What A Day - Repro Rights Are An Essential Service

Episode Date: April 2, 2020

We talk to acting President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Alexis McGill Johnson about the state of reproductive rights during the pandemic, and the efforts several Republican-governed states have taken to restrict abortion access as part of their coronavirus response. Congress is looking at a Phase 4 deal, which could include infrastructure projects. And the Trump administration will not reopen the ACA marketplace, which would’ve allowed uninsured people and people who recently lost their jobs to easily enroll. And in headlines: Public Enemy pulls this year’s only April Fools prank, T-Mobile eats Sprint, and the FCC might make our Internet faster.

it's thursday april 2nd i'm akilah and i'm gideon resnick and this is what a day coming to you on our 100th episode ever 100 episodes there are so few things i've ever done 100 times i'm glad this was one of them the only other thing i've done 100 times is wash my hands in the last hour so i'm glad that these these two things are aligning. On today's show, we talk with the head of Planned Parenthood about the fight over abortion access during the pandemic, then some headlines. But first, the latest.

The runner is spreading. This s*** is no joke. It's no time to work or run. The way you can fight it is simple, my friends. Just stay the f*** at home. That was Samuel L. Jackson keeping us in line in a way that only he can. If you can, obviously, stay at home. But in news, we learned yesterday that the federal government's stockpile of gowns,

masks, gloves, and other protective equipment is in drastically short supply. Deliveries from FEMA have emptied out the emergency stockpile, leaving governors across the country scavenging for more as everyone competes with each other and price gouging is running rampant. Gideon, what else is going on in the government these days? Man, so there's growing talk around what comes next after that $2 trillion economic relief bill that was passed. That package is viewed as insufficient for any number of reasons. One, that it's not enough to cover people for longer than a few months. And two, that it's not providing enough help quickly enough, which brings us to this phase four deal that's being talked about right now.

Now, it could include an infrastructure plan that would, in theory, generate new jobs. Pelosi is talking about reviving a plan the Democrats had already that would fund roads, bridges, rural broadband, among other things. But now they'd wrap in more funding for community health centers in that broader package. Infrastructure projects have long been a promise from Trump. It was one of the big ones from the 2016 campaign that he has just not been able to deliver on. It's been a running joke. But in this new reality where people are responding to an environment that they haven't seen before, anything is possible. That's right. You know, infrastructure week. Every week is infrastructure week if you don't change anything. All right. So, yeah, the current relief package definitely includes a bunch of

hurdles for people to get their benefits. We mentioned some of them, but what's the update there? Yeah, it's been a challenge, especially around those $1,200 stimulus checks, which were one of the main features of it. For instance, the Trump administration was requiring that Americans on Social Security file a new tax return to get that money, which is difficult for millions who don't file due to low incomes. Now, that decision was reversed after some reporting and pressure from members of Congress. And now the Treasury Department says people on Social Security will get the money directly deposited without the tax return. But certainly within that window, it caused some confusion and rightful concern from members of Congress.

But there are additional hurdles in that families aren't receiving anything for children over the age of 16 that they claim as dependents. And some immigrants who don't have a valid Social Security number also won't qualify for that. Right. And to add to the challenges, the administration is not going to be reopening the ACA marketplace. I don't understand this fuckery. You know, like, what does that mean for people in practical terms? They don't get health insurance? Well, I mean, Trump could have done a special enrollment period, right? It would have been quite easy. And that would have allowed people who recently lost their jobs to enroll, as well as uninsured people. That's something that we've seen happen in the past, for instance, after natural disasters. But under current law, if you

do lose your health insurance from your employer, you can enroll, but you have to show the fact that there was that coverage loss. And that's an arduous task, particularly given the circumstances that everybody is living in right now. If there were a special enrollment period, though, all that paperwork wouldn't have been necessary. and it would have given the chance for people who hadn't already enrolled this year to do so. But the silver lining of all of this is that 11 states and Washington, D.C. have created their own special enrollment periods. But if the federal government had just done it like they easily could have, this wouldn't have been a state-by-state issue. Yeah. Speaking of state-by-state issues, on Wednesday, we also saw some big states that

were dangerously late taking action, finally declaring stay-at-home orders. What's that about? Yeah, namely Florida. Yeah, it's always Florida. Always. Governor Ron DeSantis had resisted more restrictive statewide measures, but he finally relented yesterday, announcing a 30-day stay-at-home order akin to the ones we've seen in other states. Georgia, Mississippi, and Nevada followed suit. And the thing that had people ripping their hair out for days and days is that Florida is home to a population where over a quarter are older than 60 and has had a massive historic tourism industry, including but not limited to all those people who have recently descended for spring break. So if you combine those two elements, you're talking about a situation that is kind of ripe for coronavirus being a major, major problem. Yeah, Florida is being a hot mess. Well, before we

