What A Day - Women's Misery Month

Episode Date: March 8, 2023

Five women who were denied abortions have filed a lawsuit against Texas over the state’s near-total abortion ban. It’s the first time that pregnant patients who are affected by such laws are takin...g legal action.Florida Republicans have introduced bills that would further restrict abortion in the state, including one that would prohibit the procedure before most people even know they’re pregnant. If passed, the measures could also jeopardize abortion access across the South.And in headlines: two of the four Americans kidnapped in northeastern Mexico were found dead, the Justice Department wants to block JetBlue from buying Spirit Airlines, and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz agreed to testify before a Senate committee about his company’s labor practices.Show Notes:Vote Save America: Fuck Bans Action Plan – https://votesaveamerica.com/roe/Black Girl Scout Virtual Marketplace – https://www.justiceforblackgirls.com/black-girl-scout-virtual-marketplaceWhat A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastCrooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday 

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Starting point is 00:00:00 It's Wednesday, March 8th. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And I'm Juanita Tolliver and this is What A Day, where we've decided the Vanderpump Rules drama is Watergate for the Bravo Generation. Yeah, the decoding of every photo, video, and questionable Tom Sandoval outfit is journalism truly at its finest. Shout out to all the TikTok explainers for doing the Lord's work. I'm so grateful. Truly. On today's show, the ACLU says the government has been working on facial recognition technology that could be used for mass surveillance. It's really giving minority port, y'all. Big yikes.
Starting point is 00:00:40 Plus, there is a booming black market for, you guessed it, Girl Scout cookies. Okay, I want to know more. But first, five women who were denied abortions despite facing high medical risks have filed a lawsuit against Texas over the state's near total abortion ban. So this is the first case of its kind where pregnant patients themselves are taking legal action against a statewide abortion ban. As you all know, several of these bans went into effect around the country last year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Right. And Texas was one of those first states. Honestly, they could not wait to ban access to abortion care in the state. And we know that put doctors in a bind when they did it. So tell us more about who's involved in the suit. Yeah. So the plaintiffs are five women
Starting point is 00:01:23 in Texas, all of whom are married, some with other kids already, and all of them were excited to be pregnant. But as their pregnancies progressed, they all found out that their fetuses had no chance of survival. For example, in two cases, the fetus had no skull. So carrying these completely non-viable fetuses put them at risk of hemorrhage or serious life-threatening infections. But all of these women were told that they could not have abortions. Some of their physicians refused to even present termination as an option or forward their medical records to other states for emergency abortions. And the fifth, who was the lead plaintiff in this case, had to carry her fetus until she went into septic shock,
Starting point is 00:02:10 nearly died, and suffered permanent physical damage as a result. Oh my God. Not only is this heartbreaking, but it's yet another reminder of why I have said repeatedly and why advocates across the country have said that abortion care is basic health care. Totally. And in these situations, life-saving health care. Yeah. I mean, if we sound upset, it's because we are. It's crazy that it got to that point with these women. But according to their attorney, all five of these women should have qualified to receive an abortion. Like most states with these types of abortion bans, Texas supposedly allows exceptions.
Starting point is 00:02:46 So if a doctor says that there is a risk of, quote, substantial harm to the pregnant person, the law allows them to provide the patient with an abortion. But the consequences that health care providers face for breaking this law are so high, they include prison sentences of up to 99 years or $100,000 fines, losing their medical licenses, that some Texas doctors don't provide this necessary care to their patients, even when this extremely, extremely restrictive law would allow them to do so because their patient's health is being threatened. So these women are saying that they were denied necessary and potentially life-saving care,
Starting point is 00:03:20 and they are now taking legal action against the state of Texas with the help of the Center for Reproductive Rights. So is their suit trying to overturn Texas's abortion ban, or are they suing their providers for not helping them? So they're actually not doing either of those things. Interesting. Yeah, it's very interesting. So what they want out of this suit is for the court to confirm that Texas's law
Starting point is 00:03:40 does in fact allow these doctors to offer their patients abortions if they are necessary. They go on to specify that that includes, you know, when the patient has a quote, physical emergent medical condition that can't be treated during the pregnancy, or that makes pregnancy unsafe to continue, or if the fetus has a condition that makes it unlikely to survive past birth. But beyond clarifying this Texas law and getting the court to say that, yes, in fact, the doctors can do this, what this suit may actually go on to do is illustrate to the American public, who, by the way, most of them support abortion rights, that abortion is health care and is medically necessary in many cases. It's not pro-life to subject these people to these completely preventable outcomes. And in other countries, lawsuits like this that centered around women who were denied abortions, despite these huge medical risks that they faced, actually helped build support for legalized abortion.
