rePROs Fight Back

**Trigger Warning: Miscarriage and Pregnancy Loss “One of the most prevalent myths about human pregnancy is that of all possible outcomes, a baby is the most likely. Pregnancy Interrupted challenges the misleadingly linear narrative that begins with two lines on a pregnancy test and ends with a newborn. Kate Clancy shares her own deeply personal stories of pregnancy loss and moving interviews with others, and reveals how the frequency of loss and miscarriage is far more common than most realize.” Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Planned Parenthood has been under attack in Texas for years. This has resulted in a lack of access to affordable healthcare, lack of access to birth control, and worsening maternal health outcomes. Shellie Hayes-McMahon , Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Texas, which is the 501(c)(3) arm of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, sits down to talk with us about the perfect storm of attacks to reproductive health and rights in Texas, which provides a perfect blueprint for other states who wish to follow suit. The current push at the national level centers on defunding Planned Parenthood via Medicaid. Patients who lose their Planned Parenthood provider in Texas cannot just find a new provider. In fact, the state is currently seeing a decrease in providers generally, as well as medical students. Cancer screenings, birth control provision, critical counseling, and more, are services that are becoming increasingly more expensive for Planned Parenthood to provide, while crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) are receiving millions of state dollars. In Texas, public school-provided sex education is abstinence-only, while misinformation around birth control is currently skyrocketing. The nationwide attacks on mifepristone, one of the safe and effective drugs used in a medication abortion, began in Texas. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) are unregulated storefronts that exist as a way of pushing out anti-abortion misinformation and blocking people’s access to care through deception, shame, delay, and intimidation. Tara Romano , Executive Director of Pro-Choice North Carolina, talks to us about North Carolina’s CPC landscape. The term "crisis pregnancy center" refers to anti-abortion facilities that mislead, confuse, delay, misinform, and purposefully re-direct pregnant people looking for education and services, including abortion care. North Carolina has 16 abortion clinics and approximately 100 CPCs, which are typically clustered around college campuses. CPCs in the state began receiving money from the sale of “Choose Life” license plates and $350,000 from general funds in 2013. By 2023, the number was closer to $20 million. Because these are not medical centers, they do not have medical restrictions or medical privacy restrictions. Map photo citation: Swartzendruber A and Lambert D. Crisis Pregnancy Center Map. https://www.cpcmap.com . August 17, 2026. Accessed: August 24, 2026. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

PEPFAR, or the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, started in 2003 and is the largest country-to-country bilateral investment in addressing any single disease. PEPFAR is not only funding, but expertise, and has saved millions of lives since the Bush administration. Dr. Jennifer Sherwood , Director of Research in the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) public policy office, talks to us about attacks to PEPFAR, the populations that are impacted, and some recent protections to PEPFAR’s crucial work. Early in 2025, a pause on new funding going out into the field was announced, in combination with a stop-work order. Soon after, a PEPFAR waiver was announced, yet it included extremely specific restrictions. amfAR completed a survey across 46 different countries asking about grant status, service provision, and more. It found that nearly 80% of organizations surveyed had grant cuts or eliminations. Because of the cuts, amfAR documented 1,700 site closures, including drop-in clinics that are essential to key populations. Local organizations were also disproportionately impacted by closures and grant impacts. The term “key populations” refers to populations that are at high risk of acquiring HIV and experiencing additional, structural barriers to care. Often, this is sex workers, men who have sex with men, other gay and bisexual men, transgender individuals, and those that use or inject drugs. Programs particular to key populations were absolutely decimated, as strongly documented in amfAR’s survey. These impacts are also being exacerbated by the recent expansion of the Global Gag Rule. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Maintaining hope during this moment in reproductive health and rights, plenty of book-talk, and even a deep-dive into Jennie’s sex education in Catholic school… Tarah Demant , Interim National Director of Programs, Advocacy, and Government Affairs at Amnesty International USA, asks host Jennie Wetter a series of ask me anything (AMA) questions. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Trigger warning: This episode references child marriage, maternal death, and suicide. August 15th marks the fifth anniversary of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. Gender-based discrimination is a tenet of the Taliban’s policies, which is being enforced and institutionalized across the country. We hear from Metra Mehran , a self-described person exiled from Afghanistan during the Taliban takeover in 2021, and who now focuses on advocacy work related to gender apartheid with the End Gender Apartheid Campaign, as well as advocacy with Congress to hold the Taliban accountable through Amnesty International. In Afghanistan, there is a systematic level of discrimination that impacts every single facet of life for women and girls. Women cannot work, go to school beyond primary school, or have freedom of movement. The enforcement and institutionalization of this gender discrimination funnels into the crime of the grand-scale gender apartheid being perpetrated in Afghanistan. Child marriage has peaked in the past five years, interrupting a girl’s inability to finish their education. Women and girls face higher rates of domestic violence, reproductive violence, and suicide. And while underground schooling does exist, girls seek education at extreme risk to themselves and their families. Advocates are pushing to use the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to take Afghanistan to the International Court of Justice and encouraging the continued proceedings against Taliban leaders before the International Criminal Court. Conversations to include gender apartheid in treaty negotiations are also a testament to the strength and power of the women of Afghanistan. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Reproductive rights, LGBTQI+ rights, and democracy cannot be discussed in isolation; fundamentally, they are all about who has the freedom to make choices for themselves, and each one affects the other. Cristina Uribe , Chief of Programs at the Collaborative for Gender + Reproductive Equity (CGRE) and Director of the Gender Equity Action Fund (GEAF), sits down with us to explain how these topics are deeply interconnected. Attacks on women and LGBTQ+ communities weaken our democracy by pitting Americans against Americans and creating enemies out of neighbors. Opponents of these communities—and democracy at large—understand these connections and use strategies like ballot measures and wedge issues to divide coalitions and erode rights. Responding to these coordinated attacks requires coalition-building, commitment to civic engagement, and a recognition that attacks to one group’s rights ultimately threaten everyone’s freedoms. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case which overturned Roe v. Wade was decided, there’s been an abortion access crisis, an assault on legal precedent for abortion protections, and an opportunity to create a stronger and even more inclusive plan to reproductive autonomy than Roe ever provided. Amy Myrick , Senior Council at the Center for Reproductive Rights, sits down to talk with us about legal trends in federal and state courts in the past four years. Currently, legal cases have been aimed towards medication abortion and telehealth (a lifeline after Dobbs ). It is important to remember that legal attacks on abortion have broader implications, including for transgender health and rights (particularly for young people). Increasingly, anti-abortion actors have had to pivot to tactics that are often blatantly anti-democratic. In several states, ballot amendments have been taken to court. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

