0:04

Welcome to repo's fight back a

0:07

podcast where we explore all things, reproductive,

0:09

health, rights, and justice. I'm

0:11

your host, Jenny wetter. And I'll

0:14

be helping you stay informed around issues like

0:16

birth control, abortion, sex,

0:18

education, and LGBTQ

0:20

issues, and much, much more giving

0:23

you the tools you need to take action

0:25

and fight back. Okay. Let's dive in.

0:31

Hi re pros . How's everybody doing? I'm

0:33

your host, Jenny, we and my pronouns.

0:36

Are she her ? So before

0:38

we get started, let's do a little bit of

0:40

quick housekeeping. I feel like it's been a

0:42

little bit since we've done anything like that. So

0:45

just like a really quick one. So if

0:47

you love the podcast, it would be really

0:49

amazing. If you can make sure that you are

0:52

subscribed or followed or whatever the

0:55

action is on your favorite podcast, catcher,

0:57

to make sure that you are getting all of our episodes

0:59

when they come out. You never know if

1:01

there's a bonus episode that comes out. So it's

1:03

good to be subscribed. So you get alerted when

1:06

they come out. And if you love the podcast, it

1:08

would be really helpful. If you could make sure to

1:11

rate the podcast and write review,

1:13

if your favorite podcast catcher

1:15

does that, it helps other people find

1:17

it. And it's always good for feedback for

1:19

us to know what you're thinking of the

1:21

podcast. So if you could take a minute

1:24

to subscribe, rate and review, that would be

1:26

amazing. Okay . That's all see

1:28

really super quick. Housekeeping. Let's

1:31

see. Right now it has been delightful

1:33

in DC. I have to say, August

1:36

is generally just pretty miserable,

1:38

like super humid

1:40

and hot. And like, as soon as

1:42

I would go outside, I would start sweating and it

1:45

has not been like that recently.

1:47

It has been really, really delightful.

1:49

I've had my windows open. The kitties

1:51

are happy sitting in the windows. It's

1:54

been nice to go outside, which in

1:56

August isn't usually the case. So

1:58

it has been lovely. I hope it stays this way.

2:01

I feel like that's not gonna be true though. It's

2:03

like, it's not going to, but I

2:06

am enjoying it while it lasts. So super

2:08

fun. Let's see what else has

2:10

been going on? Oh, so recently,

2:13

Rachel, who does the website

2:16

and does all of the social

2:18

for the podcast and you know, all of

2:20

that amazing stuff who I could

2:23

not do the podcast without has

2:26

wanted a picture

2:28

for something that we have coming soon of

2:31

one of the cats with one of the

2:33

many amazing abortion fund

2:35

t-shirts I bought recently. So I

2:38

had been having to work with C she's,

2:40

generally the most amenable to

2:43

something like that, to try to get her

2:45

picture taken with it. And you'll , <laugh>

2:47

, I'll have to share some of the outtakes

2:49

because they're pretty funny. Like she was not

2:52

having none of it. She did not enjoy

2:54

this game. She was

2:56

not amused. And , uh, it

2:58

, it took a while for us to get a good picture.

3:01

I finally got one, I got a couple, she

3:03

was finally able to do it after a couple days. And

3:07

, uh, the final picture was really

3:09

good, but , uh, man, there's some pretty funny outtakes

3:11

where she is really annoyed and

3:13

not amused by this game. It was

3:16

just really funny. They're pretty hilarious.

