely the death of
Speaker 1: Amber Nicole Thurman and Georgia, a young mother with a
Speaker 1: six year old son who went into the hospital needing
Speaker 1: a DNC and was not treated. She was held in
Speaker 1: the hospital for twenty hours until she went into septic shock,
Speaker 1: and by the time doctors operated on her it was
Speaker 1: too late. The sepsis had gone too far and she
Speaker 1: passed away. And she's not the only one. Women in
Speaker 1: this country are dying because of the abortion bands that
Speaker 1: have been instituted across the country by Donald Trump and
Speaker 1: his Supreme Court judges and seeing medical boards say with
Speaker 1: absolute conviction these deaths were preventable. But these women were
Speaker 1: killed because doctors are absolutely terrified to do their duties,
Speaker 1: to follow their hippocratic oaths and to save lives because
Speaker 1: the Republican Party in America is threatening to jail them
Speaker 1: for providing health care. I am apoplectic and heartbroken, and
Speaker 1: I've decided to dig into the archives today for you
Speaker 1: because a lot of people have said, how could this
Speaker 1: have happened? They said this wouldn't happen, They said it
Speaker 1: would never get this bad. And I say this with
Speaker 1: no pride. I say this with extreme sadness. Those of
Speaker 1: us who have been fighting these issues have been screaming
Speaker 1: from the rooftops that this would happen. We were called hysterical.
Speaker 1: We were told we were overreacting, and we weren't. We're
Speaker 1: killing people in our country because of politics, and it's devastating.
Speaker 1: And when I'm devastated, I look to the ones who
Speaker 1: give me hope. And one of the people who's given
Speaker 1: me hope as a Californian for many years in many
Speaker 1: elected offices is Kamala Harris. Our Vice President has been
Speaker 1: incredible as my state's attorney general, as a United States Senator,
Speaker 1: and as the Vice President. She has centered women and
Speaker 1: families in her policy. She has chosen to advocate on
Speaker 1: behalf of our rights, understanding that our liberty is bound
Speaker 1: together for women, for black women, for pregnant women, for
Speaker 1: the LGBTQ community, for trans folks. Our autonomy is being attacked,
Speaker 1: and over the last couple of years, I've had the
Speaker 1: incredible privilege of traveling the country with the Vice President
Speaker 1: on her Reproductive Freedom's Tour. She has taken time out
Speaker 1: of her schedule regularly to meet with people in every
Speaker 1: state to talk about what's at stake here. And in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two I was lucky enough to travel with
Speaker 1: her to bring mar College, and in twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: I was able to visit San Jose with her and
Speaker 1: her team has graciously sent us the audio from those interviews,
Speaker 1: and we have decided to cut it into an election
Speaker 1: special for all of you today. Because in my mind,
Speaker 1: there is just no greater fight. We can't fight about
Speaker 1: the economy if we're not alive. We can't better our
Speaker 1: schools if our children are parentless. We can't change America
Speaker 1: for the better and continue to create more access to
Speaker 1: freedom and empowerment and opportunity for people if we're not alive.
Speaker 1: So let's take a little journey through the last two
Speaker 1: years with Vice President Kamala Harris and understand why this
Speaker 1: fight is so personal to her. For this first section
Speaker 1: of audio, you will be coming into the auditorium at
Speaker 1: Brinmar College with myself and Vice President Harris on October
Speaker 1: twenty eighth, twenty twenty two. At this event, we were
Speaker 1: joined by Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon, by Admiral Rachel Levine,
Speaker 1: and a number of other exceptionally all standing up for
Speaker 1: our rights. This is a razor's edge moment in our country.
Speaker 1: It is such an incredible, tenuous moment in this fight
Speaker 1: for our rights, rights that we have long considered to
Speaker 1: be settled law. And I'm very curious, how, with the
Speaker 1: plethora of issues, Madam Vice President, that you face in
Speaker 1: the administration every day, how have you dedicated so much
Speaker 1: time to championing this issue, and why does it matter
Speaker 1: to you so much?
Speaker 2: Let's start with.
Speaker 3: From childhood.
Speaker 4: So you see, I was raised, my sister and I
Speaker 4: were raised by a mother who had two goals in
Speaker 4: her life to raise her two daughters and.
Speaker 2: To end breast cancer.
Speaker 4: My mother was a breast cancer researcher, and she was
Speaker 4: one of the very few women as a scientist, and
Speaker 4: certainly one of the fewest women of color. And she
Speaker 4: would come home at night, you know, I remember vividly,
Speaker 4: very upset sometimes about how women were being treated in
Speaker 4: the healthcare system. She was always speaking up and fighting
Speaker 4: for the dignity of women in the healthcare system, and
Speaker 4: in particular as it relates to reproductive health I mean
Speaker 4: a word, a phrase that was often spoken at the
Speaker 4: dinner table from my childhood on was memory gland. My
Speaker 4: mother would talk about memory glands, she would talk about hormones,
Speaker 4: she would talk about reproductive health care, about how women
Speaker 4: should be treated in a way that gives them not
Speaker 4: only a dignity that they rightly are due, but also
Speaker 4: information so that they can exercise self determination in the system.