The Supreme Court has heard two cases on transgender women and girl’s ability to participate in school sports after states have issued categorical bans on trans women playing on sports teams that match their gender identity. Madiba Dennie , author of The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We the People Can Take It Back and Deputy Editor and Senior Contributor at the legal commentary outlet Balls and Strikes, sits down to talk with us about these cases as part of the broad, comprehensive attacks on trans people’s health and wellbeing. The Supreme Court justified this discriminatory decision against trans women and girls by arguing that the state cases don't turn on transgender status, but on sex alone—a step toward defining transgender people out of existence. It isn’t just sports and it isn’t just bathrooms; birth certificates, driver's licenses, freedom of travel, ability to work, ability to have healthcare, and ability to learn basic information in schools are all interconnected. The U.S. is also exporting this philosophy abroad through the expanded Global Gag Rule . Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

This week’s special bonus pod features the abortion story of Hannah, a full-spectrum doula, an abortion doula, a childbirth educator, and a social worker. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

The Title X Family Planning Program was created in 1970 to fund reproductive health and contraceptive services and remains the federal government’s only dedicated source of family planning funding. Since his first term in office, Trump and his administration have repeatedly targeted the Title X Program, most recently by changing the application process for funding. Clare Coleman , President and CEO of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA), joins us to talk about what the latest funding announcement means for Title X and its grant recipients, and the lawsuit that NFPRHA, the ACLU, and FHCCP are pursuing against the Trump administration’s blatant contradiction of the Title X statute. Title X-funded programs provide contraceptive services, STI and pregnancy testing, and other crucial preventative and reproductive health services. The new funding announcement changes the process of applying for Title X grants, undermining Title X’s statutory mission by giving political appointees the power to decide who even gets considered for funding. This politicization of family planning resources promotes the President’s narrow agenda and poses a threat to the millions who rely on Title X-funded clinics and resources. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) is a federal law that protects the right to emergency healthcare, including abortion. There has been, post- Dobbs , a clash between these federal protections and states with abortion bans. Amani Echols , Senior Policy Analyst for Maternal Health at the National Partnership for Women and Families and Ashley Kurzweil , Senior Policy Analyst for Reproductive Health and Rights at the National Partnership for Women and Families, sit down to talk with us about this unleashing of chaos and confusion around whether and when emergency abortion care is permitted. In many states, patient health must deteriorate to an extremely risky state before qualifying for the “health exceptions” to abortion bans that are in place. In addition, hospital closures are occurring around the country after Trump’s recent One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), and for those who have emergencies in rural communities, that is extremely dangerous. For women of color who often experience dismissal or de-prioritization in medical settings, the pain, stress, and complications are often exacerbated. Abortion restrictions will no doubt worsen the maternal health crisis in the United States, which has the highest rate of maternal deaths of any other high-income nation. Black and Indigenous women are more than three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than their white counterparts and are even more likely to experience morbidity or severe maternal morbidity related to their pregnancy. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