3:19

Let's see what else I

3:21

have been, you know, with

3:23

everything around abortion

3:26

that's happening, you know, work has been pretty

3:29

stressful as I'm sure you can guess . There's

3:32

obviously just been a lot going

3:34

on. And so I've

3:37

been really looking for my time off of work

3:39

to be really chill and

3:41

low key and just trying to

3:43

do stress relief. So one

3:46

of my things I do is, you know, I've talked

3:48

about that. I do baking and I've still been

3:50

doing a lot of baking and I really

3:53

still enjoy that. Been really nice

3:55

to, you know, bake. I've been doing Sunday bakes

3:57

during the pandemic. And

4:00

so, you know, making on Sunday, what

4:02

I'm gonna eat for breakfast for the rest of the week has

4:04

been really delightful and something

4:06

that I will probably carry on once life

4:08

gets back to complete normal. And

4:12

so that's been delightful, but I've also been doing a

4:14

lot of reading and I'm sure I've talked about it

4:16

on the podcast. Plenty of times that I'm a

4:18

huge reader and a

4:21

giant book nerd. And my reading

4:23

generally spans is

4:26

pretty wide ranging. Like I'll read all

4:29

sorts of different topics, like

4:31

a mystery non-fiction like

4:33

fantasy young adult romance.

4:36

Like true, no , not generally

4:39

true crime, but like, you know,

4:41

detective thrillers are like just

4:43

all over the place, right? Like, but

4:46

because things have been so stressful, I

4:48

have been really, nothing

4:51

has been making me as happy

4:54

as reading like new contemporary romance.

4:56

It is been my happy

4:59

place and like the level of stress

5:02

I can handle. Right. A lot of the other things,

5:04

books can be stressful at times, but

5:06

this like a romance, you know, it's gonna have a happy ending.

5:09

So like that is where I have been

5:11

at. And that has been what has making me happy

5:13

recently. So if

5:15

you have any good suggestions for books, I

5:17

should check out, let me know. I

5:20

have been reading a lot of fun ones. You

5:22

can find my book in

5:25

baking Instagram on

5:27

all books and bread on Instagram.

5:30

That's where I talk about what I'm reading

5:32

or what I'm baking. Yeah.

5:34

So that's fun. And so, yeah, I would love

5:37

to hear any recommendations y'all have, but

5:39

that, I guess let's turn to this week's interview.

5:42

I'm really excited for this one. We

5:44

talk about kind of the state of abortion access

5:46

right now and where we're at

5:48

with people trying to access care

5:50

and what it looks like on the ground. And

5:53

so to do that, I'm just really excited

5:56

to have Danica Severino

5:58

, wind with planned parenthood on to

6:00

talk about what everything looks

6:03

like right now on the ground. And it was a

6:05

really important conversation. And I'm

6:07

glad that we are able to talk

6:09

about not just the states where it's banned,

6:11

but how it is also impacting states, where

6:13

it's not banned and what it looks like

6:16

to access care in those states right now. So

6:19

with that, let's turn to my interview with Danica. Hi

6:22

Danica. Thank you so much for being here today

6:24

.

6:25

Hi Jenny . Thank you for having me glad to be

6:27

here

6:28

Before we get started. Do you wanna take a second

6:30

and introduce yourself and include your pronouns?

6:33

Sure . My name is Danica Severino win

6:36

. Is she her pronouns? I'm

6:38

the VP of abortion access with

6:41

P PFA . I'm also a midwife

6:43

providing gynecological and

6:45

sexual healthcare across the spectrum,

6:47

including medication abortion.

6:50

Oh, wonderful. I'm

6:52

really glad to have you on today. I

6:54

feel like there's just been so much happening

6:57

so fast that it's really hard

6:59

for people to keep up with where

7:02

the state of everything is right now. So

7:04

maybe we should start there. There

7:07

have been a lot of new abortion mans that have

7:09

gone into effect or are

7:11

going into effect. Can we talk

7:13

a little bit about like what has happened recently?

7:15

Yeah, absolutely. Let me give you the state

7:17

of play. Cause it is incredibly confusing. It's

7:20

confusing for us . I can't even imagine how confusing

7:22

it's for people seeking abortion care. So

7:25

I'll give you some bottom lines here. So,

7:26

And like maybe we should flag that we're recording

7:29

this on August 17th, just because

7:31

things could change between now and when it comes out.

7:34

Absolutely . Thank you for saying that . So yeah,

7:37

we're in the middle of an unprecedented national

7:39

health crisis, for sure. We're seeing

7:41

chaos and confusion and anti-abortion

7:44

politicians absolutely aimed to

7:46

create that. Right now we

7:48

have ongoing active litigation

7:50

on state abortion bans in 18 states.