Speaker 4: And so that's you know, so from the earliest stage,
Speaker 4: and then the majority of my career before joining the
Speaker 4: Senate was as a prosecutor, and when I was a
Speaker 4: courtroom prosecutor, my specialty throughout those years was on crimes
Speaker 4: affecting women and children in crimes of violence. In fact,
Speaker 4: I specialized in some of the most horrible cases that
Speaker 4: you can imagine. And again it was always about fighting
Speaker 4: for the dignity, the safety, and the well being of
Speaker 4: women in so many of those circumstances. But to your point,
Speaker 4: I mean, look where we are. The highest court in
Speaker 4: our land, the United States Supreme Court, just took a
Speaker 4: constitutional right that had been recognized from the people of America,
Speaker 4: from the women of America. And you know, on this subject,
Speaker 4: I think it's important to note that one does not
Speaker 4: have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to
Speaker 4: agree the government should not be making this decision for her.
Speaker 4: But what we are now saying as a result of
Speaker 4: the Dobbs decision are laws that are being proposed and
Speaker 4: passed around our country that would criminalize health care providers
Speaker 4: literally doctors, nurses, other health care providers, send them to jail.
Speaker 4: You know, as a practicing attorney, what the consequence of
Speaker 4: that is, both in terms of I think the intent
Speaker 4: to intimidate and instill fear in these healthcare professionals much
Speaker 4: less the intent to punish them. What is happening with
Speaker 4: no exception for rape or incest. And again I go
Speaker 4: back to my professional career. You're talking about individuals who,
Speaker 4: in those cases have experienced the worst kind of act
Speaker 4: of violence and violation to their body. And then these
Speaker 4: extremist so called leaders would dare to say and suggest
Speaker 4: that that individual furthermore, will not have the right to
Speaker 4: make decisions about what comes next.
Speaker 2: As it relates to their body.
Speaker 3: This is immoral, it's unconscionable, and they walk around and
Speaker 3: want to be hailed as leaders of their whatever.
Speaker 4: That's not what a leader does. That's not what a
Speaker 4: leader does, not what a true leader does. So this issue,
Speaker 4: it really does relate to a lot of work that
Speaker 4: I've done in the past, feel a great sense of
Speaker 4: commitment as do we all to stand up and speak
Speaker 4: out about it.
Speaker 1: And not only does row falling threaten our bodily autonomy,
Speaker 1: but it threatens every other right that has been considered
Speaker 1: settled law under our fourteen Amendment, right to liberty. We
Speaker 1: are now seeing attacks on access to contraception, ninety six
Speaker 1: percent of Republicans just voted against it. So they don't
Speaker 1: want us to be able to not get pregnant, and
Speaker 1: they also want us to stay pregnant. Interesting, we see
Speaker 1: attacks on marriage, we see attacks on our right to privacy.
Speaker 4: There was a movement that was started by people generations
Speaker 4: ago that culminated in Roe v.
Speaker 3: Wait.
Speaker 2: It is now.
Speaker 3: Incumbent on us who are under this roof together right
Speaker 3: now to pick that movement up and to carry it forward.
Speaker 4: And when we think about the history of the greatest
Speaker 4: movements in our country that were about progress, progress being
Speaker 4: defined as an expansion of rights, not a restriction of rights.
Speaker 4: The greatest movements that have been about that kind of progress,
Speaker 4: the key ingredient has been the coalition that was built
Speaker 4: around those movements. So when I think about it, and
Speaker 4: this is what we talked about with the legislators in Pennsylvania,
Speaker 4: is because at that table and there were so many
Speaker 4: leaders there who represent in their history of work and
Speaker 4: in their constituencies, all these groups or a collection of them.
Speaker 4: And let's see the power that we have right now
Speaker 4: to empower folks who right now are being made to
Speaker 4: lose their rights or to have to fight for their rights. Well,
Speaker 4: then let's fight together. I strongly believe nobody should be
Speaker 4: made to fight alone.
Speaker 1: And it isn't lost on any of us that this
Speaker 1: rhetoric that you speak about, this division, we're witnessing half
Speaker 1: of our political system, if not more, create chaos by othering.
Speaker 1: We're seeing rhetoric across the country that reminds us of
Speaker 1: what led to World War Two. We're seeing the demonization
Speaker 1: of women and doctors and people who need care. We're
Speaker 1: seeing attacks on the LGBTQ community and our trans communities.
Speaker 1: And what I think when you speak about coalition building,
Speaker 1: the thing I try to remember is that if they're
Speaker 1: pushing us into the space where they want us to
Speaker 1: look at each other as other, where they want us
Speaker 1: to be triggered by the fear of scarcity, the fear
Speaker 1: of not enoughness, all we have to remember, for the
Speaker 1: those of us who love math and ven diagrams, that
Speaker 1: love that about you, is that we have data on
Speaker 1: our side now that we didn't have one hundred years ago.
Speaker 1: We know if we just pick one of these issues,
Speaker 1: if we could create pay parody simply on the gender line,
Speaker 1: if we snapped our fingers and women were paid what
Speaker 1: men are paid in this country. And this is data
Speaker 1: from twenty eighteen, so it might be better now our
Speaker 1: GDP would increase by twelve points. So we're not fighting
Speaker 1: over the pieces of the pie. If we create equity,
Speaker 1: the pie gets bigger. We all do better. Our liberty
Speaker 1: is bound together. If we protect the rights of vulnerable groups,
Speaker 1: each of us in our own vulnerabilities is better protected.
