Drama Queens - Work in Progress: Kamala Harris

Episode Date: October 3, 2024

There's a lot at stake in this election, including women's access to healthcare. Sophia, a long-standing advocate for reproductive healthcare, shares her conversations about reproductive rights with Vice President Kamala Harris from 2022 at Bryn Mawr College and 2024's "Fight for Reproductive Freedoms" tour. The discussions center on the fight for the freedom of every American to make decisions about their own bodies, how we got here, and who these attacks affect the most.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Welcome back to Work in Progress. I am really excited to bring you a special episode today. It's no secret to any of you who lives in this country or is engaging in what is happening in this country that our rights are under attack. These conversations we're having are about our autonomy, about science, medicine, and health care, certainly. And they're also incredibly personal because they're about pregnancy, pregnancy loss, miscarriage, and abortion.

And so I just want to offer a trigger warning to anyone. If these are sensitive subjects for you, I hope you can stay. to hear from the VP, but if it feels hard or overwhelming, I just wanted to give you a warning and, of course, say, take care of yourself first and foremost. And in the wake of recent tragedies, namely the death of Amber Nicole Thurman in Georgia, a young mother with a six-year-old son who went into the hospital needing a DNC and was not treated. She was held in the hospital for 20 hours until she went into septic shock. And by the time doctors operas, on her. It was too late. The sepsis had gone too far, and she passed away. And she's not the only one.

Women in this country are dying because of the abortion bans that have been instituted across the country by Donald Trump and his Supreme Court judges. And seeing medical boards say with absolute conviction, these deaths were preventable, but these women were killed because doctors are absolutely terrified to do their duties, to follow their Hippocratic Oaths and to save lives because the Republican Party in America is threatening to jail them for providing health care. I am apoplectic and heartbroken, and I've decided to dig into the archives today for you because a lot of people have said, how could this have happened? They said this wouldn't happen. They said it would never get this bad. And I say,

this with no pride. I say this with extreme sadness. Those of us who have been fighting these issues have been screaming from the rooftops that this would happen. We were called hysterical. We were told we were overreacting and we weren't. We're killing people in our country because of politics and it's devastating. And when I'm devastated, I look to the ones who give me hope and one of the people who's given me hope as a Californian for many years in many elected offices is Kamala Harris. Our vice president has been incredible as my state's attorney general as a United States senator. And as the vice president, she has centered women and families in her policy. She has chosen to advocate on behalf of our rights, understanding that our liberty is bound

together for women, for black women, for pregnant women, for the LGBTQ community, for trans folks, our autonomy is being attacked. And over the last couple of years, I've had the incredible privilege of traveling the country with the vice president on her reproductive freedoms tour. She has taken time out of her schedule regularly to meet with people in every state to talk about what's at stake here. And in 2022, I was lucky enough to travel with her. to Brynmar College. And in 2024, I was able to visit San Jose with her. And her team has graciously sent us the audio from those interviews. And we have decided to cut it into an election special for all of you today because in my mind, there is just no greater fight. We can't fight about the

economy if we're not alive. We can't better our schools if our children are parentless. We can't change America for the better and continue to create more access to freedom and empowerment and opportunity for people if we're not alive. So let's take a little journey through the last two years with Vice President Kamala Harris and understand why this fight is so personal to her. For this first section of audio, you will be coming into the auditorium at Brinmar College with myself and Vice President Harris on October 28th, 2022. At this event, we were joined by Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlan, by Admiral Rachel Levine, and a number of other exceptional leaders all standing up for our rights. This is a razor's edge moment in our country.