7:54

As of now, 16 states have abortion

7:56

bans in effect more are

7:59

expected to take effect in the coming dates and week

8:02

the national abortion access map is

8:04

changing so frequently. It's really

8:06

hard to keep up, unfortunately, and

8:08

this means that hundreds of thousands

8:10

of people can no longer access the

8:13

abortion care they need and deserve. So

8:15

bottom line, the decision in

8:17

the dubs V Jackson women's health case

8:20

really robbed us of our right to control

8:22

our bodies and personal healthcare decisions and

8:25

really gave those decision making powers

8:27

to lawmakers and leaving many, many

8:29

of us without access to safe, legal abortion.

8:32

Yeah. It's been , um, like

8:35

you said, hard to keep up with and just really,

8:39

I just find it really scary. Just like thinking about

8:41

where things are going. Right.

8:44

You know, there was a lot I was prepared for

8:46

and man, just seeing the

8:48

way the conversations have turned, like

8:50

some of the conversations that have been had and things

8:53

that were , have been said out loud by the antis.

8:55

Like I , I just didn't think they would say kind

8:57

of what we all knew like out loud.

9:01

I think that's been horrifying

9:04

and enlightening to see, right? Yeah . It's

9:06

like all the stuff that was hidden is

9:08

just really coming out now they're emboldened more

9:10

than ever, you know, I, I

9:14

think people need to take them at

9:16

their word. There's

9:18

no hiding anymore. They've

9:20

made very clear that this is a war

9:23

on reproductive health and that abortion

9:25

is just part of the plot

9:28

line . Right. There are more attacks

9:30

to come. And I think this is also

9:33

really a time where

9:35

we are seeing what intersectionality means

9:38

all the time. Right? This is not just about

9:41

abortion. It's not just about healthcare . In fact, it's

9:43

about voting rights. It's about housing security.

9:46

It's about being supportive of

9:49

communities that have been marginalized for

9:51

years or not being supportive of them to

9:53

be very clear. And we're

9:55

seeing really white supremacy in action

9:58

and it's terrifying.

10:00

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So

10:03

maybe we should talk a little bit about, okay.

10:05

So now that these bans are in effect, what does abortion

10:08

access look like? And maybe we'll divide it into

10:10

like a couple buckets. So in

10:12

states where there are already bans in place,

10:15

like what does accessing abortion

10:17

look like there

10:18

In states where there are bands in place?

10:21

It is incredibly challenging

10:23

to be able to, first of all, figure out where

10:26

you can get an abortion, figure

10:29

out how you can get an abortion and

10:31

then actually be able

10:33

to travel and

10:36

have the logistical support that you need to

10:38

get out of your state for care. In

10:41

some states where we have a six

10:43

week ban in effect, people are

10:45

able to maybe get

10:48

a little bit of information they need before they have

10:50

to leave the state. But let's remember that

10:53

somebody who is six weeks pregnant have their

10:55

last period six weeks ago. And therefore,

10:57

maybe only found out a

10:59

week ago that they're pregnant. Maybe

11:02

has no idea yet, especially if

11:04

they have irregular cycles

11:06

and don't always get a period on time. So oftentimes

11:09

these folks are really already

11:12

too late. By the time they even have a positive

11:14

pregnancy test to seek out care in state

11:16

. Um, we

11:18

know that the support

11:21

for navigation and way

11:23

finding for patients to help them figure out

11:25

where to go for care and how to get

11:27

there is crucially important

11:30

right now. And that is something that we see

11:32

as a way that we can really step

11:34

in and support patients to

11:37

get what they need. So we are really trying

11:39

to beef up those resources at

11:42

planned parenthood and work in collaboration with

11:44

our partners across the

11:47

abortion ecosystem, to make sure

11:49

that folks are able to access an appointment

11:51

as quickly as possible when they

11:53

decide they need one.