Speaker 1: And that is something I think the administration has been
Speaker 1: doing a very incredible job at continuing to highlight and
Speaker 1: repeat across all of these issues. And I'm curious how
Speaker 1: as you traveled to stay and take part in meetings
Speaker 1: like this and see what people are doing to fight back,
Speaker 1: how do you look at within the Biden Harris administration
Speaker 1: this sort of umbrella of the whole nation and figure
Speaker 1: out how to fight back. How does the administration really
Speaker 1: figure out both the specific state by state action and
Speaker 1: the kind of national policy.
Speaker 4: Well, so we can talk about in the broader issue,
Speaker 4: how do we address some of the inequities that you
Speaker 4: have rightly pointed out pointed out and equity is one
Speaker 4: of the principles by which we have approached.
Speaker 3: All of our work.
Speaker 4: And you know, And let's be clear, what does equity mean, right,
Speaker 4: It's different from equality.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: Equity is about understanding not everybody starts out on the
Speaker 4: same base.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: Equal would mean everyone gets the same amount. Well, but
Speaker 4: if everyone doesn't start out in the same base, the
Speaker 4: inequities are still going to exist, right. And so you know,
Speaker 4: if you just give equal, you have to recognize the
Speaker 4: inequities and then and then give people an equal opportunity
Speaker 4: to compete.
Speaker 1: I imagine that that since Dobbs, you must be hearing
Speaker 1: from women and families who are going through things that
Speaker 1: are unspeakable, and and I I wonder how you carry
Speaker 1: their stories, you know, into your office. I wonder how
Speaker 1: you carry those stories into the White House.
Speaker 2: That these are the.
Speaker 1: People who we are trying to advocate for. Right, So
Speaker 1: how does that affect you personally as you go out
Speaker 1: to lead.
Speaker 4: I will tell you there's a lot of fear in
Speaker 4: our country right now. And in fact Prop number two
Speaker 4: I only have two, but it actually is quite serious
Speaker 4: as an issue. So here's a map of the United States,
Speaker 4: and the colors here represent the different laws or the
Speaker 4: state of affairs in each of the states. So one
Speaker 4: of these colors is abortion, banned from conception with no exceptions.
Speaker 4: One is banned from conception with an exception for rape
Speaker 4: or incest. There's another that is, let's see a six
Speaker 4: week band, there's a fifteen week band, there's an eighteen
Speaker 4: week ban, there's a You see what I'm saying. This
Speaker 4: is the map of the United States in terms of
Speaker 4: the state of affairs right now, which tells us a
Speaker 4: lot of people are really confused. And what I know
Speaker 4: happens when folks are confused is it is then an
Speaker 4: environment that is ripe for misinformation, disinformation, and predatory behaviors.
Speaker 2: So one of the reasons that what we are.
Speaker 4: Doing this afternoon is important is to uplift and then
Speaker 4: send out accurate information about about the rights that people
Speaker 4: have and where they can go for help. Because there's
Speaker 4: another issue that is very much at play here that
Speaker 4: I think has to also be spoken, which is the
Speaker 4: long standing judgment associated with women's sexuality.
Speaker 2: So understand that.
Speaker 4: Understand that, right, So what is happening is that in
Speaker 4: this environment it's also thick with judgment, which has the
Speaker 4: effect of making the individual feel embarrassed or is meant
Speaker 4: to shame her, but certainly will make her feel alone,
Speaker 4: which is one of the greatest tools that anyone has
Speaker 4: when they want to take someone's power. So we're looking
Speaker 4: at a situation where there are people all over our
Speaker 4: country who right now are feeling very alone, very confused,
Speaker 4: and in that way, feeling helpless. And that is another
Speaker 4: piece of this that is so insidious about what is
Speaker 4: happening right now in our country. And it is why,
Speaker 4: especially to the students who are here, I ask you
Speaker 4: to please use all of the creative ways that you
Speaker 4: have to communicate with large numbers of people to remind
Speaker 4: people they are not alone, To remind people they are
Speaker 4: not being judged, to remind them that we stand with
Speaker 4: them and that there is so much support for them.
Speaker 4: We have to recognize all of the layers of what
Speaker 4: is happening right now, because they're are very powerful forces
Speaker 4: in our country who are using the bully pulp that
Speaker 4: they have to make people afraid, to make people feel small,
Speaker 4: and literally to criminalize and punish people for exercising self determination.
Speaker 4: And so this is a moment for all good people
Speaker 4: to stand and speak.
Speaker 1: Hi, friends, I hope you're enjoying this conversation with Vice
Speaker 1: President Harris. We are going to step back in in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four in San Jose, California, where I got
Speaker 1: to sit at a large event with the VP and
Speaker 1: talk about how the landscape changed over the last two years.
Speaker 1: Some facts that I think you all should have hand
Speaker 1: are that the Trump abortion bands have eliminated some or
Speaker 1: all abortion care in twenty two states in this country.
Speaker 1: Total bands are in effect in fourteen states. Four states
Speaker 1: have six week bands in place Florida, Georgia, Iowa, South Carolina.
