WEBVTT - Why We Can't Say Ab*rt**n 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.480 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wok F Daily with 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:18.680 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody recording pre recording from the 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.400 Brooklyn Bunker. Folks, once again, I am so excited to 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:26.680 be bringing you this week of stories from powerful powerhouse 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:31.080 women across multiple industries, and today is no different. Today 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:36.479 I'm in conversation with Renee excuse me, Renee Bracy Sherman, 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:42.080 who is the CEO behind Abortion Stories, and we testify. 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:46.839 You know, folks, I have been talking about abortion on 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:50.240 this show, probably more than I have since I began 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:53.800 woke F many years ago, and it's because I realized 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:59.880 for the very first time that abortion is under assault 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:04.520 more now than it was when Rove Wade was passed 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:08.360 back in nineteen seventy four. And as we make the 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:12.520 slow Death March to June, when the Supreme Court will 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:18.480 provide the death knell to Rove Wade, which provided abortion 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.800 access to women and people with uteruses across this country 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:27.120 for the last forty seven sid years, we'll come to 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:31.160 an end and Renee will talk today about why it's 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:34.320 so important for us to tell abortion stories and actually 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:38.640 utter the word abortion instead of saying reproductive care or 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:43.800 women's rights, why it's important to name this thing. And 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:47.360 she will also talk about her push with her organization, 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:51.960 we Testify to get the Abiden administration to finally utter 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.880 the word abortion. She brought up something interesting that I 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:57.400 kind of want to talk about in my opening today, 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:03.000 which was this, why is it that the left right, 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:08.080 the quote unquote left, is so against uttering the word abortion, 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:11.320 but the right uses it all the time. So by 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:14.480 virtue of the right using the word abortion, right, whether 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:17.359 they're talking about you know, oh, yes, a fetus was 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.720 aborted at you know, thirty six weeks, which by the way, 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.840 never actually happens, but they have been able to claim 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:27.880 the word, and they've been able to shroud it in 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:32.919 shame and make us apologetic about even uttering it, let 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:39.920 alone having one. And I know several women, different ethnicities, 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:46.720 different economic status who have had abortions, and they tell 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.880 me that each and every one of them. Was it 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:56.000 a difficult decision? Yes, sure it is. But would their 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:59.560 lives be dramatically different? Would they have had the careers 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:02.880 that they have had, would they have had the schooling 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:05.960 that they have had, would they have had the opportunity 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:09.560 that they have had that getting an abortion actually provided 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:15.040 them with. And you see, Democrats had walked themselves into 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:19.120 a corner where we're afraid to say the word. Where 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:21.399 we were the ones that came up with the campaign 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:27.400 slogan of you know, safe and rare right for the 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:31.200 use of abortion. We've come up with all of this 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:35.720 flowery language instead of just calling a thing what it is. 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:41.320 There is power in naming something. There is power in 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:46.560 taking that name back right and making it so that no, 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:50.400 we're not talking about Roe v. Wade, and we're not 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:55.200 talking about a woman's constitutional right. We are talking about abortion, 0:03:56.360 --> 0:04:00.120 and that abortion is a part of family planning. An 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:03.920 abortion is a part of healthcare. One of the things 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:07.120 that Renee brings up as well in our conversation is 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:10.400 the fact that when Roe v. Wade was first passed 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:16.560 in the early to mid nineteen seventies, the federal government, 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:20.680 by virtue of Medicare and Medicaid, you are allowed to 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:27.360 use your money right the federal government gave you to 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:31.719 get an abortion. It would be then the High Amendment 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:36.400 that would make it illegal for you to use federal 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:40.479 funds in order to access an abortion. That was one 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:44.760 of the first pushes by the Republican Party