A Domestic Update
In this episode, we bring you up to speed on the current status of reproductive health in the United States. Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Jacqueline Ayers talks to us about the good and the bad of reproductive and sexual health in the United States since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
The ACA became an opportunity, for multiple populations throughout the U.S., to access affordable and reliable reproductive health services. Mandates like the women’s preventative benefit and the soon-to-follow birth control benefit allowed approximately 62 million women to access a range of contraception methods without out-of-pocket costs. Around the country, the birth control benefit improved the health and economic well being of women by ensuring NO woman would have to choose between paying for contraception or paying for other necessities, like an electric bill.
The bad news? State-level access to reproductive health programs have begun to teeter. Access to reproductive health programs and providers is constantly being rolled back, and states are often attacking access to abortion. The Trump/Pence administration has attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act four separate times while various elected officials endeavor to “defund Planned Parenthood,” and push for abstinence only sex education.
Links in this episode
PPFA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PlannedParenthoodAction/
PPFA Twitter: https://twitter.com/PPact
https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/fight-for-birth-control
transcript
Jennie: Welcome to rePROs Fight Back a podcast on all things repro. I'm your host Jennie Wetter. In each episode, I'll be taking you to the front lines of the escalating fight over our sexual and reproductive health and rights at home and abroad. Each episode, I will be speaking with leaders who are fighting to protect our reproductive health and rights to ensure that no one's reproductive health depends on where they live. It's time for repros to fight back.
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Jennie: Welcome to the first episode of rePROs Fight Back, a podcast talking about all things reproductive health. We will be talking about a range of issues both domestic and international. A lot of the time we're going to be doing a deep dive on a lot of issues, so I thought it'd be really important to start the whole podcast kind of doing some scene setting. So we're going to talk about a domestic scene setting and international scene setting. So this episode is going to focus on domestic reproductive health. Joining me today, I'm super excited to have Jacqueline Ayers, the Director of Legislative Affairs for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. So thank you so much for joining me today.
Jacqueline: Thanks for having me. This is exciting. And congratulations to Population Institute on the repro podcast.
Jennie: Oh, thank you. So before we get into what's happening on reproductive health right now, um, let's do a little bit about how we got here. I think a lot of people listening are probably familiar with a lot of the attacks around reproductive health that have been happening, heard about the war on women, but I think a lot of things that have gotten lost is that there has been some good news in the last couple of years. And so maybe let's start in a happy place and talk about some good news. So one of the biggest things, uh, that passed was the passage of the Affordable Care Act and the birth control benefit. So how have those impacted women?
Jacqueline: Yeah, it's a great place to start to remind ourselves of the progress, uh, even in what it appears to be a more difficult and challenging times. There has been a tremendous amount of progress really made if we think about not just, um, the Affordable Care Act. But really the last 30 to 40 years, we've been on a trend of improvement. We are at the lowest rates of unintended pregnancy, the lowest rates of teen pregnancy, lowest rates of abortion. We know that that is because women are empowered to be able to make their own health care decisions have expanded access to birth control. Um, a huge part of that was the Affordable Care Act. Planned Parenthood has long been supportive and, and, and back many years ago, uh, when the ACA was passing in 2008 and 2009, we were, along with many of our coalition partners in the reproductive health care movement, I understood that it was a real opportunity. It was a great moment in time to make sure that as we were rethinking how to make sure access to health care happen for so many populations who had been left behind before, we all worked to make sure that also included the reproductive health care needs of, um, all Americans. And we certainly pushed for what was called the Women's Preventative Benefit. This was a vote that came down through an amendment by the now retired Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. And uh, what that benefit gave us was no cost contraception access, but also access to a whole host of preventative health care. And it was long fought for, um, um, we knew what we were fighting for at the time really would yield amazing results. Um, because of that provision, many of your listeners may be familiar with going into the pharmacy and accessing your birth control and seeing $0 come up, uh, that you have to pay out of pocket costs. And that's not just a few people, it's now 62 million women who have been able to take advantage of the birth control benefit. And that's just one of the many benefits under the ACA. We know that, um, over 10 million women for the first time got health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. And many, many states expanded access to the Medicaid program, making more coverage assessable for low income people. So the gains of the ACA, thankfully for all of the work that we're going to talk about, this happened this year are still with us. Um, and the ACA is still the law of the land.