Speaker 1: Two states have twelve week bands in place North Carolina
Speaker 1: and Nebraska, and two states have fifteen to eighteen week
Speaker 1: bands in place, Arizona and Utah. We did, I will say, recently,
Speaker 1: have some success a hard fought legal battle in Arizona
Speaker 1: that was combined with very heroic efforts from state legislatures,
Speaker 1: repealed the state's pre row abortion ban. That was a law,
Speaker 1: by the way, from eighteen sixty four, when we knew
Speaker 1: nothing that we know today about medicine, and that's what
Speaker 1: they thought should govern our bodily autonomy. Thankfully we've beat
Speaker 1: it back, but the fights still continue state by state.
Speaker 1: One thing that I do want to highlight for you
Speaker 1: all is that at six weeks most women don't know
Speaker 1: they're pregnant, and a lot of these have been passed
Speaker 1: based on false information that is meant to emotionally manipulate us.
Speaker 1: They call these six week bands heartbeat bands. There is
Speaker 1: no such thing as a heart beat. At six weeks.
Speaker 1: The gestational tissue of a fetus has not formed a
Speaker 1: heart yet. You are actually hearing the electrical pulses from
Speaker 1: a mother's body that move through her blood supply into
Speaker 1: her uterus. It's not lost on me that they want
Speaker 1: to sentence women to death if they have pregnancy complications
Speaker 1: because of their own heart beats. This is what we're
Speaker 1: up against. Additional states have gestational limits in place beyond
Speaker 1: twenty weeks. Unfortunately, we all know that most abortions that
Speaker 1: happen after twenty weeks happen due to fetal anomalies. They
Speaker 1: happen due to catastrophic and sad loss that families are facing.
Speaker 1: And since these bands have gone into place, we have
Speaker 1: seen infant mortality increase in some states by horrific, horrific percentages.
Speaker 1: And while the former president Donald Trump might be touring
Speaker 1: the country stating that he is proud to have overturned
Speaker 1: Roe V. Wade because quote everyone wanted this. I don't
Speaker 1: think everyone in Texas wanted to see maternal mortality rise
Speaker 1: to fifty six percent compared with an eleven percent rise
Speaker 1: nationwide during the period that Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Speaker 1: I don't think that infant mortality rising by over eight
Speaker 1: percent across the country because mothers are being forced to
Speaker 1: carry fetuses with fatal anomalies to term is what quote
Speaker 1: everybody wanted. But here we are, and I want to
Speaker 1: be very clear with our listeners that Donald Trump and
Speaker 1: JD Vance, along with their draconian plans under Project twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five, have a plan for him to radically alter
Speaker 1: the American government and end abortion access nationwide on day one,
Speaker 1: using every single lever that they can, even without Congress.
Speaker 1: They have printed this plan. This is not hearsay, this
Speaker 1: is not hysteria. They put it on the Internet, guys,
Speaker 1: it's there. So no matter what he goes out there
Speaker 1: and says about being pro fertilization that made me want
Speaker 1: to vomit. His party has voted against IVF not once,
Speaker 1: but twice. You need to watch what he does and
Speaker 1: what the GOP do as a voting block, not what
Speaker 1: he says and not what they say. You cannot trust
Speaker 1: them on campaign statements, but you can trust their records
Speaker 1: on abortion, no matter how you feel about it. We're
Speaker 1: all allowed to have feelings and beliefs that we adhere
Speaker 1: to in our own lives, but our feelings and beliefs
Speaker 1: cannot govern policy. They cannot govern medical science. At no
Speaker 1: point in any person's pregnancy is a politician more qualified
Speaker 1: to make decisions about your health than you and your doctor.
Speaker 1: We have to be really clear on our language here,
Speaker 1: and we have to be really clear about the goals
Speaker 1: of the right. They knew that abortion bands would kill women,
Speaker 1: and they are. They knew that abortion bands would harm families,
Speaker 1: and they are. And we have to be frank. As
Speaker 1: Sarah Jones says, that when abortion bands kill, they reveal
Speaker 1: their true purpose, which is to grant a handful of
Speaker 1: extremists the power over the lives and deaths of American women.
Speaker 1: When we take into account that nearly one in three
Speaker 1: women will experience sexual violence or physical violence in their lifetime,
Speaker 1: and that many of these states bands make no exceptions
Speaker 1: for rape or incest, it gets worse. One thing I
Speaker 1: want to alert you all to friends, is that these
Speaker 1: anti abortion, these anti reproductive freedom groups are signaling their
Speaker 1: intent to enforce a really terrifying law. It's radical. It's
Speaker 1: called the Comstock Act, and they are specifically and on
Speaker 1: purpose misinterpreting that act to further rest access to abortion
Speaker 1: and contraception. Just so y'all know, you can do your
Speaker 1: research here. The Comstock Act is an eighteen hundred's law
Speaker 1: about controlling people's sex lives that was passed before women
Speaker 1: could vote, and that's how they want us all to live.
Speaker 1: If they win, these attacks are going to have consequences
Speaker 1: with ripple effects in every single state across the country.