Starting point is 00:04:32 I know we've had it before in this country. We've had this fight, but we have to go full circle because we don't have these rights anymore. Right, and when you say that most of the country and most of the public supports abortion rights, that's consistently more than two-thirds of the country. Like, poll after poll has shown this number for decades, y'all. So not only is the law on their side, the public is on their side, too. Now let's jump from Texas back to
Starting point is 00:04:56 Florida. I know our brilliant co-host, Trayvill, told y'all about all of the vile and disgusting policies that we should expect from DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Florida state legislature as DeSantis gears up for a 2024 presidential run. And now the ball is officially rolling, y'all. Yesterday, Republican State Senator Aaron Grawl introduced a bill that would ban abortions before many people even know that they are in fact pregnant. You guessed it. This is another proposed six-week abortion ban, and the bill features exemptions up until the 15th week of pregnancy for people who become pregnant due to rape or incest. And before anyone even thinks that this exemption shows any degree of humanity,
Starting point is 00:05:37 y'all should know that to qualify for the exemption, a person must have a copy of a restraining order, police report, medical record, or other court order or documentation proving the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest. And it is truly sickening. Yeah, it's unfathomable. I mean, not only in this scenario is this person been assaulted. They have to go to law enforcement, go to places where they might not be comfortable. They have to get this documentation in a tight time frame. This is extremely time sensitive.
Starting point is 00:06:08 And then they have to get signed off. It's completely impractical for anyone who's living in reality. It's cruel and it compounds the trauma. Let's be real. A sexual assault survivor, they're asking them to put aside the trauma and pain of the experience of being assaulted first and then go to these unsafe places like you just named, but it's creating another layer of violence for these survivors.
Starting point is 00:06:30 And it just shows that the intention behind this law is the cruelty. The cruelty has been the point the entire time. And get this, the bill was announced just moments before DeSantis delivered his annual State of the State address yesterday. So not only was the timing a layup for the extremist agenda, DeSantis and the annual state of the state address yesterday. So not only was the timing a layup for the extremist agenda DeSantis and the GOP controlled state legislature are advancing,
Starting point is 00:06:50 but it's showing how they're trying to one up their previous anti-abortion bill, which was a 15 week abortion ban that's currently being challenged in the courts. And since Florida isn't an island, this six week ban could have an impact well beyond the state for the pregnant people who travel to Florida from neighboring states where abortions are almost completely Island, this six-week ban could have an impact well beyond the state for the pregnant people who travel to Florida from neighboring states where abortions are almost completely banned. I'm talking about states like Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. I didn't realize that this would have such a regional impact. Can you tell us more about that? Right. It's really creating a situation that's going to make it
Starting point is 00:07:24 harder for people seeking abortions in the South writ large. According to analysis conducted by the 19th, last year alone, more than 6,700 people traveled from their home state to Florida for the procedure. About 8% of the nearly 82,200 abortions performed there. That represents a nearly 38% increase in out-of-state abortions from 2021. Abortion clinics, particularly in northern Florida, which is closer to the Georgia border, have said that they are seeing twice as many patients as before, with a large share coming from out-of-state. It's almost like someone told DeSantis that Florida is the biggest regional hub for abortions
Starting point is 00:08:01 as they now have 60 abortion clinics operating. And he is determined to shut it all down. And if, rather when, this proposed six-week ban gets passed, that would leave the region with three abortion clinics in South Carolina that perform abortions up to 14 weeks and about a dozen clinics in North Carolina. Yeah, definitely not enough, obviously, to handle the need. But there's also, while this is going on, the still unresolved issues related to abortion medications that are compounding concerns around accessing safe abortions nationwide. Can you tell us a little more about where that stands? when you also consider that we're still awaiting the pending decision from a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas regarding Mifeprestone, the first pill used in the two-drug regimen for medication abortions, which, according to the Guttmacher Institute, now account for more than 50% of pregnancy terminations in the United States,