and it 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:49.280 was met with absolutely no pushback. And because of that, 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:54.039 throughout the years, we have seen abortion access and rights 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:58.720 and what that actually means shrink over time. And now 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:02.279 we are in a situation where the people in Texas 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:07.839 have to flee to bordering states, and now the right 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:10.680 is not even just okay with that. They're not okay 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:13.960 with just shutting down abortion in their state. Now they're 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:16.360 trying to pass legislation that says that if you go 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:20.919 into a different state where abortion is legal, but you 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:23.200 come back and it's found out that you had an 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:27.440 abortion while you were in California or New York or Massachusetts, 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:33.760 then you can be criminally charged. Think about the ramifications 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.680 for that, folks, Think about if you can do that 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:41.080 with abortion, what else can you do that with? Right. 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:45.880 This is when we talk about the fact that abortion 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:53.359 has always been the rights bullhorn right. They've always used 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:58.480 it as a way to rally their troops, and for 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:02.839 half the population right that doesn't have a uterus, they 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:06.800 have made abortion a women's rights issue instead of a 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:14.599 person issue, and by virtue of that, we have allowed 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.280 for this to be the problem of those people over 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:24.000 there not recognizing that what the Right always does, is 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:28.039 that they start with the low hanging fruit folks, and 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:31.040 then they see, oh did anybody try and check us? 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:35.560 Did we get any lawsuits waged against us? Oh? No, nothing, 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:39.600 you see anything over here? No great, Let's keep bulldozing 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:45.120 over everyone else's civil rights. Let's move to the next community, 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:49.080 to the next group. It has always been the path 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.880 that Republicans take, which is that if they see no 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:58.640 real resistance, then they just keep going. And the reality 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.920 is is that we need to put up that fight. 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:06.200 We need to have been vigilant this entire time, and 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:08.960 not just assuming that because something went up to the 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:12.280 Supreme Court and was passed, that the Supreme Court doesn't 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:17.560 change over time. It fucking does they die or they retire, 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:21.320 given whatever president is in power at that time. A 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:24.800 less of course, it's a black man giving them the 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:29.000 right to be able to seat those justices. So why 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:33.280 would we think that if ever there was a time 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:37.440 for the radical right to now have a six three court, 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:42.120 that they wouldn't try and succeed in overturning all of 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:44.600 the things that took fifty plus years for us to 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:49.520 get in the first place. We weren't paying attention and 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:51.680 This is part of the conversation that I will have 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:55.200 with Renee, which is, where do you think that Democrats 0:07:55.240 --> 0:08:00.840 went wrong here? You know, for every year we always 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:05.760 seem to cry wolf about the courts, but not in unison, 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:10.240 not with an education campaign right to the public as 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:13.560 to why the courts are important. Why there was no 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:18.240 fucking pushback. Like I said last week to fucking Mitch McConnell, 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:24.120 Mitch McConnell had no constitutional right to hold up a 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:28.480 Supreme Court seat, but because Democrats are so fucking chicken shit, 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:34.120 they let him do it. And now we got another 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:41.000 sexual offender, right, people who the ABA doesn't even believe 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:45.000 are qualified to be Supreme Court justices sitting there by 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:47.280 virtue of the fact that oh, I wrote a memo 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:49.920 to Donald Trump so he knew that I was his woman, 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:57.600 Amy Covid, Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh and Gorsitch. That should 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:03.439 have never happened. Donald Trump most should have had one, 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:08.920 maybe two Supreme Court seats. But we just let it go. 