Jennie: That's great. And I think one thing that's really important to point out is we often talk about the birth control benefit because it is so important. But that women's preventative health amendment really covered a lot of other things that are also just as important. So maybe we want to touch on a couple of those things that are in there cause I feel like they kind of get passed over.
Jacqueline: Yeah, absolutely. Um, the women's preventative benefit stood for a broad range of access for things like your vaccine coverage, for annual exams, of vaccines for children, also for a women to be able to have well woman visit. So that's um, your annual screenings. And we know, particularly for young women of reproductive age, a lot of times the one doctor that they'll go to throughout the year may be their ob-gyn or their family planning provider. So making those copays go away, making and taking away a barrier for more people to get those annual exams and have a visit for that well woman visit. Um, which you know, a lot of times includes a lot of health screenings, not just your pap smear and not just a breast cancer screening, um, but cervical cancer screenings and also a lot of times for a trusted provider to be able to ask a lot of questions of, of women about other things and uh, find out if they need to make referrals to other types of doctors that they may not have seen. So it's really important that that amendment, um, as making it, a part of the ACA meant that, uh, following the passage of the bill, the Institute of Medicine, a body of experts in the medical field looked at that amendment and made a full list of recommendations of all the things that should be covered. And now we have those cancer screenings, those well women visits, and birth control, all apart of the women's preventative benefit. So as we hear more and more about attacks on healthcare, it is really uplifting to think about what we still have and all of those things are still in place.
Jennie: Yeah, I think that's great. And you know, a lot of people talk about the birth control benefit and I think some people don't think about not just kind of the basic gains, but that it's enabled women to choose what works for them, not just what they can afford at that time. So how has that changed what women are choosing?
Jacqueline: Listen, the introduction of birth control is, is really how Planned Parenthood got it to history. And it's, it start with Planned Parenthood's founder many, many years ago in 1916, uh, defining the law and opening up birth control clinics in New York City. And so it has been a game changer from the very beginning. For women, if we just look at modern day, uh, history, uh, being able to access the best health care method and birth control method for you actually has expanded women's opportunities. I mean birth control is, yes, it's a health care issue, but it's also, um, very much an economic issue for women. A woman's ability to be able to choose the best method. And again, thanks to the birth control benefit, there are, uh, over 20 methods, uh, that the Food and Drug Administration has recommended that can be available at no cost as a part of the Affordable Care Act. So there are a lot of different methods, um, whether it's the pill or the patch or long acting method, um, such as an IUD. We know that, uh, women how have options, and most importantly they need access to the health care providers who can counsel them and tell them about all of those options. So we know that, uh, birth control access for a lot of people and Planned Parenthood, we hear these patient's stories and they'll tell us frequently I was able to stay in school or make a different decision about my job choices. I decided to delay, uh, having a family until I pursued my economic and my educational goals. Just yesterday, I'm the CEO of Rent the Runway, which we all be very familiar with that with that service. Um, uh, the CEO a s you know, started off as a small business owner and said, really it's thanks to birth control, um, that she was able to plan, uh, her family and the right correct time. Um, she delayed because of student loans, delayed having a family until she got her business off and started. And so we know that for a lot of people, attacks on birth control are not just about your health care. This is really integral to, um, a lot of the decisions that women are making with their lives. And so at Planned Parenthood, that's why we really are celebrating, uh, birth control in this moment and have a fight for birth control campaign, fight the number four camp, fight for birth control, a fight for BC that folks can tune into and uh, find out more information, how to get involved in your local community. But the reality is, is that almost over 90% individuals have used birth control at some point in their lives. So this isn't a partisan issue, it's an issue that really everybody can relate to.
Jennie: I think that leads really well into the next great success, which we already touched on is the dramatic drop in the teen pregnancy rate and that even the stubborn unintended pregnancy rate has been falling along with the abortion rate. So I'm sure access to affordable birth control plays into that. I know it's complicated. Uh, so what all plays into that.