go, what else is going on around the world? Well, just a couple things. Wimbledon was canceled for the first time since 1945. That's a huge bummer. Japan is reportedly going to provide two reusable masks to every household. And Iran is calling for the United States to lift sanctions on the country as it struggles with its own outbreak. There is much, much, much, much more that we could get to. But that is a brief look at where things stand today. The coronavirus pandemic has led to a flurry of crisis responses and heavy-duty restrictions. And as part of all of this, several red states, including Texas, Ohio, Alabama, Iowa, and Oklahoma, have attempted to enact all-out bans on abortion, claiming that the procedure is non-essential and can wait until the pandemic is over. Which obviously isn't true. You know,

these restrictions have been challenged in court by the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and other advocates, and several have been shot down. Although on Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that the ban in Texas can stay in place. That decision is being appealed as these court cases ricochet through the entire judicial system. But in the meantime, many people are left uncertain and potentially without access. To get a better handle on what's happening, we've got Alexis McGill Johnson, the acting president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation and Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Alexis, thanks for being on the show. Thanks for having me. Yeah, it's our pleasure. So let's just jump right into it. You know, we've seen several states that are

led by Republicans who are trying to limit abortion access. And, you know, they're saying that it's an elective procedure and it should be suspended until the pandemic is over. In what world is abortion an elective procedure? In what world? Right. Exactly. I mean, what you're seeing right now is a series of anti-abortion politicians that have decided that a global pandemic was the time to play political games with people's lives. And they issued these executive orders really under the guise of canceling non-essential procedures. But really, the agenda is to ban abortion altogether. And abortion is essential. It you know, abortion is essential. It is reproductive health care is essential.

This is a time-sensitive care and a time-sensitive medical procedure. That's right. You know, Planned Parenthood and other groups obviously have been challenging the new pandemic abortion restrictions. And you've been really successful, you know, in Ohio and Alabama. But in the meantime, are you hearing, you know, from patients who are unable to get reproductive health care right now, you know, where are they sort of at? Oh, no, 100%. I mean, it's like our, first of all, like our affiliates are getting calls in from patients that are just absolutely devastating. You know, the physicians, the call center staff, they're having these hard, heart-wrenching conversations telling patients that their appointments are canceled

or may be canceled. And the reality is a lot of these patients won't have a place to turn for care. Some of our patients have called from Texas, have called as far as California. They are getting in cars. They're getting on planes, they are, you know, trying to figure out how to move from one state to another just to get access to abortion. And, you know, if you think about just women in general are on the front line, we're the majority of healthcare workers, we are involved in childcare, we are homeschooling right now. And now we are kind of risking our lives just to, you know, and potentially exposing other folks to challenges around the pandemic just to get access to a procedure that you should be able to find down the street.

What is your advice to someone who's seeking an abortion right now, but like they're in a state where there's an ongoing fight? You know, maybe it's not banned outright, but what do you suggest that they do? Well, you know, first, I think it's really important to contact, you know, a trusted provider, right? You know, you can call a Planned Parenthood. You can go online to Abortion Care Finder and just get access to immediate information so you understand the laws of the state in an up-to-date way of, you know, because some states, you know, have other restrictions besides the, you know, besides these executive orders. They have other restrictions in terms of whether or not, you know, you need a 72-hour waiting period or you need a mandatory vaginal ultrasound, you know, within a couple of days. Like, you know, there are any number of ways in which people have been trying to push this agenda to ban abortion. And it's really important to have all of the

information before you, you know, get in a car or plane and try to figure out how to get to the next place. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Well, we've talked a lot about abortion access, but, you know, what other ramifications has COVID-19 had for women's health more broadly? You know, are people able to get contraceptives? Are they able to get, you know, the care that they were getting before this crisis sort of took hold? Well, look, I think one of the opportunities over the last few weeks and particularly in the stimulus bill is that we've seen an uptick in visits through telehealth. I don't know if you've actually visited a doctor through telehealth before, but, you know, there were lots of restrictions around kind of the standards and guidelines of what patients needed

to do and what providers needed to do to engage their patients. And so the idea that now you can have a Zoom video visit with your provider and, you know, they can check you out and you can, you know, answer the set of questions that you would have done in person. That's really powerful, important. The other piece of that is we're also, you know, fighting for pay parity, right? So that those same visits actually are being reimbursed in a way that makes it more likely that, you know, a doctor will be inclined to that. And I think COVID will transform life, you know, fundamentally after, you know, after we figure our way through this. But certainly in the way that medicine is provided, we're going to definitely see that telehealth becomes more in play. And that's a really important thing. I think that actually

makes access, particularly for reproductive health, more, you know, more accessible. That's exactly right. You know, for the rest of us, how can we fight back against these emergency restrictions that some states are trying to put into place? You know, what kind of action, what can we be elevating? Our audience is really interested in trying to, you know, just be proactive in these moments. And so if you have any advice for us, that would be awesome. I love that. And I really appreciate it. I think, you know, the fact that we are all here at home, for the most part, kind of sheltering in place, it gives us a good opportunity to be really vigilant and to find out what is happening to kind of, you know, educate ourselves on executive orders, find out what our electeds are doing. And one of the things we're doing at Planned Parenthood is building a watchdog team,

right? Because we need to track all these attacks. We don't know where the trickery is going to come from, but we need to be poised to fight back. And so we're asking people to text enough to 22422 to get involved. And, you know, that'll set in motion, you know, a process to engage and be vigilant. Wow. Thank you so much, Alexis, for taking the time to speak with us. This was super informative and it's going to help a lot of people. So thank you again. Thank you, Akilah. That was Alexis McGill-Johnson of Planned Parenthood. We'll be tracking the story as it continues. It's Thursday, WOD Squad. It's our 100th episode extravaganza.