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:14.760 And now, for the first time ever, Roe is not 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:17.760 going to be the law of the land. Now we're 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:19.800 going to have to fight tooth and nail to get 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:21.840 something back that we should have never lost in the 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:27.480 first fucking place. So my conversation with Renee, she will 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:32.600 also lay out the real scenarios that are already unfolding, 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:36.920 what the handmaid's tail looks like in Tennessee, in Texas, 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:42.440 in Florida, in Mississippi, in Alabama, and how it is 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:45.360 that we should not be sitting here saying, well, at 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.160 least I live in a blue state, because she will 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:50.839 talk about that and what blue states are going to 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:55.200 be up against. We are living in some trying, trying 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:59.440 times and its people like Renee Bracy Sherman who have 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:03.079 been doing the work, been on the front lines, powering 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:08.720 through so that we as people have access to abortions, 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:12.000 that we listen to the stories of people who have 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:15.240 had abortions, so that we are educated, so that we 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:18.559 are thoughtful and we know what we're fighting for. I 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:26.240 hope that you enjoy this conversation coming up next, folks. 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:29.360 I am very excited to welcome to Okay f Daily 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.520 for it the very first time, Renee Bracy Sherman, who 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:37.559 is the CEO and head of We Testify, an organization 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:43.319 that looks at and uplifts stories with regard to abortion Renee. 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:45.880 Thank you so much for making the time to join 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:50.559 woke f now must be a real critical time for 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:52.839 your work, and I don't want to I don't want 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:54.960 to say that lightly as if there is probably a 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:59.320 non critical time, But you know, I mean, I have 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.480 never in my lifetime. So I want to ask you 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:09.320 about yours seeing such an unrelenting attack on abortion rights 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:13.960 in modern times like we are seeing right now. Tell 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:19.760 us first a bit about your organization, and then how 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:22.800 you are feeling in this moment. Yeah, thank you so 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:25.320 much for having me. I'm really excited to be here. 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:30.800 It has been just an all out, unrelenting attack on 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:35.040 abortion access for so long. It's been over a decade 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:41.319 of just NonStop restrictions, wacky bills that people used to 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:43.880 laugh at and say, this is ridiculous. I can't believe 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:46.520 you would, you know, somebody would propose this that are 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:53.480 actually now enacted, and that they're really pushing forward to 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:55.880 keep us from being able to access an abortion. And 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:59.560 so a lot of the nightmare realities that we've all 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:03.560 been afraid of are coming true. And I think that's 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:07.800 what's scariest about it. I think so many people assumed 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:11.160 five ten years ago. They're never going to overturn Row. 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:14.640 Why are you all like going on and on about this. 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:17.600 It's not that big a deal. I remember being at 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:22.040 various conferences or events and a lot of a lot 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:26.600 of progressives, particularly white progressives and men, would say, you know, 0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:29.440 this isn't really that big of a deal. They're never 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:33.240 going to do that. It's not politically advantageous for Republicans 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:38.559 to overturn Row. But again, it's because they don't actually 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:42.600 think that abortion is essential to how we make our families. 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:48.240 They don't understand the connection to protecting abortion access to 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:52.600 healthcare overall to liberation for all of us and how 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:55.120 we create our families, and also the way in which 0:12:55.200 --> 0:13:00.000 attacks on abortion access are so deeply connected to white 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:03.800 supremacy and white supremacist ideology, fascism, the way in which 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:06.560 they want to be able to control how we live 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:09.880 our lives and our families. And so that's actually part 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:14.280 of why I started my organization We Testify, because when 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:17.440 I started sharing my abortion story a little over ten 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:21.520 years ago, I was often one of the only, if 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:25.200 not the only, person of color on a panel. There 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:28.760 was no trans inclusion, There was really no queer inclusion. 