11:55

Yeah. I feel like information is like the

11:57

really big, important

12:00

gap to fill right now. And

12:03

the antis I'm sure are trying to fill it

12:05

with so much misinformation that it's really

12:07

important that people are getting trusted

12:09

information.

12:11

Yes. And we see that

12:13

with medication abortion as one example, right?

12:16

We've always , you know, for a while we've

12:18

heard talks about

12:21

medication, abortion reversal or

12:24

how harmful abortion is just broadly.

12:26

And I think pushing back and really being

12:29

proactive in our messaging about

12:31

the incredibly safe

12:35

evidence there is for safety rather about

12:37

medication abortion and abortion

12:40

writ large needs to get out there.

12:42

This is a very common, very

12:44

safe procedure, putting barriers

12:47

and trying to prevent people from accessing

12:50

this normal part of healthcare is

12:52

quite frankly insane. It really is

12:55

disallowing folks to have agency

12:57

over their bodies and over their livelihoods.

12:59

Absolutely. And being really clear that

13:02

abortion reversal is not a thing

13:04

Is not real, just not,

13:06

Is not a thing

13:07

Based medicine, not even a chance. I

13:10

mean the newest, I think line

13:12

of attacks have been really pushing

13:14

around ectopic pregnancies and

13:17

have caused such concern for pregnant

13:19

people everywhere because they

13:22

are worried that if they needed life saving care from

13:24

an ectopic pregnancy, which is a pregnancy that

13:26

occurs outside of the uterus, it's rare,

13:29

but it's deadly and you need

13:31

to act fast when it's found. And

13:33

so there is this kind of line of

13:36

thought that's being pushed by the antis

13:38

that you can take a pregnancy

13:40

from outside of the uterus and put it back

13:42

in and everything's gonna be okay. The

13:45

human body is not that

13:47

simple. That is not how it works. An

13:49

ectopic pregnancy will never be a

13:51

viable pregnancy, never, ever full

13:54

stop and it can kill someone. And

13:56

so this type of incredibly

13:59

irresponsible misinformation that's

14:02

being spread is

14:05

dangerous to people's lives. I

14:07

can't underscore that enough. It is dangerous and

14:09

we're seeing it play out and it's, it's

14:11

just horrific. And

14:13

I wish more people understood really what

14:16

was at stake here.

14:17

Yeah. And I think this really goes in line with

14:20

the anti talking point that like abortion

14:22

is never needed to save a pregnant person's

14:24

life or health. And

14:27

like that's blatantly not true,

14:29

but like that's by them arguing

14:32

that they could do this magic right

14:34

. Thing that doesn't exist. They can keep

14:37

arguing that. And, but that's

14:39

not true.

14:40

Right. And I think we've seen in politics

14:43

over the past several years, over many,

14:45

many years, if we're honest, you know,

14:48

true, doesn't always matter. Right. People put

14:50

out the language and the misinformation

14:53

that helps them win and

14:55

helps them be successful. Even if it's

14:57

a bold face lie. And that's most

14:59

certainly what you know, anything

15:02

about abortion, not being lifesaving is

15:04

all about. There are many examples

15:06

of where abortions save a people's lives

15:09

and that can be physically,

15:11

that can be mentally and emotionally.

15:13

That can be financially. It's all of those

15:15

things. But most certainly there

15:18

are incredible medical implications. Pregnancy

15:21

can be exceedingly dangerous for people.

15:23

We know that we've seen our horrific

15:26

maternal mortality and morbidity statistics

15:29

across this country. And we've seen those disparities

15:32

and we know who is suffering more

15:34

from those disparities. Yet

15:36

we continue to push that continuing

15:38

of pregnancy is the best

15:40

option and the right way forward. I

15:43

cannot reconcile those two things. I'm sure many

15:45

people have a struggle there, but that

15:47

continues to be the narrative that's pushed.

15:50

And I also hate that like so

15:52

much of the conversation feels like it has to be around.

15:55

I don't wanna say extreme examples, but

15:57

like the examples where somebody

15:59

is going to die. And while like those are important,

16:02

but like somebody needing

16:04

an abortion because it's not the right time

16:06

to have a child for them right now. Like that's a

16:08

valid reason. And like we should be fighting just

16:11

as hard for those. And I really hate that.