It is such an incredible, tenuous moment in this fight for our rights, rights that we have long considered to be settled law, and I'm very curious how, with the plethora of issues, Madam Vice President, that you face in the administration every day, how have you dedicated so much time to championing this issue, and why does it matter to you so much? Let's start with, from childhood. So, you see, I was raised, my sister and I were raised by a mother who had two goals in her life to raise her two daughters and to end breast cancer. My mother was a breast cancer researcher. And she was one of the very few women as a scientist and certainly one of the fewest women of

color. And she would come home at night, you know, I remember vividly, very upset sometimes about how women were being treated in the health care system. She was always speaking up and fighting for the dignity of women in the health care system. And in particular, as it relates to reproductive health, I mean, a word, a phrase that was often spoken at the dinner table from my childhood on was mammary gland. My mother would talk about mammary glands. She would talk about hormones. She would talk about reproductive health care about how women should be treated in a way, that gives them not only a dignity that they rightly are due, but also information so that they can

exercise self-determination in the system. And so that's, you know, so from the earliest stage, and then the majority of my career before joining the Senate was as a prosecutor. And when I was a courtroom prosecutor, my specialty throughout those years was on crimes affecting women and children in crimes of violence. In fact, I specialized in some of the most horrible cases that you can imagine. And again, it was always about fighting for the dignity, the safety, and the well-being of women in so many of those circumstances. But to your point, I mean, look where we are. The highest court in our land, the United States Supreme Court just took a constitutional right that had been recognized

from the people of America, from the women of America. And you know, on this subject, I think it's important to note that one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be making this decision for her. But what we are now seeing as a result of the Dobbs decision,

there are laws that are being proposed and passed around our country that would criminalize health care providers, literally doctors, nurses, other health care providers send them to jail. You know, as a practicing attorney, what the consequence of that is, both in terms of, I think, the intent to intimidate and instill fear in these health care professionals, much less, the intent to punish them, what is happening with no exception for rape or incest. And again, I go back to my professional career.

You're talking about individuals who in those cases have experienced the worst kind of act of violence and violation to their body. And then these extremist so-called leaders would dare to say and suggest, that that individual, furthermore, will not have the right to make decisions about what comes next as it relates to their body. This is immoral. It's unconscionable. And they walk around and want to be hailed as leaders of their whatever. That's not what a leader does. That's not what a leader does. Not what a true leader does.

So this issue, it really does relate to a lot of work that I've done in the past. And I feel a great sense of commitment as do we all to stand up and speak out about it. And not only does row falling threaten our bodily autonomy, but it threatens every other right that has been considered settled law under our 14th Amendment right to liberty. We are now seeing attacks on access to contraception. 96% of Republicans just voted against it. So they don't want us to be able to not get pregnant, and they also want us to stay pregnant. Interesting. We see attacks on marriage. We see attacks on our right to privacy. There was a movement that was started by people, generations of

ago that culminated in Roe v. Wade, it is now incumbent on us who are under this roof together right now to pick that movement up and to carry it forward. And when we think about the history of the greatest movements in our country that were about progress, progress being defined as an expansion of rights, not a restriction of rights. The greatest movements that have been about that kind of progress, the key ingredient has been the coalition that was built around those movements. So when I think about it, and this is what we talked about with the legislators in Pennsylvania, is because at that table, and there were so many leaders there who represent in their history of work and in their constituencies,

all these groups or a collection of them. And let's see the power that we have right now to empower folks who right now are being made to lose their rights or to have to fight for their rights. Well, then let's fight together. I strongly believe nobody should be made to fight alone. And it isn't lost on any of us that this rhetoric that you speak about, this division, we're witnessing half of our political system, if not more, create chaos by othering.

We're seeing rhetoric across the country that reminds us of what led to World War II, We're seeing the demonization of women and doctors and people who need care. We're seeing attacks on the LGBTQ community and our trans communities. And what I think when you speak about coalition building, the thing I try to remember is that if they're pushing us into the space where they want us to look at each other as other, where they want us to be triggered by the fear of scarcity, the fear of not enoughness,

all we have to remember, for those of us who love math and Venn diagrams, love that about you, is that we have data on our side now that we didn't have 100 years ago. We know if we just pick one of these issues, if we could create pay parity simply on the gender line, if we snapped our fingers and women were paid what men are paid in this country, and this is data from 2018, so it might be better now, our GDP would increase by 12 points.