Speaker 1: And they share the same goal banning abortion nationwide and
Speaker 1: making sexual and reproductive health care inaccessible. They want to
Speaker 1: deny you the right to be a parent should you
Speaker 1: want to needing IVF. They want to deny you the
Speaker 1: right to not be a parent yet, should you want
Speaker 1: to using birth control. These are terrifying control mechanisms. And
Speaker 1: while these extreme Supreme Court justices may have felt confident
Speaker 1: to publish that they believe we need a quote domestic
Speaker 1: supply of infants end quote in their reasoning for overturning DOBS,
Speaker 1: I don't exactly think any of us signed up to
Speaker 1: be breeders for a future America population against our will.
Speaker 1: This is an attack on us, and this is an
Speaker 1: attack that goes so far beyond just the question of abortion,
Speaker 1: but to reproductive healthcare in general. They are coming for
Speaker 1: birth control, they are coming for IVF. Republicans have voted
Speaker 1: down a bill that would protect IVF twice this year.
Speaker 1: They just voted down a bill that would protect our
Speaker 1: access to contraception, and their presidential candidate is out campaigning
Speaker 1: on taking contraception away from us. This election is about
Speaker 1: two different visions for the future of America. One is
Speaker 1: a vision where everyone gets more free and has more
Speaker 1: rights and more access to all things, not just healthcare,
Speaker 1: but economic opportunity, and the other is a draconian control
Speaker 1: mechanism to create an oligarchy and the rest of us
Speaker 1: just have to suffer in it. We are in a
Speaker 1: crisis point, and I got to speak about that exact
Speaker 1: crisis point with the Vice President in San Jose in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. I mean, how cool is this? Before
Speaker 1: we get into serious business, I just personally want to
Speaker 1: extend to thank you. We did this for the first time,
Speaker 1: having a conversation like this one two years ago on
Speaker 1: a college campus across the country, and day in and
Speaker 1: day out, while you are in the position to hold
Speaker 1: the issues of the world, you keep our rights a
Speaker 1: top issue in the administration and in the White House
Speaker 1: and on behalf of all women and potentially pregnant people.
Speaker 3: Ever, I just thank you.
Speaker 1: Okay, So we are in a moment as a nation,
Speaker 1: and I'm curious from your vantage point, how you see
Speaker 1: it and why you have decided to lead this fight
Speaker 1: for Reproductive Freedom's tour.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, it's great to be with you, Sophia,
Speaker 3: and thank you for sharing the stage and.
Speaker 2: For using your voice.
Speaker 4: The topic for today here is the topic of what
Speaker 4: has happened in our country after the Dobbs decision, which
Speaker 4: took away the right of people to make decisions about
Speaker 4: their own body and has resulted in extreme harm. And
Speaker 4: so I'm going to get back to the issue because
Speaker 4: it's an important one and we should not be distracted
Speaker 4: from any important issue. So what we're talking about, what
Speaker 4: we're looking at in these states, for example, that have
Speaker 4: made no exception even for raper incest. Now many of you,
Speaker 4: this is my I grew up in California, in the
Speaker 4: Bay Area. Many of you know my career, so you
Speaker 4: know that I started my career as a prosecutor. What
Speaker 4: you may not know is one of the biggest reasons why.
Speaker 4: When I was in high school, one of my closest friends,
Speaker 4: one of my best friends, I learned was being molested
Speaker 4: by her stepfather. And when I learned, I said to her,
Speaker 4: you have to come and stay with us. I called
Speaker 4: my mother and my mother said, of course she does,
Speaker 4: and she came to stay with us. And I decided
Speaker 4: at a very early age I wanted to do everything
Speaker 4: I could to protect women and children from harm, and
Speaker 4: I specialized for a long time in my career as
Speaker 4: a prosecutor, including when I was working as ag on
Speaker 4: crimes affecting women and children, no exception even for rape
Speaker 4: or incests. Let's understand what that means. It means that
Speaker 4: these so called leaders are saying to a survivor of
Speaker 4: a crime of violence to their body, a violation to
Speaker 4: their body.
Speaker 3: That they don't have the right to make a decision
Speaker 3: about what happens to their body next. That's immoral. This
Speaker 3: is what's happening around our country. So when we talk
Speaker 3: about the layers of harm, be it harm to our democracy,
Speaker 3: harm to our constitution, harm to our freedoms in our rights,
Speaker 3: and we then understand the real harm that also exists
Speaker 3: every day for individuals who are being denied the health
Speaker 3: care they need. It's extraordinary and for that reason, I
Speaker 3: know we all are approaching this with a sense, yes,
Speaker 3: of empathy and understanding, but also profound commitment, with a
Speaker 3: sense of urgency to do something about it, to end
Speaker 3: the pain and the suffering that is happening right now
Speaker 3: in real time in our country.
Speaker 4: And so that's the issue as much as anything, and
Speaker 4: the way that we are going to ultimately deal with
Speaker 4: this is to one have some consensus which I do
Speaker 4: believe exists, which is that one does not have to
Speaker 4: abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the
Speaker 4: government should not be telling her what to do with her.
Speaker 5: Body if she chooses.
Speaker 2: If she chooses, she will.