16:13

So often the stories that are getting covered

16:16

are like the

16:18

like quote unquote , like good abortions.

16:21

And I really hate that. That keeps kind

16:23

of being portrayed as, as

16:26

it often does with the

16:28

media.

16:28

Yeah. That stigma, right. That stigma

16:31

is there, that there is a

16:33

right and a wrong reason to have an

16:35

abortion or there is a right or wrong reason to

16:37

have more than one abortion. What we

16:39

really need to focus on is that the

16:42

only person who gets to make those decisions and

16:44

the only person who has to justify them to

16:46

themselves is the person doing it. And

16:49

there is no good reason that

16:51

we should say that people should have

16:53

limited or no access to abortion care.

16:56

It's just, you know, other countries

16:59

have gone through struggles with this and

17:01

have come out the other side and recognized

17:03

abortion as healthcare . And there are some that never

17:06

even questioned it because again, abortion

17:08

is healthcare . I can't say it enough.

17:11

So I agree with you entirely.

17:13

No one should have to justify their abortion. There's no

17:16

bad reason to have an abortion. There's no good reason to have

17:18

an abortion. An abortion is just part of

17:20

the normal reproductive health

17:22

cycle that we have. We get to decide

17:24

when our bodies become pregnant and when they don't

17:27

full stop .

17:29

So, you know, a lot of the focus on

17:33

abortion mans is obviously on the states where

17:35

there is a ban, but it has ripple

17:37

effects, right? Like if

17:39

one state bans abortion, we already saw

17:41

with Texas, right? The people are gonna go somewhere else

17:44

to get access. So what are some

17:46

of the effects we're seeing in states where abortion

17:49

hasn't been banned on accessing abortion?

17:52

Yeah. This is a great question. It's where

17:54

we spent a lot of time preparing

17:57

and how we continue to work really closely with

17:59

these places. I mean, first

18:02

there is not a way in

18:06

such a short amount of time and really

18:08

maybe ever for half the states to

18:10

handle the other half of the state's

18:13

volume of folks needing abortion

18:15

care. Right. And what

18:17

that means is that we see

18:20

increasing amounts of patients seeking

18:23

care in states that have

18:25

maintained access, which then in turn

18:27

means longer wait times and

18:30

potentially pushes people out further

18:32

and further away from their homes to be able

18:34

to get access to care. And

18:36

another big worry is, makes it take

18:38

longer for people to get care. And then they're

18:41

pushed out further and further into their pregnancies

18:43

to be able to access abortion. I

18:46

think it's really important to put yourself

18:49

in a pregnant person's shoes. If

18:51

somebody has decided that they cannot

18:54

continue to be pregnant for whatever reason it

18:56

is every day , they are waiting to

18:58

end that pregnancy feels

19:00

like years, you know, like that, that

19:02

can be incredibly challenging and it

19:05

can also increase danger if

19:07

that person has health conditions

19:10

that make that pregnancy unsafe for

19:12

them. Right. And so we

19:14

are trying to think through how we can

19:16

support our planned parenthood affiliates

19:19

in expanding out their access. So doing

19:21

things such as increasing access to

19:25

abortion pills by mail in states that

19:27

it's allowed so that the patients in

19:30

state that have access to that service, if

19:32

that's something that they're interested in can choose that.

19:34

And don't even have to go into the health center, which

19:37

opens up access for other patients who are

19:39

traveling in from out of state or

19:41

who need that care or desire that care

19:43

in the health centers. It's also

19:46

making sure that we have the providers

19:48

needed to ramp up our

19:51

ability to see more patients. You

19:54

know, we are in increasingly,

19:57

like I was mentioning before, also investing in

19:59

patient navigation. So abortion patient navigators,

20:02

actual people in our health centers who

20:04

are able to do the high touch support

20:07

that some of our most vulnerable patients

20:09

might need to get to care. So booking

20:11

hotels, helping them with travel costs,

20:14

seeing if they need funding to help pay

20:17

for their abortion and making sure they have those connections

20:19

doing the education. It takes a

20:21

lot of time, but it's so crucially important for

20:23

people who have to travel long distances to be able

20:25

to have that support, to figure out how to

20:28

get to care in a place where they may have

20:30

never been before and

20:32

overcome so many of the barriers that we know people

20:34

face. And then also

20:36

just thinking more about what

20:39

are the educational opportunities,

20:41

what are the needs for, you

20:44

know, a synchronous education outside

20:46

of calling somebody in the health center?