Jacqueline: I mean, we as a country have had made to make different decisions about our investments in a lot of things and obviously health care is a key part of, and one of those. But also under the previous administration for the first time we had access to teen pregnancy prevention programs. These are the first time in history when the federal government took a look at science and how science could help inform and make choices about policy, radical idea. And, and, and really decided to, uh, invest in the community based organizations, the science, the uh, and what we know about, uh, really empowering young people at an earlier age with full access to information, correct, accurate information, comprehensive information about, um, development, about consent, about, um, issues of, uh, how to negotiate with your partner about your body. All of these things that are age appropriate opportunities for young people to learn were really happening uh, just, uh, in a patchwork sort of system. And a lot of the ability of teen pregnancy to be, uh, reduced in these last decade or so has been, um, because we've made more information available and accessible as well as health care, more accessible for young people. Uh, and so at Planned Parenthood, we serve a 1.5 million, uh, people, young people and adults, uh, by giving them information, uh, to an access to sex education. Um, we're really proud to continue to, to do that work. But it's been a really a game changer that this administration, the last administration has, uh, put, uh, some funds and invested in those groups really at the local level and also with states that are prioritizing young people and uh, really setting them up for success for the future. And so we think that you can both celebrate the unintended pregnancy and the lower rates of teen pregnancy as well as supporting a young people who've made the decision to parent by first making sure they have full access to the information so they can make those decisions themselves and they have the full autonomy to do what's right for their life.
Jennie: I have to say sex ed is one of those things that's kind of near and dear to my heart. I went to Catholic school K through eight, and I had sex ed from a nun. So it was not exactly what you would call comprehensive or evidence based sex ed. So, and I know that's one of those things that like I really, when I started to encounter my, my sexual future that like I just didn't have those skills that you should get in like a comprehensive sex ed. Like how to just negotiate safe decision making and a whole range of issues.
Jacqueline: Yeah, it's been um, for me, a real pleasure, right? You know at Planned Parenthood, while I do legislative work, I work really closely with members of Congress and their staff on policy issues. Occasionally I do get out to see our wonderful educators and and Planned Parenthood affiliates, staff in the field. I remember sitting, uh, in a sex education class in Las Vegas in a predominantly Hispanic community where the 16 year olds were doing a role play with one another about how to talk with your partner about what things were okay and what things were not okay. And just to have a safe, a comfortable nonjudgmental space for young people to, with their peers, be able to talk that way and have the tools to do that was just reassuring. One, it, we know that young people need this and need the access so, unfortunately to, for far too long, federal government priorities, we're invested in abstinence only education, which only taught unfortunate misinformation. That sounds like maybe that's a little bit of what you got in Catholic school, but it's when you really, you know, see, uh, up close how this kind of work impacts the young people. It's not just about giving them information, they're also growing and empowering themselves and feel much more confident about, um, not just their interpersonal relationships, but everything they go on to do. And so that's why, you know, we'll, we'll talk about this, I'm sure that's why we're writing right now. We're fighting right now to make sure that we keep, uh, all of that, uh, progress and keep, uh, moving forward. Um, we definitely don't want to lose any of that progress, don't want to go backward. And we've been really pleased to see in 2017 more and more and more people stepping up, uh, to send a message that we want to keep moving forward.
Jennie: On to the other side, which is the bad news. In 2010, we saw kind of Republican waves sweep state houses. And so that really meant in 2011 we saw a lot of anti reproductive health, particularly antiabortion abortion legislation passed in the states. Can we talk a little bit about what kind of, what has that meant to women's ability to act or anyone's ability to access reproductive health care at the state level?
Jacqueline: Yes, as we have made a lot of gains that we've talked about, all of that progress that's been made, the opponents and those who are against reproductive health have made a lot of strides, particularly in the states as you note and two key areas. Um, they really have been focused on rolling back access to programs and providers that provide reproductive health care services. So we have far too many examples on that time, same time period we're discussing 2011. Where states have tried to put restrictions on the participation of abortion providers in programs like Medicaid, but not just Medicaid. We've seen state breast and cervical cancer screening programs, healthy moms programs kick out abortion providers and particularly Planned Parenthood. HIV AIDS programs. Really daunting to think about as we want to keep making progress. They have worked to seek to take back the providers that particularly low income people have relied on in some key states. And Planned Parenthood along with our partners, the Center for Reproductive Rights and ACLU, um, have continued to litigate in a lot of those states. And courts are increasingly becoming the backstop to protect people's access. The second large area and trend that we've seen in the states is that there are far too many states who are still attacking access to abortion. And so not only they are taking the providers away, they're limiting, uh, you know, uh, women's access to their constitutional right to an abortion. Um, and we see this in a lot of different ways. The trends in the last few years have been to go after the method of abortion or type of abortion that's available. And so we see things like a restrictions on 20 a week bans or a restrictions on the decisions women are making. The decisions and reason why women are choosing abortion.