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.360 Often I was asked to represent, as a biracial black 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:37.800 woman all people of color and our abortion experiences, and 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.960 everyone else on the panel would often be white people 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:43.560 who haven't had abortions. A couple of times there would 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:46.840 be some who did. And when I learned the statistic 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:50.040 that the majority of people who have abortions are people 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.880 of color, the majority are living at or just above 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:59.800 the poverty level, the majority are already parenting, I thought, 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:03.240 what would it take for us to actually make sure 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:06.600 that the stories that we hear are reflective of the 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:11.480 reality of who is having abortions and why. And of course, 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:14.200 part of the reason we don't hear those stories is 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:17.680 because white supremacy, white privilege, all of those things still 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:22.760 operate within progressive spaces. Right we get to decide, you say, 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:26.000 these are the charismatic leaders who often end up being 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:29.000 white people. They're the ones who get funded in repro 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:31.520 It's a lot of white women, white women who haven't 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:34.600 had abortions, because it's kind of this idea that people 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:37.440 who have had abortions those the people we serve, not 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.760 necessarily the people who are destined to lead us. And 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.840 so I've been working a lot over the last ten 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:47.360 years to change who's at the table, whose stories we hear. 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:51.160 And yes, it's important to hear abortion stories, and that 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:53.960 is a large crux of the work that I do, 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.600 but that's actually just the end. The end is actually 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:01.640 to change the leaders at the a table, to make 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:06.360 sure that organizations that are working on abortion access have 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:10.880 a leadership that is reflective of people who have abortions, 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:15.000 but particularly the demographics of who has abortions, Like I said, 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:19.720 for melon carcerated folks, immigrants, people of color, folks who've 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:23.760 been on medicaid, right, that is just not the reality 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:26.360 right now, and I think that it shows up in 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:29.480 the priorities of what the abortion rights movement has been 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:33.400 fighting for or not fighting for for the last almost 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:38.560 fifty years. Rene, do you feel, you know, wokaf is 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:42.280 by virtue of a political show, right, and so, but 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:46.280 I see politics in every shape and form of our lives. 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:52.440 Do you see do you believe that Democrats have done 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:59.280 a poor job in terms of talking about abortion and 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.960 how it has always been at risk? I mean because 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:06.720 I say that I asked that question assuming that we 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:10.280 shared the same answer, which is yes, right, But but 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:14.360 you know, but at the same time, you know, it's 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:18.400 been forty seven years that we've had Roe v. Wade, 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:22.800 damn near fifty, right, So the assumption was, oh, this 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:27.000 is codified law. And I don't know why anybody made 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:31.480 that goddamn assumption. So like, what where do you where 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:34.440 do you see in the last decade since you've been 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:37.320 doing this work, Where do you see that there could 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:41.120 have been changes or pivots that could have avoided the moment, 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:46.760 the Handmaid's tail moment that we are in now. Yeah, 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:50.560 I mean actually next year marks the fiftieth anniversary okay 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:57.160 of what would would would right if it lasts? Which? Right? Yeah, 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:00.680 And I think that's what's scary, right, depending on what 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.400 they say in June, it's not going to make it 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:07.520 to fifty honestly. And the reality is that it effectively 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:11.400 is not real for so many people across this country. 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:14.879 If you are on Medicaid, you cannot use your health 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:18.640 insurance to pay for your abortion. And that is something 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:23.160 that is a policy, is something that Democrats have defended 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:28.560 for over forty five years. It is only within the 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:33.720 last couple of years that we got the Democratic Party 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:37.000 to stand in opposition to the High Amendment. The federal 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:41.520 ban on abortion coverage, to standing in opposition to that, 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:45.560 and then to finally get a presidential candidate speaking out 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:49.200 about it, and one presidential candidate who then became president, 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:53.000 in particular President Biden, he had to be pushed with 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:55.440 the rest of the field standing in opposition to it, 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.359 he had to be pushed and change his position. That 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.680 is a lot of advocacy work that we've had to do, 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:06.760 which I'm really proud of the work that we've done. 