Pew, pew, pew, pew. Though we are all apart in the city of angels. We are together in your ears right now. It's a beautiful time to check in with your pals. So giddy, which is what I'm calling you for the next 100 episodes. Sorry,

we all get bad nicknames. We shall see. Do you have a special set of skills that you'd like to emerge from your bunker with? One, being more responsive to different sorts of nicknames. Two, I think I'm going to do the classic thing, learning a language. I've been putting it off for forever, and I need to put my shoulder to the wheel on that, I think, finally. Yeah. I have a friend who's been learning to how I don't even know how to say this

like break into like locks like oh that's cool because you want to do a heist yeah I think so yeah get it while the van go getting is good listen uh some people see things and they read them and other people see them and they read them as inspiration so you know if that's if that's what he's looking at that's that's. But obviously same Kiyokila, what do you have mastered by the end of this? All right. So I think I've said this before, but I've been roller skating in my yard and the skate robics that I follow on Instagram, that was like the classes I was taking in New York live back when we were out in public, are now available online. So I plan on being like a really incredible roller skater.

I've continued my piano lessons via an app. So I'm hoping to be just very rel-wounded. Rel-wounded, sure. I'm hoping that I can learn how to say a complete sentence and roller skate and play piano. You know, just things that make you hotter exponentially to other people. Right, that's the goal. Yeah.

By the time the summer is here and people can go outside, you need to be able to roll down the street while playing piano and crafting complete sentences for everyone at the same time. Wow. Ambitious timing, Gideon. Yeah. That was our daily temperature check. Fun fact.

I got the last thermometer at CVS a few weeks ago and it cost $100. So hopefully you have one and you're taking your own temperature. Fun fact, I got the last thermometer at CVS a few weeks ago and it cost $100. So hopefully you have one and you're taking your own temperature. You're staying positive, you're washing your hands and you're hanging out with us every morning. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. to access more airwaves than they currently do. That would mean broadcasters would lose out on access, but it would be a huge win for Silicon Valley, which has said more frequency would lead to faster internet and expanded opportunities for technologies like virtual reality.

It might also help Americans who are seeing slower Wi-Fi at home during quarantine so we can stream Tiger King on multiple screens. Take that. If the FCC approves the policy change as expected, manufacturers say that faster Wi-Fi routers could be available by Christmas. I'm going to be Joe Exotic in virtual reality feeding tigers. Don't be that guy. Cannot wait. Wisconsin is set to still hold their primaries next Tuesday despite calls to postpone

due to the public health crisis. Counties across the state are reporting that poll workers are quitting because of COVID-19 concerns. Yeah, understandable. Yeah, we get it. Which is why Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers plans to deploy members of the National Guard to help in their place. Now, Evers defended the decision to move forward by citing the record-breaking amount of absentee ballots that have been requested, but added late Wednesday, quote, if I could have changed the election on my own, I would have. So there's obviously some concerns. Democratic groups, voting rights advocates and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders are urging the state to postpone, arguing that people shouldn't endanger their health to vote. Public Enemy used April Fool's Day to reveal that Chuck D and Flava Flaves falling out was a hoax to promote their new album, Loud Is Not Enough. Interesting. Yeah,

why? As a reminder, Flaves's lawyer sent a cease and desist to Senator Bernie Sanders on March 1st, approximately 10,000 years ago, because Chuck D was performing at a Sanders rally and they used Public Enemy's logo to promote it. This led to a tense back and forth where Chuck called Flava a sellout and fired him from the band.

In a statement yesterday, Chuck D compared the stunt to War of the Worlds. Whether you believe him or you think the beef was real and just got resolved, what matters is that Public Enemy is back. They shouldn't try this again, though, because you're allowed to fake break up your band once. And if you do it twice, it's a federal crime to say psych. And that's just the law. These guys are really fooling with my head and makes me upset.

Mobile giant and sidekick daddy T-Mobile acquired Sprint yesterday in a $31.6 billion deal that took two years and faced legal battles from the Department of Justice and many state regulators. Consolidation eliminates competition and can lead to higher prices for consumers. T-Mobile pushed their deal through by promising not to raise rates for three years and by selling Sprint Properties, Boost Mobile, Where You At, and Virgin Mobile to Dish to create a new nationwide mobile competitor. Dude, you're getting a dish. T-Mobile is now the third largest mobile phone company after Verizon and AT&T. Excited for them all to be one company called CyberCorp one day that our children pray to at school. Yes, we love CyberCorp. We would never forsake them. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, whistle us a tune, and tell your friends to listen.

And if you're into reading and not just cool S's you drew in your notebook in middle school like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And try not to get pranked by Flavor Flav. Yeah, boy. No, boy.

What a Day is a product of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tunn is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein, and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.