Speaker 4: Consult with her pastor her priests, to rabbi, her a mom,
Speaker 4: but not the government telling her what to do. And
Speaker 4: so we need this November to elect a majority of
Speaker 4: people in the United States Congress who simply agree, is
Speaker 4: not the government's right to tell a woman what's in
Speaker 4: her own best interest when she knows what's in her
Speaker 4: own best interest and doesn't need some person walking around
Speaker 4: with a flag pin to tell her what to do.
Speaker 1: When extremism comes home to roost, whether it's here in
Speaker 1: America or around the world, women and girls who suffer worst,
Speaker 1: and it can feel overwhelming to try to hold all
Speaker 1: of these issues. I know, for me as a citizen,
Speaker 1: I look to you, and I can't imagine the pressure
Speaker 1: you feel with all of us looking to you going
Speaker 1: tell us what to do. But one of the things
Speaker 1: that you often encourage us to do when we feel
Speaker 1: helpless in the face of global suffering and of the
Speaker 1: suffering of women and girls and at risk people, is
Speaker 1: to get involved locally. Yes, that's why you're here on
Speaker 1: a local tour with us talking about this issue while
Speaker 1: you daily hold all the rest of them. And I'm
Speaker 1: curious for those of us who you know, don't get
Speaker 1: the binders and the briefings. What should we be doing
Speaker 1: in our states and what can we encourage our states
Speaker 1: to do, and what can states do across the nation
Speaker 1: to fight back and protect our reproductive freedoms.
Speaker 3: That's great, So I'll start with this part of the
Speaker 3: vironment in which this issue exists, is an environment that
Speaker 3: is heavily laden with judgment, suggesting to these individuals, suggesting
Speaker 3: to these women that they've done something wrong and something
Speaker 3: they should be embarrassed about.
Speaker 4: And understand them the layers that come along with that
Speaker 4: that include making her feel as though she's alone. And
Speaker 4: as we know, one of the things that can be
Speaker 4: most disempowering is when people feel their alone, when they
Speaker 4: feel they don't have community, much less support, when they
Speaker 4: feel they're being judged and outcast as opposed to embraced.
Speaker 4: And so this is the power of each of us
Speaker 4: as individuals in a community, in a society on every level,
Speaker 4: including this one, which is to think about how you
Speaker 4: use the way that you talk with people, be it
Speaker 4: you know, mom, peg, I see you here, my mother
Speaker 4: in law's here.
Speaker 2: That's going to be by the telephone.
Speaker 4: Or text or social media, but the ways that we
Speaker 4: can talk with people, friends and strangers about the issue
Speaker 4: to remind them about what's at stake and the harm
Speaker 4: that is happening every day. I have seen as I
Speaker 4: am traveling the country on this issue, I've seen the
Speaker 4: power of that communication.
Speaker 2: I have met with people.
Speaker 4: Who started especially before the Dobs decision came down and
Speaker 4: were vehement that they were opposed to abortion, and who
Speaker 4: have not abandoned their faith and whatever reason it is
Speaker 4: for why they feel that way and strongly about themselves
Speaker 4: and their family, but also didn't know and weren't aware
Speaker 4: of the suffering that would happen as a result, and
Speaker 4: now knowing the suffering that is happening, are considering their
Speaker 4: position in terms of the policy of it all, the
Speaker 4: policy being to deny other people the decision to make
Speaker 4: that very important decision for themselves and not the government
Speaker 4: telling them.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 4: The power of communication on this is very important. I
Speaker 4: think there's also another thing that is at play on
Speaker 4: so many issues in our country, which is, if you will,
Speaker 4: I think a certain thing that is quite perverse that
Speaker 4: it is being pushed by some so called leaders, which is
Speaker 4: to suggest that the measure of the strength of the
Speaker 4: leader is based on who you beat down.
Speaker 2: And said who you lift up.
Speaker 4: Right, you know, there's a thing happening that suggests that
Speaker 4: to care about people somehow is assign a weakness, when
Speaker 4: we all know that one of the great characteristics and
Speaker 4: character of real leadership is the character or that has
Speaker 4: some level of concern, curiosity, and compassion about the suffering
Speaker 4: of other people and then wants to do something about
Speaker 4: alleviating that suffering. So the work that needs to be
Speaker 4: done over these next ten months includes using our voices
Speaker 4: to really help people understand how this is affecting people
Speaker 4: in real time. Because there's nothing abstract about this issue.
Speaker 4: There's nothing hypothetical about it is it does not require it,
Speaker 4: and it absolutely deserves more than some kind of intellectual
Speaker 4: political debate.
Speaker 3: It requires action.
Speaker 1: This is a crisis.
Speaker 3: You're absolutely right, and you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1: I'm just curious, can you walk us through who's responsible
Speaker 1: for this? Because this was an intentional crisis indeed, and
Speaker 1: you've mentioned that the Supreme Court overturned Row. But can
Speaker 1: we can we just cover how we got to that point?
Speaker 2: I think we should. I think we should too.
Speaker 3: It feels appropriate to tell some truth.