20:48

What about our chat text on our

20:51

PFA website? How can we bolster that up to provide

20:53

more support to patients so that if they're

20:55

searching for information

20:57

about an abortion, they have somebody that they

20:59

can talk to, to dig a little bit deeper and

21:01

get the right referral. So we're working at

21:04

multiple angles to try to do all we can

21:06

to support these folks.

21:08

Yeah. I just think like when Texas

21:11

first had their six

21:13

week ban and seeing like how that impacted

21:16

the surrounding states and people trying

21:18

to access care and now thinking of how

21:21

that is vastly expanded to so many other

21:23

states, like the system

21:25

just isn't equipped to take

21:27

up all of those people traveling.

21:30

Yeah. And that's right. And I

21:33

think that it's incredibly hard

21:35

for, I think, especially from the provider

21:38

angle to think about that, right. To know that this

21:40

is my life's work, this is the job that I love doing.

21:43

And I know that I'm not gonna be able to serve all

21:45

of the people who need me right now. That's

21:48

incredibly hard. I think additionally,

21:51

when we consider what

21:54

it means for our future state, what

21:56

does it look like moving forward? I think we'll

21:58

, you know, time will tell, but are

22:00

we gonna see more and more people who

22:03

have carried pregnancies that they

22:05

didn't plan to or didn't want to, or couldn't

22:07

are we going to see an increase in maternal

22:09

mortality? I think research

22:12

has shown that yes, we probably will. We're

22:15

also going to see many more patients turning

22:17

to self-managing their abortion, which

22:19

I think, you know, the one maybe silver

22:21

lining here is that different

22:24

from before the times of

22:26

Roe V Wade, we now have abortion

22:29

pills, which is a very safe

22:31

and effective way to end a pregnancy

22:33

in the privacy of your own home. And

22:36

so while, you know, we want people

22:38

to access safe, legal abortion. We want

22:40

them to access it wherever they choose, including

22:43

in a health center for some folks that

22:45

might not be an option and this might be

22:47

the next best thing for them. And so

22:49

we wanna make sure that we have the systems in place too

22:52

, to make it as

22:54

safe for them as possible, make sure that they have

22:56

a place to go to if they have questions before, during

22:58

or after the pro process and

23:01

make sure that they don't feel stigmatized.

23:03

Yeah. This just feels like, you know, connecting

23:06

two of the points we talked about earlier, like abortion

23:08

is healthcare . You should be able to

23:10

access healthcare easily and

23:13

in your neighborhood. And this

23:15

is just, I , I , to me, it's

23:17

just so devastating. And like, there

23:20

are people who will be able to travel, who will be

23:22

able to get the support to travel, but there are people

23:24

who won't be able to do that. And like

23:27

that is just to me, it breaks

23:29

my heart. And like, I can't focus on

23:31

that part because like, it , it's paralyzing

23:34

to just think of all of those people who

23:36

need this access to care and aren't gonna

23:38

be able to get it.

23:40

Yeah, it's paralyzing. And I would also

23:43

just draw line too to the

23:45

fact that while abortion was

23:48

legal, everywhere, previously, there

23:50

was still a deep, deep divide

23:53

between legality and access in

23:55

many places. And that was

23:57

especially felt in marginalized

24:00

communities where maybe there

24:02

was availability of abortion

24:04

in terms of the legal right. But we had

24:06

big SW of the country that didn't have access

24:08

to providers where the cost

24:11

made it prohibitive for many,

24:13

many people to access the care, being

24:16

underinsured, being uninsured, these

24:18

things all made a big difference. So

24:21

for some people let's be

24:23

really clear, this didn't change too much.