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:11.679 But also, if we are saying that Democrats are the 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:14.560 party of protecting abortion access, why did we have to 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:18.600 push that hard to make sure that black and brown folks, 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:22.239 poor folks, poor white folks, anybody on Medicaid, anybody on 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:26.640 medicare disabled folks have access to abortion coverage. Why did 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:29.080 we have to fight so hard. If you believe that 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:32.040 abortion is the law of the land and everyone should 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:36.320 have equitable access to it, then you should not support 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:39.560 any abortion bands at any time and for any reason, 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:44.480 because it will harm someone's access. I am also really 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:48.400 proud of the fact that we have gone from politicians 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:54.080 saying things like safe legal and rare, really stigmatizing abortion 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:58.280 right and not encouraging us who've had abortions, to share 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:02.639 our stories to move to the point that we My 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:06.600 organization has a campaign right now that is demanding that 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:09.480 the president used the word abortion. He has been in 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:14.160 office over four hundred days and he refuses to use 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:17.600 the word abortion. It took two hundred and twenty four 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:21.560 days of US pushing for his administration to use the 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:24.800 word abortion. In a written statement that his staffers wrote, 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:27.560 wrote like, shout out to the staffers who did that. 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:30.000 But if you are saying that you are a pro 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:33.280 choice president, and you are saying that you believe in 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:35.640 the right to an abortion, and you want to codify ROWE, 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:39.359 why are you unable to say the word abortion. It 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:41.600 is not a bad word. It's not going to get 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:44.920 censored on TV. I mean, but you know what, literally 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:49.600 it actually kind of does. I was watching I feel 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:53.440 like I was watching something recently and you know, it 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:57.320 was like, I think it was an old episode of 0:19:57.359 --> 0:19:59.879 Will and Grace and they were like and they were 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.760 refused to say the word abortion. And I said, you 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:07.000 say shit and fuck on television, right, but you can't 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:10.800 say abortion? What does that mean? And I know that, Like, 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:14.960 so what do you how do you see the power 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:18.840 in utilizing that word, because you a part of what 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:22.320 you do is to you don't say we're telling pro 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:26.920 choice stories or we're telling reproductive health stories. You say 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:30.680 we're telling abortion stories. What is the power? What what 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:33.679 what power do you see in that word? And what 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:35.960 would it mean for it to come out of the 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:39.320 mouth of the President of the United States. Yeah, I mean, 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:43.000 simply put, I didn't go to the clinic to have 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:46.480 a constitutionally protected right by rov Wade. I went to 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:49.720 have an abortion. And I think that when we talk 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:54.400 about things very clearly, we are open about it. Right. 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:58.000 Conservatives are not afraid of using the word abortion. They've 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:01.879 kind of pushed it so that it is this dirty 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:04.600 word and that people are afraid to defend it. And 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:08.480 I think that when we talk about something openly right, 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.680 we name what it is and we take away the 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:16.760 stigma and oh, you can't talk about it up, you know, 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:21.760 in public. It's not polite dinner conversation. Why it is 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:25.840 a healthcare procedure. It is a procedure that made my 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:28.199 life the way that it is, and it has shaped 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:32.560 millions of families across this country. But why is it 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:37.160 that any type of reproductive healthcare, anything that deals with 0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:41.720 our bodies, whether it's trans healthcare, whether it's prenatal care, 0:21:41.800 --> 0:21:45.560 any of those things. Periods that they're considered stigmatized and 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:48.560 that we can't talk about them openly. I just saw 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:51.680 the film, the Disney film or picks, our