So we're not fighting over the pieces of, the pie, if we create equity, the pie gets bigger. We all do better. Our liberty is bound together. If we protect the rights of vulnerable groups, each of us in our own vulnerabilities is better protected. And that is something I think the administration has been doing a very incredible job at continuing to highlight and repeat across all of these issues. And I'm curious, How, as you traveled to states and take part in meetings like this and see what people are doing to fight back, how do you look at within the Biden-Harris administration the sort of umbrella of the whole nation and figure out how to fight back? How does the administration really figure out both the specific state-by-state action and the kind of national policy?

well so we can talk about in the broader issue how do we address some of the inequities that you have rightly pointed out and and equity is one of the principles by which we have approached all of our work and you know and let's be clear what does equity mean right it's different from equality right equity is about understanding not everybody starts out on the same base right equal would mean everyone gets the same amount. Well, but if everyone doesn't start out in the same base, the inequities are still going to exist, right? And so, you know, if you just give equal, you have to recognize the inequities and then give people an equal opportunity to compete. I imagine that since Dobbs, you must be hearing from women and families who are going through

things that are unspeakable. And I wonder how. how you carry their stories, you know, into your office. I wonder how you carry those stories into the White House. These are the people who we are trying to advocate for, right? So how does that affect you personally as you go out to lead? I will tell you, there's a lot of fear in our country right now. And, in fact, prop number two, I only have two. But it actually is quite serious as an issue.

So here's a map of the United States. And the colors here represent the different laws or the state of affairs in each of the states. So one of these colors is abortion banned from conception with no exceptions. One is banned from conception with an exception for rape or incest. There's another that is, let's see, a six-week ban, there's a 15-week ban, there's an 18-week ban, there's a 20, you see what I'm saying. This is the map of the United States. in terms of the state of affairs right now, which tells us a lot of people are really confused. And what I know happens when folks are confused is it is then an environment that is ripe

from misinformation, disinformation, and predatory behaviors. So one of the reasons that what we are doing this afternoon is important is to, uplift and then send out accurate information about the rights that people have and where they can go for help. Because there's another issue that is very much at play here that I think has to also be spoken, which is the long-standing judgment associated with women's sexuality. So understand that. Understand that, right? So what is happening is that in this environment, it's also thick with judgment,

which has the effect of making the individual feel embarrassed or is meant to shame her, but certainly will make her feel alone, which is one of the greatest tools that anyone has when they want to take someone's power. So we're looking at a situation where there are people all over our country who right now are feeling very alone, very confused,

and in that way, feeling helpless. And that is another person. piece of this that is so insidious about what is happening right now in our country. And it is why, especially to the students who are here, I ask you to please use all of the creative ways that you have to communicate with large numbers of people, to remind people they are not alone, to remind people they are not being judged, to remind them that we stand with them and that there is so much support for them. We have to recognize all of the layers of what is happening right now because there are very powerful forces in our country who are using the

bully pulpit they have to make people afraid, to make people feel small, and literally to criminalize and punish people for exercising self-determination. And so this is a moment for all good people to stand and speak. Hi, friends, I hope you're enjoying this conversation with Vice President Harris. step back in in 2024 in San Jose, California, where I got to sit at a large event with the VP and talk about how the landscape changed over the last two years. Some facts that I think you all should have in hand are that the Trump abortion bans have eliminated some or all abortion care in 22 states in this country. Total bans are in effect in 14 states. Four states have

six-week bans in place, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, South Carolina. Two states have 12-week bans in place, North Carolina and Nebraska, and two states have 15-18-week bans in place, Arizona and Utah. We did, I will say recently, have some success. A hard-fought legal battle in Arizona that was combined with very heroic efforts from state legislatures repealed the state's pre-row abortion ban. That was a law, by the way, from 1864. when we knew nothing that we know today about medicine. And that's what they thought should govern our bodily autonomy. Thankfully, we've beat it back, but the fights still continue state by state.

One thing that I do want to highlight for you all is that at six weeks, most women don't know they're pregnant. And a lot of these laws have been passed based on false information that is meant to emotionally manipulate us. They call these six-week bands heartbeat bans. there is no such thing as a heart beat at six weeks. The gestational tissue of a fetus has not formed a heart yet. You are actually hearing the electrical pulses from a mother's body that move through her blood supply into her uterus. It's not lost on me that they want to sentence women to death if they have pregnancy complications because of their own heartbeats. This is what we're up against.