The most recent numbers show that two-thirds of abortions in the U.S. are medication abortions, while 29 percent of all U.S. abortions were telehealth medication abortions. Dr. Angel Foster , researcher at the University of Ottawa in the Faculty of Health Sciences, global abortion researcher, and co-founder of the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project (MAP) sits down to talk with us about the work that MAP performs and the importance of shield laws for reproductive health care and gender-affirming care. Mifepristone, the first of two medications that people will take during a medication abortion, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000. Decades of evidence shows its safety and effectiveness. Access to the two-drug regimen increased significantly via telehealth during the pandemic, which required a new regulatory framework in 2023. MAP, through state shield law protections, allows licensed Massachusetts clinicians to prescribe medication abortion to those anywhere in the country, regardless of the legal status of abortion in their state. This year, the Fifth-Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that would prevent providers from sending medication abortion through the mail—thankfully, MAP was able to shift to a misoprostol-only regimen (also safe and effective)—but the mass confusion had been immediately impactful. As of now, a stay has been issued to halt this decision by the Fifth Circuit. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Art and activism intersect! Shannon Downey , full-time art activist, author, and educator, sits down to talk with us about art and activism and her new activism handbook for artists, crafters, and creators, Let’s Move the Needle , providing a how-to manual for using artistic skills to contribute to community building. Shannon learned how to cross stitch as a child. As an adult, doing work around gun violence and immigrant rights, Shannon leaned on cross stitch during moments when she felt politically fatigued. When she participated in a weekend art show that fundraised $5,000 dollars for art classes for survivors of gun violence, the intersection and importance between art and activism became very clear. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade . Brittany Fonteno , President and CEO of the National Abortion Federation (NAF) and the National Abortion Hotline, sits down to talk with us about NAF’s new report, which shows a marked uptick in anti-abortion violence in the years since Roe’s overturning. The Roe decision came down in 1973. NAF was formed in 1977 and began tracking violence and disruption against independent abortion providers, Planned Parenthood affiliates, hospitals, and individual providers that very same year. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act was passed on bipartisan lines in 1994 to combat harassment, violence, blockading, and threats in front of abortion clinics. But in his first few weeks in office this term, Trump pardoned nearly two dozen anti-abortion extremists and has set aside a $2 billion fund-- partly to protect those who violate the FACE Act-- from legal consequences. There is still in-person harassment outside of clinics, but rates of online harassment, death threats to providers, and harassment rooted in racism and xenophobia have skyrocketed in recent years. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Pronatalism is an ideology, cultural orientation, and emerging policy framework promoting higher birthrates by framing reproduction as a social duty or moral good. Oftentimes, pronatalism can emphasize certain gender roles and can be rooted in extreme nationalism and patriarchal ideals. Varina Winder , the former Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor in the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues at the U.S. Department of State and co-founder of the ARCH Collaborative, sits down to talk with us about the ways in which pronatalist ideology is present in the U.S. and what a true pro-family vision should look like. Increasingly, pronatalism is being driven by governments. The Trump administration, for example, have been manipulating language to advance pronatalist ideology, including describing American women as “under babied” and referring to the expansion of the Global Gag Rule as the “Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance” Act. Government restrictions and cultural interventions are the tools used for pronatalism, and the language (often rooted in a low-fertility and birthrate “crisis”) global administrations use support these tools. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Telling pregnant people what to do and enforcing pregnancy criminalization has been a decades-long threat. Dr. Grace Howard sits down with us to discuss her new book, which “traces the long history of state attempts to regulate and control people who have the capacity for pregnancy--from the early twentieth century's white supremacist eugenics to the end of Roe and the ever-increasing criminalization of abortion across the United States.” Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

The ability to control your body and when, how, and if you get pregnant and raise children is a fundamental freedom that should be recognized by the law. Skye Perryman , President and CEO of Democracy Forward, sits down to talk with us about the direct connection between the opportunities and support that women and girls have and the strengths of democracies, and how the U.S. (among other countries) is clearly experiencing a democratic backslide. The FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act was passed in the early 1990s with bipartisan support. The law was put in place to address a surge in violence and harassment, targeting, and blockading of reproductive health care clinics. The Trump administration has consistently misrepresented and threatened the FACE Act, including going after litigators who prosecuted under FACE Act violations. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has put together a 900-page report intended to discredit prosecutors and civil servants and to create a narrative to justify those facing being fired by the department. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

We repeat: your reason is the right reason. For this incredibly special part four of our storytellers podcast series, tune in to hear the abortion stories of Candace and Trenece -- abortion storytellers from We Testify. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Need a breakdown of the recent ruling on nationwide mifepristone access at the Supreme Court? Imani Gandy , Executive Producer, Legal Content & Culture with Rewire News Group, co-host of podcast Boom! Lawyered and host of podcast B*tch Listen and Jessica Mason Pieklo , Executive Producer, Legal Content & Advocacy with Rewire News Group and co-host of podcast Boom! Lawyered have got you covered. In 2024, the state of Louisiana sued the Food and Drug Administration over a rule change from 2023 that allowed mifepristone to be prescribed and dispensed remotely. Previously, the agency had required the pill to be dispensed in-person at a clinic or other health facility. On May 1, 2026, the FDA’s rule was temporarily blocked, restricting mifepristone access nationwide. Emergency petitions were filed with the Supreme Court the next day, and on May 4, the stay was applied to the block until May 11. On May 14th, the Supreme Court continued to allow patients to access mifepristone. On Mother’s Day, a website for new and expectant mothers called moms.gov dropped, pushing pro-natalist, eugenicist propaganda. Support the show Follow Us on Social : Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfb Facebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us : jennie@reprosfightback.com Rate and Review on Apple Podcast Thanks for listening & keep fighting back!