Speaker 4: So the former president of the United States hand picked,
Speaker 4: hand picked three members of the United States Supreme Court
Speaker 4: with the intention that they would undo wrong. Let's be
Speaker 4: very clear about it. And he has been very clear
Speaker 4: that that is exactly what he intended. Just take him
Speaker 4: at his word. Take him at his word when he
Speaker 4: said recently he's proud of what he did, and I asked, proud,
Speaker 4: Connect Christine Pelosi. I asked, proud, Proud that doctors might
Speaker 4: go to jail for giving health care, Proud that women
Speaker 4: are having miscarriages without any healthcare that they need.
Speaker 2: Proud that.
Speaker 4: Fundamental freedoms have been taken from the American people. To
Speaker 4: understand the arrogance that is associated with the taking, and
Speaker 4: then what we are up against. And so this is
Speaker 4: why we know what is before us and the fight
Speaker 4: that is before us.
Speaker 2: This is a fight that is.
Speaker 3: Fundamental, and it is fundamentally about freedom. Freedom, the freedom
Speaker 3: to make decisions about your own body. And understand, as
Speaker 3: we step back, there is and I travel our country,
Speaker 3: there is a foot, a full on intent to attack hard,
Speaker 3: hard won freedoms in our country.
Speaker 4: Just look at what is happening. Look at what is
Speaker 4: happening with a don't say gay bill. Okay, So now
Speaker 4: let me I will remind my fellow Californians in two
Speaker 4: thousand and four, actually Valentine's weekend, two thousand and four,
Speaker 4: so it'll be twenty years. I was proud to be
Speaker 4: one of the first elected officials in the country to
Speaker 4: perform same sex marriages almost twenty years ago. Don't say
Speaker 4: gay bill, So imagine this so twenty years ago.
Speaker 2: So this means that some young teacher in.
Speaker 4: Florida is afraid to put up a photograph of themselves
Speaker 4: and their partner for fear they may be fired for
Speaker 4: doing what?
Speaker 2: For doing the God's gift?
Speaker 4: All of us to avow themselves to teach other people's children.
Speaker 2: As it is, they don't get paid enough.
Speaker 3: In twenty twenty four, we're looking at a tax on
Speaker 3: the LGBTQ community.
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3: We're looking at a tax so on the freedom to
Speaker 3: vote in access to the ballot. I was just in Georgia.
Speaker 4: You know, they passed along in Georgia to make it
Speaker 4: illegal to give people food and water while they stand
Speaker 4: in line to vote. What happened to love thy neighbor?
Speaker 4: I mean, the hypocrisy abounds, the kinds of freedoms that
Speaker 4: are under attack in America right now, and I would
Speaker 4: offer you know, I asked my team to create a
Speaker 4: ven diagram for me.
Speaker 3: I love ven diagrams.
Speaker 4: And you know, whenever you're kind of looking at something
Speaker 4: complex of VENN diagram can.
Speaker 2: Usually help you out.
Speaker 4: And the overlap then right, between where we're seeing the
Speaker 4: attacks against voting rights, where we're seeing the attacks against LGBTQ,
Speaker 4: where they're seeing the attack against reproductive freedom, and you
Speaker 4: would not be shocked to see the profound intersection between them.
Speaker 4: So this also, then, I say, as we organize and
Speaker 4: think about these next many months, is an opportunity to
Speaker 4: read we dedicate ourselves not only to community building, but
Speaker 4: as an extension of that coalition building, let's bring together
Speaker 4: all the folks who've been fighting for voting rights, all
Speaker 4: the folks who've been fighting for LGBTQ rights, all the
Speaker 4: folks who have been fighting for reproductive health rights, including
Speaker 4: maternal health rights and maternal mortality, fighting against that right.
Speaker 2: By the way, on that issue, sofia.
Speaker 4: So I've also been doing a lot of work over
Speaker 4: many years on the issue of combating maternal mortality. We
Speaker 4: have a so called developed nation on the highest rates
Speaker 4: of maternal mortality of any nation in the world.
Speaker 3: It's a crime, shame.
Speaker 4: And so again the hypocrisy abounds in the States with
Speaker 4: the top ten worst numbers on maternal mortality, all have fans.
Speaker 3: I say to these so called extreamist leaders.
Speaker 4: Okay, so you'd say that your work to ban abortion,
Speaker 4: ban access to reproductive healthcare is because you are so
Speaker 4: concerned about mothers and children.
Speaker 3: Well, why you've been silent on maternal mortality?
Speaker 2: Where you been?
Speaker 4: When I became vice president, I issued a challenge to
Speaker 4: states extend Medicaid coverage for postpartum care from.
Speaker 3: What is the standard two months to twelve months.
Speaker 4: When I started, three states, we're doing it now forty
Speaker 4: three have done it right. All these issues are connected.
Speaker 4: All these issues are connected. It is the nature of
Speaker 4: our fight for freedoms that whatever gains we make, the
Speaker 4: nature is, they will not be permanent. It's just the
Speaker 4: nature of it.
Speaker 3: Therefore, understanding that we must always be vigilant, We must
Speaker 3: understand how precarious and precious this all is, and commit
Speaker 3: ourselves every day to stand for and fight for these
Speaker 3: rights and these freedoms.
Speaker 4: Look, as I like to say, and we all say,
Speaker 4: many times, when we fight, we win. In this moment,
Speaker 4: when there are people trying to divide our country and
Speaker 4: distract us from what's important, let's just hold on to
Speaker 4: each other. Look at the person next to you if
Speaker 4: you don't know them, and just let them know we're
Speaker 4: all in this together.