film Turning Red, 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:55.320 which is about periods, essentially this little girl getting her 0:21:55.320 --> 0:22:00.359 period and the awkwardness of being a tween, and vidoms 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:02.600 are upset about it, claiming that, oh, well, we don't 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:05.000 like that film because it's, you know, a little girl 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:08.320 disobeying her parents, which so is a little Mermaid. Okay, 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:10.760 so is Beauty and the Beast. They all are right, 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:13.199 but I think actually, at the core of it, they 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:16.880 don't want to name the thing, but they're uncomfortable with 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:22.120 a film talking about bodies and periods and reproduction, and 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:25.359 they're afraid that people will see that we can talk 0:22:25.400 --> 0:22:28.680 about these things in a thoughtful way, We can talk 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:31.760 about them within our families, We can get rid of 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:35.680 the stigma and the shame, and that it's okay. And 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:38.000 I think I often hear a lot of people say 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:41.520 to me, well, it's just a word, Renee, what's the difference? 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:44.240 Who cares? What the president says it, he's on our side, 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:48.000 And my response is, one, if it's just a word, 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:50.600 why won't he Why won't use it? Right? So you'll 0:22:50.720 --> 0:22:53.560 use the right. They say it's just a word, what's 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:55.440 the big deal? And then you say it, right, it's 0:22:55.520 --> 0:22:58.800 just a word, what's the big say it? So say it? 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:02.800 And I guess the question is why do you use 0:23:02.880 --> 0:23:06.399 triple the amount of characters in a tweet to say 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:11.240 women's constitutionally protected healthcare under Roe v. Wade when you 0:23:11.280 --> 0:23:15.959 can just say abortion? Abortion. My goal, my wish, my 0:23:16.119 --> 0:23:19.480 hope is that at some point the president will address 0:23:19.600 --> 0:23:23.240 us himself, because he has not come out and address 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:25.439 the nation in a way that he should and the 0:23:25.480 --> 0:23:28.520 way that he should. He has on so many other issues, right, 0:23:29.320 --> 0:23:31.320 what would it look like for him to come out 0:23:31.359 --> 0:23:34.600 and address the nation and say we're at a crisis. 0:23:35.600 --> 0:23:40.600 Conservatives are using abortion to destroy so many of the 0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:46.520 basic held protections of our constitution and our democracy because 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:49.639 they are. What they're doing is they are using abortion 0:23:49.720 --> 0:23:52.640 and the central holdings in Roe v. Wade. If they 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:57.240 can unsettle those, then what they can do is attack 0:23:57.480 --> 0:24:01.400 the Fourteenth Amendment, the right to privacy. They can attack 0:24:01.800 --> 0:24:08.639 federal jurisdiction and protections in over states. It is about abortion, 0:24:08.880 --> 0:24:13.280 but it is also beyond abortion. This is about trying 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:17.720 to unsettle so many pieces of our democracy. He could 0:24:17.720 --> 0:24:20.119 talk about it in that way. He could talk about 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:24.480 it and say, look, look, folks like I, like all 0:24:24.480 --> 0:24:27.520 of you, love someone who's had an abortion. I think 0:24:27.560 --> 0:24:30.959 that these laws are malarky, and I think that, you know, 0:24:31.040 --> 0:24:34.720 we should make sure everyone has access to abortion care 0:24:34.720 --> 0:24:37.199 at any time and any reason. All he has to 0:24:37.240 --> 0:24:39.560 do is come out and say that you know, these 0:24:39.960 --> 0:24:43.920 these are ridiculous that you are trying to allow citizens 0:24:44.359 --> 0:24:48.960 to sue other people for being able to access healthcare 0:24:49.560 --> 0:24:53.399 in their communities or also now the new laws or 0:24:53.520 --> 0:24:55.720 new bills are to sue them if they leave the 0:24:55.760 --> 0:25:00.320 state to access that healthcare. Oh yes, which sounds to 0:25:00.440 --> 0:25:04.160 me a bit like, oh, I don't know, communism and 0:25:04.560 --> 0:25:08.200 banning travel of citizens like freedom of movement. How does 0:25:08.240 --> 0:25:11.879 that work in a democracy. I'd be truly wild to 0:25:12.000 --> 0:25:15.159 me the way in which they want to be able 0:25:15.200 --> 0:25:18.919 to say, no, you cannot leave a state to go 0:25:19.040 --> 0:25:21.000 get healthcare. Oh and by the way, we're not going 0:25:21.080 --> 0:25:25.280 to give it to you here. But what I think 0:25:25.400 --> 0:25:30.320 is again the central holding in that is the abortion stigma. 0:25:30.480 --> 0:25:34.320 They want people to be afraid to tell their loved 0:25:34.320 --> 0:25:37.520 ones that they want an abortion. They want us to 0:25:37.560 --> 0:25:40.719 be afraid to go to people in our lives for help. 0:25:40.840 --> 0:25:44.280 That is why us sharing our abortion stories and talking 0:25:44.280 --> 0:25:48.000 about it. It's so scary to them because we're pushing 0:25:48.040 --> 0:25:50.639 back on all of the myths and the stigma and 0:25:50.680 --> 0:25:54.600 the lies, and it's absolute disinformation that they've been pushing. Right, 0:25:55.320 --> 0:25:59.199 they want to criminalize the idea of supporting loved ones 0:25:59.440 --> 0:26:03.800 in family at least, and I think it's simply that 0:26:03.880 --> 0:26:07.960 they that they want to keep people from being able 0:26:08.000 --> 0:26:10.680 to think about abortion as an option. I remember years 0:26:10.720 --> 0:26:14.080 ago Paul Ryan when he was I think Speaker of 0:26:14.119 --> 0:26:17.440 the House that you know, something like they we don't 0:26:17.480 --> 0:26:21.200 want to make an abortion like not a choice, We 0:26:21.200 --> 0:26:24.720 want to make it unthinkable. And that is that is it? Right? 0:26:24.800 --> 0:26:27.800 It is this idea that they want to criminalize people 0:26:28.040 --> 0:26:31.400 for helping one another, for even thinking about wanting an abortion. 0:26:32.000 --> 0:26:34.320 And I also think it's wild because like there are 0:26:34.400 --> 0:26:37.320 other things in which some things are legal in some 0:26:37.400 --> 0:26:41.480 states and not in others. Take marijuana for example, Right, 0:26:42.480 --> 0:26:47.080