New Speaker: Or we see them, uh, try to limit abortion through what's called a TRAP law. So lots of acronym, but that's a targeted restriction of an abortion provider. The TRAP laws are really designed to put up barriers for the abortion provider. So everything from a requiring unnecessary admitting privileges at an emergency center, uh, at a hospital for preventing a provider from being able to cross state lines. Uh, lots of, uh, of these kinds of things. Were, as you noted, over 300 of those have actually not just been introduced but have passed thanks to our friends at the Guttmacher institute. We are regularly tracking of those things. The numbers unfortunately keep getting bigger and that's why we were so pleased to see, uh, just last year when the Center for Reproductive Rights, uh, represented Whole Women's Health, an abortion provider in the state of Texas who decided to, uh, pursue, uh, all the way to the Supreme Court, a challenge to those laws. And the Supreme Court, we were also so pleased, relieved all of those things to see that. And for, um, folks who may not know the Whole Women's Health, um, decision really scrutinize the, the court scrutinized the allegations from the state that they were passing these laws to benefit women's health. And, and this, and the, and the Supreme Court thankfully did find that the, these laws actually were a burden on women's access to their constitutional rights. And so, uh, we all celebrated and stood on the steps of the Supreme Court cheering day. That was a very fun day to, uh, be a part of a, a really a moment of history of, um, after all of this time, the reality is is that Roe v Wade and access to abortion continues to be very popular. Seven in 10 Americans Support Roe v Wade. And yet these are politically unpopular things that many states continue to pursue. And we were pleased to see that it was, that was upheld and, um, now so much work is going on to protect that, that win in courts and continue, uh, to make sure that women have access to abortion.
Jennie: Yeah. All of these restrictions are real burdensome on women and make it really hard for women to access services or whether it's making them wait longer and make two visits. But the TRAP laws just seemed so much so pernicious because they meant that there was no clinic to go to if it closed the clinic. And so all the other things were a horrible inconvenience and really bad restrictions and shouldn't exist. But if you closed the clinic, you're really limiting women's ability to access a service they want or need.
Jacqueline: That's the goal, right? We actually know that, um, anti abortion organizations, advocacy organizations, and elected officials on the other side of this issue have really put a lot of effort in not allowing Whole Women's Health to stand for what it means even after the Supreme Court decision. The next legislative session, um, in states, saw far too many of these same kinds of laws continuing to pass. So they didn't learn their lesson and they're not listening to the Supreme Court, unfortunately. Um, and so, uh, for Planned Parenthood, we're really proud to continue to litigate cases in places like Texas and Missouri that continue to pass these really restrictive laws. There's a, um, a young woman who was a grad student, um, shared her story, uh, in the state of Missouri by saying, you know, when these kinds of laws pass, in the case of Missouri, it was an additional requiring, an additional waiting period that ask women to make multiple hour trips, hundreds of miles coming back, not once, but twice. Um, and requiring them to see the same provider, uh, for both of those visits. Um, so you can imagine if there's, uh, struggles with transportation, your work schedule, babysitting for your children to having to figure out how to get, uh, the transportation and be able to schedule and see the same provider for a visit. You know, we, we hear from these patients and in Missouri, uh, media, one patient decided that, you know, share her story and said, this is not just about they're... they're making that decision for me when they, the state of Missouri steps in and makes those decisions that are harming my ability to take care of the kids I already have, the ability to go to work and put food on my table. It all because I have made a choice that's right for me and my family, um, at this time that really should be private. Um, and so we continue and I think many of, uh, folks on this side continue to really push the message to these have to be private decisions. We don't stand in the shoes of these women. Elected officials, certainly don't stand in their shoes and are not doctors. Um, so they shouldn't be passing these restrictive laws. So we're just really pleased to, uh, to continue standing in the courts, um, continue fighting back in the courts, uh, because that's really what, right now with hostile legislators, hostile congress and a hostile administration, we find ourselves in an environment where increasingly the courts are going to be important to protect that constitutional right.