Additional states have gestational limits in place beyond 20 weeks. Unfortunately, we all know that most abortions that happen after 20 weeks happen due to fetal anomalies. They happen due to catastrophic and sad loss that families are facing. And since these bans have gone into place, we have seen infant mortality increase in some states by horrific, horrific percentages. And while the former president Donald Trump might be touring the country stating that he is proud to have overturned Roe v. Wade because, quote, everyone wanted this. I don't think everyone in Texas wanted to see maternal mortality rise to 56% compared with an 11% rise nationwide during the period that Roe v. Wade was overturned. I don't think that infant mortality rising by over 8% across the country because mothers are being forced to carry fetuses with fatal anomalies to term is what, quote, everybody wanted. But here we are.

And I want to be very clear with our listeners that Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, along with their draconian plans under Project 2025, have a plan for him to radically alter the American government and end abortion access nationwide on day one using every single lever that they can, even without Congress. They have printed this plan. This is not hearsay. this is not hysteria, they put it on the internet, guys, it's there. So no matter what he goes out there and says about being pro fertilization, that made me want to vomit, his party has voted against IVF not once but twice. You need to watch what he does and what the GOP do as a voting block, not what he says and not what they say. You cannot trust them on campaign statements, but you can trust their

records on abortion. No matter how you feel about it, we're all allowed to have feelings and beliefs that we adhere to in our own lives, but our feelings and beliefs cannot govern policy. They cannot govern medical science. At no point in any person's pregnancy is a politician more qualified to make decisions about your health than you and your doctor. We have to be really clear on our language here, and we have to be really clear about the goals of the right. They knew that abortion bans would kill women, and they are. They knew that abortion bans would harm families, and they are. And we have to be frank, as Sarah Jones says, that when abortion bans kill, they reveal their true purpose, which is to grant a handful of extremists, the power over the lives

and deaths of American women. When we take into account that nearly one in three women will experience sexual violence or physical violence in their lifetime, and that many of these state's bans make no exceptions for rape or incest, it gets worse. One thing I want to alert you all to, friends, is that these anti-abortion, these anti-reproductive freedom groups are signaling their intent to enforce a really terrifying law. It's radical. It's called the Comstock Act, and they are specifically and on purpose misinterpreting that act to further restrict access to abortion and contraception. Just so you all know, you can do your research here. The Comstock Act is an 1800s law about controlling people's sex lives that was passed before

women could vote. And that's how they want us all to live if they win. These attacks are going to have consequences with ripple effects in every single state across the country. And they share the same goal, banning abortion nationwide and making sexual and reproductive health care inaccessible. They want to deny you the right to be a parent should you want to needing IVF. They want to deny you the right to not be a parent yet should you want to using birth control. These are terrifying control mechanisms. And while these extreme Supreme Court justices may have felt confident to publish that they believe we need a quote, domestic supply of infants and quote, in their reasoning for overturning dobs, I don't exactly think any of us signed up to be breeders for a future American

against our will. This is an attack on us, and this is an attack that goes so far beyond just the question of abortion, but to reproductive health care in general. They are coming for birth control. They are coming for IVF. Republicans have voted down a bill that would protect IVF twice this year. They just voted down a bill that would protect our access to contraception, and their presidential candidate is out campaigning on taking contraception away from us. This election is about two different visions for the future of America. One is a vision where everyone gets more free and has more rights and more access to all things, not just health care, but economic opportunity. And the other is a draconian control mechanism to create an oligarchy and the rest of us just have to suffer in it.