Speaker 3: Okay, We're all in this together.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Ron, thank you, Thank.
Speaker 3: You so much.
Speaker 1: Friends of this podcast. You all are the person sitting
Speaker 1: next to me right now. We're listening side by side,
Speaker 1: so I'm looking at you, see you, I'm voting for you,
Speaker 1: I root for you. We really are all in this together.
Speaker 1: And I think that's one of the most important takeaways
Speaker 1: from these conversations that I am so lucky to have
Speaker 1: been able to have with the Vice President and from
Speaker 1: the years I've spent working on access to reproductive health care,
Speaker 1: what I've learned, and she talks about this. You know,
Speaker 1: when those in power want to abuse power for control,
Speaker 1: one of their greatest mechanisms to do that is, as
Speaker 1: the Vice President and I were talking about earlier, to
Speaker 1: make you look at people as other. Because if they
Speaker 1: can make you attack the people you view as other,
Speaker 1: if we are fighting with each other, we won't see
Speaker 1: that they're actually attacking all of us. These attacks, these
Speaker 1: bands on care and attacks on reproductive healthcare continue to
Speaker 1: dispropar unfortunately affect women, black, Latino and Indigenous communities, young people,
Speaker 1: people with low incomes, people living in rural communities, and more.
Speaker 1: Folks who already have the most difficulty accessing healthcare, including
Speaker 1: the LGBTQ plus community, and really including trans folks and guys.
Speaker 1: I would be remiss if I didn't make it incredibly
Speaker 1: clear here racism and sexism fuel each other, and as
Speaker 1: more women who look like me, more white women who
Speaker 1: have typically been Republican voters, are voting to protect abortion
Speaker 1: access because their friends are dying. They see these hideous
Speaker 1: things happening to women and families around the country. The
Speaker 1: Republicans are scared. So who are they attacking now to
Speaker 1: continue to popularize attacks on bodily autonomy. They're attacking transfolks
Speaker 1: because while women are fifty one percent of the population
Speaker 1: in this country, transfolks are our smallest and most vulnerable population.
Speaker 1: We're talking a couple hundred thousand people in a country
Speaker 1: of three hundred and thirty two million. And the Republicans
Speaker 1: have put a target on their back because they want
Speaker 1: you to think restricting someone's bodily autonomy and choices about
Speaker 1: their life is okay. They're losing ground on the abortion fight,
Speaker 1: so they are coming for us in hideous ways. They
Speaker 1: are trying to subvert the votes. They are trying to
Speaker 1: take these laws that we have put on ballots state
Speaker 1: to state by signing up, by exercising our due process
Speaker 1: under the law. They are trying to stop those votes
Speaker 1: from even being taken this year, so we have to
Speaker 1: fight again. They are coming at us with Project twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five. They are coming at us with everything they
Speaker 1: can muster for what to cause harm, To see non
Speaker 1: viable pregnancies carried to terms so those babies die in
Speaker 1: their parents' arms. To kill women by putting them into
Speaker 1: septic shock before they'll give them much needed post abortion
Speaker 1: or post miscarriage. This is barbaric. And I'm hoping that
Speaker 1: these conversations in which I got to sit down with
Speaker 1: one of the most powerful people in our country who
Speaker 1: fights for us, can remind you that she's an incredible
Speaker 1: woman and just a person who's been out here doing
Speaker 1: this work for decades for us, to protect us, to
Speaker 1: hold the line of progress and democracy. I hope this
Speaker 1: has encouraged you to get involved. I hope this has
Speaker 1: encouraged you to vote. Please vote like your lives depend
Speaker 1: on it, because they probably do. Mine does, and so
Speaker 1: I'm guessing yours does too. I want better for all
Speaker 1: of us, and we're in this together. And because I
Speaker 1: do believe that frank and inclusive conversations about this subject
Speaker 1: matter are some of the most important conversations we can
Speaker 1: be having. Right now, we have a part two to
Speaker 1: this conversation coming for you. I am so incredly honored
Speaker 1: that Amanda Zowski has taken the time to join us
Speaker 1: for our next episode of work in Progress. You likely
Speaker 1: know Amanda as one of the women who stood up
Speaker 1: on stage at the DNC and talked about her miscarriage story.
Speaker 1: Amanda is one of the women who bravely shared her story.
Speaker 1: Her and her lovely husband, josh had been trying to
Speaker 1: have a baby for quite some time. They were finally
Speaker 1: pregnant for the first time, and they tragically suffered a miscarriage.
Speaker 1: Amanda was denied care at the hospital. She went into
Speaker 1: septic shock NOTT once but twice, had to fight for
Speaker 1: her life. Has experienced permanent damage to her fertility because
Speaker 1: of the traumatic life saving measures that doctors had to
Speaker 1: take when they finally deemed her sick enough for those
Speaker 1: doctors to not go to jail for enacting the care
Speaker 1: that she needed. Amanda stood on stage at the DNC
Speaker 1: with Caitlyn, Joshua, and Hadley Duval to talk about their
Speaker 1: experiences with these laws, and I am incredibly honored that
Speaker 1: she's going to join us for a conversation