Jennie: Well, I think that it sounds like the perfect time to switch to the current atmosphere and the Trump/Pence administration. So there've been a lot of large targets on women's health. Um, I think let's start with the one that really got the furthest this year, which was trying to repeal the ACA. And I know there were lots of versions of the health care bill, um, including kind of the one that stuck into the tax code. But let's talk about a little bit, but what that would mean for women, if any of these have passed. Jacqueline: I want to first just reflect on the fact of why it didn't happen. And I think that because there is amazing amount of outpouring, people did not stay quiet. They very, very immediately, we saw folks who were willing to call their elected officials daily. Go see their elected officials, send emails, making sure that they were holding community conversations, talking to their neighbors about these issues. At Planned Parenthood, at, we brought patients to Washington DC multiple times to talk about the attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And many folks may recall we began 2017 the speaker of the house, Paul Ryan, pledged very early in the Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act and to so-called defund Planned Parenthood. That was their agenda. That's what they set out to do. Uh, as we approached the end of 2017, they have not been able to accomplish any of their agenda, and that's just a huge testament to the amount of people who, uh, paid attention, got involved, spoke out and pushed back. And that resistance and that leadership and being able to persist all throughout the years is in fact why we still have the gains that we have.
Jacqueline: So yeah, what, what you just asked is exactly right. They, they said they were going to take away health care and we saw, I believe four different versions of legislation move forward. It was like a zombie bill, we joked. Because it kept coming back and coming back every time we thought that it was dead or they didn't have the votes in March. And then they try it again in May and they passed the House in May and then in June the senate had a lot of stops and starts and bills that were introduced. Um, and ultimately we know they didn't have, have the votes. A lot of people recall that moment in time because on, on that late, early morning in, in June, late June, Senator McCain put a thumbs down indicating he was going to be a no vote, uh, and ultimately sinking the bill. But at Planned Parenthood, we like to remind folks, John McCain couldn't have had that opportunity if at first two women, brave women, senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska hadn't already come out and express them and that they were opposed. And so the, those women spoke out against what that bill would've meant for taking away Medicaid expansion in their state. And they were consistently strong on what it would have meant to eliminate the participation of Planned Parenthood out of the Medicaid program. Which would've meant to 2.4 million patients just would have not been able to choose the provider of choice anymore. So, uh, we like to believe, uh, you know, a lot of, uh, why that bill could not be successful. No bill could be successful. Um, if they tried to take away people's access to their provider of choice. And, and we did that because there were so many people speaking out and, and making sure that their senators heard them so that that bill failed for now. But uh, we stand watching for any and future attempts to try to uh, return to that effort to repeal the ACA.
Jennie: Yeah. Uh, you know, we often hear the term we're going to defund Planned Parenthood and that's a huge target that speaker Ryan has had and a lot of the GOP has had. And I think people seem to think that, you know, at the every year someone comes to Planned Parenthood and is like, here, here's all this money, do what you want with it. And that's not really what happens. Let's talk a little bit about what defunding of Planned Parenthood is, and what would it mean? Because they also are like, there are these other providers that can do it all these federally qualified health centers. Don't mind that this one's a dentist.
Jacqueline: That's exactly right. It's a complete misnomer when you hear the term defund Planned Parenthood. In fact, elected officials who are on different side of this issue frequently say we cannot be giving federal money to Planned Parenthood. So let's just talk about what that really means, right? What that really means is that Planned Parenthood is just like any other health care provider, provides a service to a low income patient who is on Medicaid, who has chosen their provider that they want to go to and get services. And then we are reimbursed for those services. So yes, you're correct. We are not publisher's clearing house. There's not a large check that comes in, is delivered from the federal government. In fact, if you open up a and want to dig into the weeds of the federal budget and look at the budget and how it's written and put together, there's no line item in there for Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is reimbursed for services provided through the Medicaid program. And, um, with that we are serving 2.4 billion people every year for, uh, services related to birth control, STI testing and treatment, annual cancer screenings, uh, everything that, uh, you need for as we, when we talked about earlier, for your well woman visit. And we are playing really an outsized role within the safety net, um, health care. And we often do hear a lot of myths about the term defunding Planned Parenthood, as you noted. We will hear the reference to a lot of other providers can provide these services. Um, we know that, uh, when they've tried it at the state level, a lot of the courts have asked states, come forward, tell us who these other providers are. Show us a list. And it sounds funny, but it's real that some of these lists that states have brought forward had included like a dentist, prisons, right? I don't know about any of your listeners, but I certainly would not turn to my dentist for my birth control. And so those dentists are not going to be prepared to receive your need for birth control.