We are in a crisis point. And I got to speak about that exact crisis point with the vice president in San Jose in 2024. I mean, how cool is this? Before we get into serious business, I just personally want to extend a thank you. We did this for the first time having a conversation like this one two years ago on a college campus across the country. And day in and day out, while you are in the position to hold the issues of the world, you keep our rights a top issue in the administration and in the White House. and on behalf of all women and potentially pregnant people ever,

I just want to thank you. Thank you, Sophie. Okay, so we are in a moment as a nation, and I'm curious from your vantage point how you see it and why you have decided to lead this fight for reproductive freedoms tour. Yeah. Well, first of all, it's great to be with you, Sophia, and thank you for sharing the stage

and for using your voice. The topic for today, here, is the topic of what has happened in our country after the Dobbs decision, which took away the right of people to make decisions about their own body and has resulted in extreme harm. And so I'm going to get back to the issue because it's an important one, and we should not be distracted from any important issue. So what we're talking about, What we're looking at in these states, for example, that have made no exception even for rape or incest.

Now, many of you, this is my, I grew up in California in the Bay Area, many of you know my career. So you know that I started my career as a prosecutor. What you may not know is one of the biggest reasons why. When I was in high school, one of my closest friends, one of my best friends, I learned was being molested by her stepfather. And when I learned, I said to her, you have to come and stay with us. I called my mother and my mother said, of course she does. And she came to stay with us. And I decided at a very early age, I wanted to do everything I could to protect women and children from harm.

And I specialized for a long time in my career as a prosecutor, including when I was working as AG, on crimes affecting women and children. No exception even for rape or incest. Let's understand what that means. It means that these so-called leaders are saying to a survivor of a crime of violence to their body, a violation to their body, that they don't have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body next. That's immoral. This is what's happening around our country. So when we talk about the layers of harm, be it harm to our democracy, harm to our constitution,

harm to our freedoms and our rights, and we then understand the real harm that also exists every day for individuals who are being denied the health care they need. It's extraordinary, and for that reason I know we all are approaching this. with a sense, yes, of empathy and understanding, but also profound commitment with a sense of urgency to do something about it to end the pain and the suffering that is happening right now in real time in our country. And so that's the issue as much as anything. And the way that we are going to ultimately deal with this is to, one, have some consensus. which I do believe exist, which is that one does not have to abandon their faith

or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body. If she chooses, if she chooses, she will consult with her pastor, her priest, her rabbi, her imam, but not the government telling her what to do. And so we need this November to elect a majority of people in the United States Congress

who simply agree is not the government's right to tell a woman what's in her own best interest when she knows what's in her own best interest and doesn't need some person walking around with a flagpin to tell her what to do. When extremism comes home to roost, whether it's here in America or around the world, it's women and girls who suffer worst. And it can feel overwhelming to try to hold all of these issues. I know for me as a citizen, I look to you, and I can't imagine the pressure you feel with all of us looking to you going, tell us what to do. But one of the things that you often encourage us to do when we feel helpless in the face of global. suffering and of the suffering of women and girls and at-risk people is to get involved locally. That's why you're here on a local tour with us talking about this issue while you

daily hold all the rest of them. And I'm curious for those of us who, you know, don't get the binders in the briefings, what should we be doing in our states and what can we encourage our states to do and what can states do across the nation to fight back and protect our reproductive freedoms? That's great. So I'll start with this. Part of the environment in which this issue exists is an environment that is heavily laden with judgment, suggesting to these individuals, suggesting to these women that they've done something wrong and something they should be embarrassed about. And understand then the layers that come along with that, that include making her feel as though she's alone. And as we know, one of the things that can be most disempowering is when people feel they're alone.

When they feel they don't have community, much less support, when they feel they're being judged and outcast as opposed to embrace. And so this is the power of each of us as individuals in a community, in a society, on every level, including this one, which is to think about how you use the way that you talk with people, be it, you know, mom peg, I see you hear my mother-in-law's here, that's going to be by the telephone or text or social media. but the ways that we can talk with people, friends and strangers about the issue, to remind them about what's at stake and the harm that is happening every day. I have seen, as I am traveling the country on this issue, I've seen the power of that communication. I have met with people who started, especially before the Dobbs decision came down and were vehement that they were opposed to abortion and who have not abandoned. and in their faith and whatever reason it is for why they feel that way and strongly about themselves and their family, but also didn't know and weren't aware of the suffering that would happen as a result. And now knowing the suffering that is happening are reconsidering their