24:25

Right. For sure. But what I think it does is

24:28

spotlight the problem. It, it

24:30

forces us to think bigger and

24:32

bold about how we resource people

24:35

and communities to be able to access the

24:37

full spectrum of reproductive healthcare that they need.

24:40

It really allows us to think about

24:42

what the barriers were before,

24:44

what they still are and forces

24:47

us as a country to

24:50

meet their needs in a different

24:52

way. And to continue to fight back.

24:54

You know, we have successfully blocked

24:57

laws in five states so far, we're

24:59

going to continue to keep fighting litigation

25:02

is part of the strategy. But we saw, for

25:05

example, Kansas, with a ballot initiative, you

25:07

know, amazing little glimmers of hope

25:11

will think about constitutional amendments, pushing

25:13

for proactive legislation where we can expand

25:16

access whenever possible. Really

25:18

all options are on the table. All

25:20

options are on the table at this point.

25:22

I see it. I try to see it as an opportunity

25:25

to build everything back stronger and

25:27

better and more just,

25:30

Yeah, it's so hard to think

25:32

of a crisis as an opportunity, but

25:34

I think that is exactly the sentiment

25:37

that I am trying to take here. Yeah . Is

25:39

what was broken before. And now

25:41

that we're, you know, kind of in

25:43

this horrific situation, how

25:46

can we look at that and make a plan to

25:49

push forward and redesign

25:51

a world that looks different? I

25:53

think we can see that in many different parts

25:56

of the American political

25:58

scene right now, where do we have opportunity

26:01

to grow and fight and come back stronger?

26:04

So I am trying to do my best to think

26:06

of it that way. It's really painful to

26:09

think that we are almost at

26:11

a year of SBA eight in Texas

26:13

being an effect and

26:15

to know what a dramatic impact

26:18

that has had on the people of Texas. And

26:20

to know that we don't even know <laugh> how

26:23

much of an impact it's had, right. Because people

26:25

have been so frightened and

26:27

kind of driven to hide

26:29

their decision making because

26:32

of fear of pregnancy criminalization.

26:36

Yeah. That all feels completely right. Right.

26:38

Like seeing it as an

26:40

opportunity, but like the

26:42

middle, middle, the gap of the people who

26:45

had always fallen outside of

26:47

the system to access care, even when

26:49

it was legal. And now all of the people who are

26:51

being impacted until we get

26:53

to the place where it's better, it's,

26:56

it's hard to like reconcile the two, cuz

26:58

like again, the not

27:01

powerlessness cuz we , we have a lot

27:03

of power, right? We've already seen ways that people

27:05

are fighting back. But just thinking

27:07

of all of the people who aren't able to access basic

27:11

healthcare to me is just heartbreaking.

27:14

And I really, it's

27:16

really hard to think about all of the people who

27:19

need care now while

27:22

talking about building it back in a

27:24

stronger, more, just

27:25

Way. Right. Holding those two things at the same

27:27

time. Yeah . Feels really hard.

27:30

And I think we continue to try

27:32

to remember the ways that we do have agency and we

27:34

do have power and try to encourage and empower others

27:37

to step into that. So just

27:39

thinking of some things that listeners might

27:42

do to try to help and to

27:44

try to fight back, write letters

27:46

to the editors of your local newspapers

27:49

or your favorite newspaper about

27:51

why they support abortion access, visit

27:54

our site bands off.org , where

27:56

you can learn more about how to fight back or

27:58

text access a C C

28:00

E SS to 2,

28:04

2, 4, 2, 2 invite folks that

28:06

you know, or yourself to speak up

28:08

using a hashtag, whatever the

28:10

reason on social media or sharing

28:12

your story together, dot planned parenthood.org.