Jacqueline: So the reality is is that, uh, you don't have to take, you know, Planned Parenthood's word for it. A lot of the, uh, federally qualified health centers in local communities everywhere from Alaska to Wisconsin. Um, we heard, uh, people coming out and say, look, for my community, that's just not the case. I actually rely on Planned Parenthood to be a part of the health care system. And in fact, I refer patients to Planned Parenthood. If a federally community, a federally qualified health center maybe doesn't provide all forms of birth control, maybe doesn't have a provider on hand who can give the same counseling and information, it is not uncommon for them to refer their patient to a Planned Parenthood for that expertise, nonjudgmental health care about their birth control. Medical providers, which I certainly am not will tell you, it takes a lot of expertise. It takes knowledge and information on how to insert a IUD and having access to LARCs and someone who can explain to you how that LARC is going to work and when you need to have followup and what to expect. You want to have quality care. And so if one doctor you trust, says, hey, I trust for you to go to Planned Parenthood, um, you, that's what exactly what women are doing. Um, and we know that all of this misinformation, the, a lot of the debate, um, around the ACA repeal this year and defunding Planned Parenthood was a lot of misinformation that was put forward. So we're so thankful to the millions of people who spoke up, wrote, wrote their member, picked up the phone.
Jacqueline: There was a one one study done that said 80% of the calls made during that time of the ACA were made by women. Um, women knew a lot of times women are, you know, making the decisions for their families, economic decisions and health care decisions. No surprise that when elected officials were moving in an unpopular direction to take away health care, their phones were lit up by women who were saying, please don't, don't do this. And that wasn't, again, it's not a partisan issue. Planned Parenthood talked to a lot of Trump voters, and did polls of Trump voters who nearly 50% said they do not support defunding Planned Parenthood. Um, because you really do understand if you're a low income person who does not have a lot of options and places to turn for your basic health care, you're not looking for a dentist, you're looking for somebody who can give you that expertise and that care. And so obviously the healthcare fight was one that, uh, was quickly moving through this year and got stopped. Again, not once, but four different times and four different bills. And currently they're, you know, looking, uh, the congress is looking to move, uh, tax reform legislation and efforts. And you would think, what do taxes have to do with reproductive health care? We thought, nothing. I think nothing, we would think nothing. But we see that their appetite to continue to attack reproductive health care has been unrelenting. And the House actually did insert an antiabortion provision in their bill that would have put forward a legal definition of a unborn child, making an unborn child have the same rights as any other child or any other human to be able to access a college savings plan, uh, without having any tax implications. So very farfetched. Something new, we hadn't seen before. It's a good lesson that, uh, we can't let up for one minute. Um, every vehicle, our health care, um, and our rights are under attack. So, um, we're just really pleased to see that more people are waking up and paying attention to the actions of their elected officials.
Jennie: Um, so one other thing we kind of touched on earlier is that the Trump administration has signaled their intent to switch from the evidence based sex education that um, the Obama administration really championed to abstinence only education or whatever they're calling it now. And what kind of impact does that gonna have on kids?
Jacqueline: We were really surprised, along with our lot, a lot of coalition partners who do this work. And uh, I will say a lot of states who have been relying on this funding that earlier this year the administration sent out a notice of an intention to terminate grants early. So snatching back the money essentially that was provided for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program, where good programs who are using a proven and effective methods of teaching comprehensive sex education were told you have two years or three years or five years to run your program. Now you have to finish by June of 2018. And it wasn't just that. We saw a leaked memo come out of the White House domestic policy council that said all of their sort of wishlist of horribles is what I would call referred to it. But it was a lot of references to eliminating family planning, funding, eliminating teen pregnancy prevention, funding, favoring abstinence education, pushing marriage on young people. And uh, including even telling young people that in adolescents that the preferred method of contraception was natural family planning also now sometimes known as effort, as a, as a rhythm method. So a lot of stepping away from the evidence and the science that we know helped us get to the progress. Uh, so we are waiting to see sort of what the next steps will be from this administration.
Jacqueline: But we only have to look at who are the people that they've put in place. And when you think about the work around abstinence only education, a lot of of what they're doing now includes putting people in place like Valerie Huber, who was an anti sex education activist. She headed the organization known as the National Abstinence Education Association. But currently she works at the US Department of Health and Human Services. And she is the Chief of Staff for, um, the Office of Assistant Secretary of Health and is responsible and taking a leadership role for the implementation of the programs like family planning programs and the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program. So, um, we cannot trust that these folks who are overseeing, um, the key programs that we've worked so hard for are actually going to implement them in a way that are helpful. We know that when you ask a little bit about sort of the, the impact, and what it means when young people have lack of access to full information, um, it means that unfortunately too many young people will have less information about how to make the appropriate decisions for their health care. And could potentially lead to, um, increases, uh, to, uh, his STI or other behaviors. We want to make sure that, um, young people aren't ever put in a position of not having full information. Um, so why that's their position? I don't understand. But, um, we certainly are, uh, uh, watching both the Congress and the administration for how they're going to try and return us to a time when abstinence only until marriage was the method of instruction for young people. So I think young people and, and, and parents and communities are gonna speak out, but certainly it's important for your show and, and others like this to continue to raise awareness about this. I don't think enough people know the direction that they want to head.