position in terms of the policy of it all, the policy being to deny other people a decision to make that very important decision for themselves and not the government telling them. So the power of communication on this is very important. I think there's also another thing that is at play on so many issues in our country, which is, if you will, I think a certain thing that is quite perverse that is being pushed by some so-called leaders, which is to suggest that the measure of the strength of the leader is based on who you beat down instead of who you. lift up. Right? You know, there's a thing happening that suggests that to care about people

somehow is a sign of weakness. When we all know that one of the great characteristics and character of real leadership is the character that has some level of concern, curiosity, and compassion about the suffering of other people and then wants to do something about alleviating that suffering. So the work that needs to be done over these next 10 months includes using

our voices to really help people understand how this is affecting people in real time because there's nothing abstract about this issue. There's nothing hypothetical about it. It does not require and it absolutely deserves more than some kind of intellectual

political debate. It requires action. This is a crisis. You're absolutely right. And I'm just curious, can you walk us through who's responsible for this? Because this was an intentional crisis. Indeed. And you've mentioned that the Supreme Court overturned Roe, but can we just cover how we got to that point? I think we should. I think we should, too. Feels appropriate to tell some truth. So, the former president of the United States hand-picked hand-picked

three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo row. Let's be very

clear about it and he has been very clear that that is exactly what he intended. Just take him at his

word. Take him at his word when he said recently he's proud of what he did.

And I asked proud? I'm going at Christine Pelosi. I ask, proud, proud that doctors might go to jail for giving health care? Proud that women are having miscarriages without any health care that they need? Proud that fundamental freedoms have been taken from the American people. to understand the arrogance that is associated with the taking and then what we are up against.

And so this is why we know what is before us and the fight that is before us. This is a fight that is fundamental. And it is fundamentally about freedom, freedom, the freedom to make decisions about your own. own body and understand as we step back there is and I travel our country there is a foot a full on intent to attack hard fought hard won freedoms in our country just look at what is happening look at what is happening with a don't say gay bill okay so now let me I will

remind my fellow Californians in 2004, actually Valentine's weekend, 2004, so it'll be 20 years. I was proud to be one of the first elected officials in the country to perform same-sex marriages. Almost 20 years ago. A don't say gay bill. So imagine this. So 20 years ago. so this means that some young teacher in Florida is afraid to put up a photograph of themselves and their partner for fear they may be fired for doing what for doing the God's gift to all of us to vow themselves to teach other people's children

as it is they don't get paid enough in 24 we're looking at a tax on the LGBTQ community in 2024 we're looking at a tax on the freedom to vote and access to the ballot I was just in Georgia

you know they passed a law in Georgia to make it illegal to give people food and water while they stand in line to vote what happened to love thy neighbor I mean the hypocrisy abound the kinds of freedoms that are under attack in America right now.

And I would offer, you know, I asked my team to create a Venn diagram for me. I love Venn diagrams. And, you know, whenever you're kind of looking at something complex, a Venn diagram can usually help you out. And the overlap then, right, between where we're seeing the attacks against voting rights, where we're seeing the attacks against LGBTQ, where they're seeing the attacks against reproductive freedom, and you would not be shocked to see the profound intersection between them.

So this also, then I say, as we organize and think about these next many months, is an opportunity to rededicate ourselves, not only to community building, but as an extension of that coalition building. Let's bring together all the folks who've been fighting for voting rights, all the folks who've been fighting for LGBTQ rights, all the folks who have been fighting for reproductive health rights, including maternal health rights and maternal mortality fighting against that, right? By the way, on that issue, Sophia, so I've also been doing a lot of work over many years

on the issue of combating maternal mortality. We have, as a so-called developed nation, one of the highest rates of maternal mortality of any nation in the world. It's a crying, shame. And so, again, the hypocrisy abounds. In the states with the top 10 worst numbers on maternal mortality, all have bans. I say to these so-called extremist leaders, okay, so you'd say that your work to ban abortion, ban access to reproductive health care is because you are so concerned about mothers and children, well, why you've been silent on maternal mortality? Where you been? When I became vice president, I issued a challenge to states,

extend Medicaid coverage for postpartum care from what is the standard two months to 12 months. When I started, three states were doing it. Now 43 have done it, right? Right? All these issues are connected. All these issues are connected. It is the nature of our fight for freedoms.