28:15

There is power in storytelling and

28:17

it really helps to reduce stigma. So

28:20

we wanna truly encourage people to think about

28:22

doing that. And then if

28:24

you are able, donating to P

28:26

P F a and to abortion

28:28

funds who are really helping

28:31

close the gap for people

28:33

who are seeking out care would

28:35

be a great use of your money.

28:38

Yes. Always love having actions

28:40

that people can take. You

28:43

know, I had one more thing that I have

28:45

been thinking about and you know,

28:47

there's a lot of focus rightfully on

28:50

abortion, but I can also assume that this is impacting

28:52

other access to sexual

28:54

and reproductive healthcare . How is other

28:57

sexual reproductive healthcare services being

28:59

impacted by these bands?

29:02

Yeah, we are doing our best to

29:04

minimize any impact to the other

29:06

services. We of course still want

29:09

people to be able to access the preventative healthcare

29:11

, the birth control, the cancer screenings,

29:13

all of the other things that planned parenthood needs at

29:16

the same time as they have increased access

29:18

to abortion in states where it's

29:20

still legal. So a couple of things

29:22

there in the states where abortion

29:25

is severely restricted or banned planned

29:27

parented health centers are committed to providing

29:29

patients with a necessary information and resources

29:32

to access care in other seats , but also will

29:34

still remain there and in place to

29:36

provide sexual and reproductive healthcare . So

29:39

they're still providing those services. I

29:42

think in the states where they're increasing

29:44

access to see more abortion

29:46

patients in some places we're

29:48

seeing some longer wait times for other services,

29:51

but like I said, we are working diligently

29:54

to prevent that from happening whenever possible,

29:57

people are still exceptionally committed

29:59

to making sure that the folks who rely on

30:01

planned parenthood for all types of healthcare

30:04

are still able to get into see

30:06

their providers of choice in their local

30:09

communities.

30:10

Yeah. It just felt really important to talk about that

30:13

part cuz I , it , it's just not, I

30:15

feel like as big a part of the abortion

30:17

conversation as we're having, and it's really important

30:20

that people know that they can still

30:22

access those other services.

30:24

Yes. Thank you for saying that. And I think it's

30:26

also important to point out here that we

30:29

have independent , uh, provider colleagues

30:31

who provide abortion care in these states

30:34

where they've kept access as

30:36

well. Working really hard also to

30:38

ramp up care. So I don't ever wanna

30:40

portray it that planned parenthood is the only

30:43

abortion provider and some of those folks

30:45

also provide other reproductive healthcare

30:47

services. So I think it's really crucial

30:50

just to make sure that folks know that if they are

30:52

seeking out care, abortion finder.org

30:55

is a great place to go, to see kind of a full

30:58

spectrum of where they can access

31:01

services for abortion. And

31:03

we also have information about abortion

31:06

finder.org on our P

31:08

PFA website as well. So if people go to planned parenthood

31:11

to search for appointment, they'll get information about

31:13

that. They'll also see information

31:15

about a great site called plan C,

31:17

which is an organization that

31:20

provides information about accessing

31:22

abortion pills. And so we

31:24

just really want folks to feel empowered

31:26

and know all of their options.

31:28

And again, so important in this

31:31

time when disinformation is going to

31:34

be rampant. And you'll, you wanna make sure

31:36

you're going to a real clinic that you can

31:38

trust and not a crisis pregnancy center,

31:41

right ? Or you're getting pills you can trust. It's

31:43

really important to use these trusted resources.

31:47

Absolutely.

31:49

Well, I mean, we already hit the

31:51

last question of what the audience can

31:53

do. So Danica

31:56

, thank you so much. I really

31:59

enjoyed our conversation today.

32:00

Thank you for having me and thank you for

32:03

bringing light to this issue. It's it's

32:05

really important that everybody gets to hear about

32:07

it.

32:08

Absolutely. Okay

32:11

. Y'all I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Danica.

32:13

It was really great to learn more

32:16

about how things are looking on the ground right now.

32:19

If you have any questions or a topic

32:21

you would love us to cover, please , please

32:23

feel free to reach out. Anytime you

32:26

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32:32

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32:35

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32:38

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32:44

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