Jennie: Yeah, no, I think that's true. I think that that's got, got some attention when it first happened, but it's quickly faded away among the list of all the many other things we need to pay attention to. I think we'll switch to now how I want to end all of my shows, which is a, okay, now we know all of the horrible things that are happening. What can we do? What can people do to fight back? What steps can people take?
Jacqueline: Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, since day one, this administration and this Congress have put women and our issues in the cross hairs and they've been unrelentless in the types of things that they will go after. And so our increased awareness and paying attention to what our elected officials are doing is more critical now than ever. We know that they will roll back safeguards, um, not just for reproductive health care. But for Planned Parenthood patients, we know we live our whole lives as full people who care about a lot of issues. And so whether it's trans transgender issues, LGBTQ rights issues, voting rights, immigrant rights, and the travel ban, there are so many intersectional issues that touch the lives of PlannedPparenthood patients. We want to encourage and give people the platforms they need to be able to, uh, speak up and to organize in their communities. So at Planned Parenthood, one of the things we've done this year is a start a Planned Parenthood defenders program. We have asked people to go online at Planned Parenthood, Action. Uh, and just to be able to sign up. And that gives you an opportunity to get information, um, tool kits, emails, text messages, whatever you prefer. And then gives you the tools to, uh, create a meetup in your community. You could host a fundraiser in your community. You could do a town hall in your community. People actually have been more creative than, than we ever could have imagined. So I, it's been really fun for us at Planned Parenthood, um, not to tell people what to do, but just to give them the tools and let folks go. And they know really what their, what their communities need.
Jacqueline: Shortly after the election, we saw that, you know, people said, 67% of people said, I'm ready to not just pay attention to what my elected officials are doing, but I'm ready to take action. So a call, an email, a text, a tweet to your members of Congress, and they do track those kinds of things. I do want to make sure that folks realize that they are tracking all your calls and your emails. So continue to call every day, particularly when we're in the heat of those big fights. And then, get out and talk to other people in your communities. And we want to make sure that when you go out and march, you leave the march and you have the next thing to do. So that's why, you know, at Planned Parenthood, um, we're doing the defenders program. And then right now we also have the fight for birth control campaign. So #Fight4, the number four, #Fight4BC, um, is where you can go and get more information about how at the state, local and national level you can get involved in protecting that progress that we talked about. Um, and really being a part of that progress. There's just been a tremendous outpouring of people who have woken up and are getting excited. I don't think they're going to get quiet now. Um, they're just going to want to look and continue to do more and more things. Um, so we are really encouraging people to do everything, including some who have told us that, hey, I took my first action. I flew to Washington DC, I talked to an elected official, I went back, I got involved in my community. And a woman named Laura in Kenosha, Wisconsin said to us, and now I'm thinking about running for office. So that's really ultimately what will change, uh, how all of these decisions get made is when voters are holding their elected officials accountable. So, um, we want to make sure that people have all the tools to do that.
Jennie: And we'll make sure to include all of that stuff on our show notes page so people can get links. So any links you guys have, we'll make sure to include them so that people can easily access all of your great resources. Thank you, Jacqueline, for being here with me. I really appreciate you joining me for my first episode. Jacqueline: Thank you so much for having me and congratulations. Jennie: Thank you. Thanks for listening. If you have any topics you would like to see us cover, please feel free to reach out at Jennie, and that's J E N N I E@reprosfightback.com or you can reach out to us on Facebook and Twitter. And let us know if you have any topics you'd like us to explore or people that you would like to hear us talk to. Thanks for listening. Hope you enjoyed the first episode.
Jennie: For more information, including show notes from this episode and previous episodes, please visit our website reprosfightback.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at rePROs Fight Back. If you like our show, please help others find it by sharing it with your friends and subscribing, rating and reviewing us on iTunes. Thanks for listening.