That whatever gains we make, the nature is they will not be permanent. It's just the nature of it. Therefore, understanding that, we must always be vigilant. We must understand how precarious and precious this all is and commit ourselves every day to stand for and fight for these rights and these freedoms. Look, as I like to say, and we all say many times, when we fight, we win.

In this moment when there are people trying to divide our country and distract us from what's important, let's just hold on to each other, look at the person next to you if you don't know them, and just let them know we're all in this together, okay? We're all in this together. Thank you all. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Friends of this podcast, you all are the person sitting next to me right now. We're listening side by side. So I'm looking at you. I see you. I'm voting for you. I root for you. We really are all in this together.

And I think that's one of the most important takeaways from these conversations that I am so lucky to have been able to have with the vice president. And from the years I've spent working on access to reproductive health care, what I've learned. And she talks about this. You know, when those in power want to abuse power for control, one of their greatest mechanisms to do that is, as the vice president and I were talking about earlier, to make you look at people as other. Because if they can make you make you attack the people you view as other. If we are fighting with each other, we won't see that they're actually attacking all of us. These attacks, these bands on care and attacks on reproductive health care continue to disproportionately affect women, black, Latino, and indigenous

communities, young people, people with low incomes, people living in rural communities, and more folks who already have the most difficulty accessing healthcare, including the LGBTQ plus community and really including trans folks. And guys, I would be remiss if I didn't make it incredibly clear here. Racism and sexism fuel each other. And as more women who look like me, more white women who have typically been Republican voters are voting to protect abortion access because their friends are dying. They see these hideous things happening to women and families around the country. the Republicans are scared. So who are they attacking now to continue to popularize attacks on bodily autonomy? They're attacking trans folks because while women are 51% of the population in this country,

trans folks are our smallest and most vulnerable population. We're talking a couple hundred thousand people in a country of 332 million. And the Republicans have put a target on their back because they want you to think restricting someone's bodily autonomy and choices about their life is okay. They're losing ground on the abortion fight. So they are coming for us in hideous ways. They are trying to subvert the votes. They are trying to take these laws that we have put on ballot state to state by signing up, by exercising our due process under the law. They are trying to stop those votes from even being taken this year. So we have to fight again. They are coming at us with Project 2025, they are coming at us with everything they can muster. For what? To cause

harm? To see non-viable pregnancies carried to term so those babies die in their parents' arms to kill women by putting them into septic shock before they'll give them much needed post-abortion or post-miscarriage care? This is barbaric. And I'm hoping that these conversations in which I got to sit down with one of the most powerful people in our country who fights for us can remind you that she's an incredible woman and just a person who's been out here doing this work for decades for us to protect us, to hold the line of progress and democracy. I hope this has encouraged you to get involved. I hope this has encouraged you to vote.

Please vote like your lives depend on it because they probably do. Mine does. And so I'm guessing yours does too. I want better for all of us. And we're in this together. And because I do believe that frank and inclusive conversations about this subject matter are some of the most important conversations we can be having right now, we have a part two to this conversation coming for you. I am so incredibly honored that Amanda Zerowski has taken the time to join us for our next episode of Work and Progress. You likely know Amanda as one of the women who stood up on stage at the DNC and talked about her miscarriage story. Amanda is one of the women who bravely shared her story. Her and her lovely husband Josh had been trying to have a baby

for quite some time. They were finally pregnant for the first time and they tragically suffered a miscarriage. Amanda was denied care at the hospital. She went into septic shock not once but twice, had to fight for her life, has experienced permanent damage to her fertility because of the traumatic life-saving measures that doctors had to take when they finally deemed her sick enough for those doctors to not go to jail for enacting the care that she needed. Amanda stood on stage at the DNC with Caitlin Joshua and Hadley Duval to talk about their experiences with these laws. And I am incredibly honored that she's going to join us for a conversation.