Starting point is 00:08:58 as well as the fact that Walgreens is refusing to distribute Mifeprestone at its pharmacies in at least 20 states where Republican officials have threatened legal action. At this point, Democratic state leaders and governors are stepping up to respond, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, who declared Monday that California won't be doing any business with Walgreens. Now, it's unclear exactly what ongoing business between the state and Walgreens entailed, but a spokesperson for Newsom told Reuters that all relationships between Walgreens and California were now under review without providing further details. This is all developing news, so you can trust us to keep monitoring
Starting point is 00:09:35 all of the details, and we'll share more updates soon. Let's get to some headlines. Headlines. Two of the four Americans kidnapped in northeastern Mexico last Friday have been found dead. The two survivors are now back in the U.S. Officials say that the group was abducted at gunpoint after they crossed the border from Texas into the city of Matamoros. At least one of the Americans was traveling for a medical procedure. Harrowing video footage of the kidnapping shows the gunman loading the victims into a white pickup truck in broad daylight following a shooting that left a bystander dead. Authorities are investigating how and why it all unfolded, but one Mexican official said it may
Starting point is 00:10:24 have been a case of mistaken identity. The area where the kidnapping took place is a stronghold for one of Mexico's oldest cartels and has seen an increase in violence over the past decade. The FBI and the Pentagon have been working on highly advanced AI-powered surveillance technology that could be used to track anyone, anywhere in the United States. That's according to documents obtained by the ACLU and shared with the Washington Post. The materials show that American intelligence agencies teamed up with researchers to develop frighteningly accurate facial recognition software. Case in point, a test run outlined in the documents found that it could recognize a
Starting point is 00:11:00 subject from more than half a mile away, even if their face was partially obstructed. The revelations are, of course, raising serious concerns about privacy because the technology could be used in public street cameras, drones, and even police body cameras to track people. Similar surveillance technology is already online across China and Russia, as well as in the city of London. And while some states and cities here in the U.S. either ban or restrict police from using facial recognition technology, there are no federal regulations for how it can be used. This is all a major red flag for this brown girl who knows AI does not recognize my features. Yeah, someone better get some federal regulations on the books pronto. This does not
Starting point is 00:11:41 sound good. French labor unions continued their show of resistance to President Emmanuel Macron's plan to raise the national retirement age to 64 with another day of nationwide protests yesterday. According to local reports, one and a half million people took to the streets across the country, though the unions organizing the day of action
Starting point is 00:12:00 put the number of protesters closer to three and a half million. Je suis very, very impressed. And this is just the latest demonstration to disrupt transportation, schools, and services in the past two months as tensions grow over the proposal. It's unclear if the protests have done anything to sway Macron and his cabinet. The president has largely been silent about his pension reform plan since it was announced. But yesterday's action comes amid multiple rolling worker strikes designed to pressure lawmakers into throwing out the policy entirely. The Justice Department filed suit yesterday to block JetBlue from buying Spirit Airlines. You may remember that JetBlue won a bidding war last summer to acquire Spirit for a
Starting point is 00:12:40 whopping $3.8 billion. Wild to me that there was a bidding war. Girl, and they were dropping mad coins. But the proposed merger, which would create the fifth largest airline in the U.S., faced heavy criticism from regulators ever since it was announced. Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters the takeover would stifle competition and actually raise airfare prices.
Starting point is 00:13:01 He even said JetBlue's plan to revamp the discount airline in the merger would quote, eliminate Spirit's unique and disruptive role in the industry. I guess he's talking about the fact that your seats will not recline, Priyanka. Yeah, what? Unique and disruptive. Gag. So next time you find yourself flying, Spirit Airlines knees up to the chair in front of you, contemplating buying a $6 can of Pringles just to feel something. Thinking, is this bad? Ask yourself instead, is this unique and disruptive?
Starting point is 00:13:31 Merrick Garland using what could only be described as the politest possible adjectives to describe Spirit Airlines is hysterical to me. Nothing has ever been funnier. It's giving Marco Rubio announcing a presidential run saying he's uniquely qualified. That's the vibe. In a surprise about face, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has agreed to testify before a Senate committee about his company's labor practices. This comes after Senator Bernie Sanders threatened to hold a vote to subpoena him. Schultz initially declined an invitation to testify before the committee last month. He thought it was one of those, you know, invitations that was actually an invite. It was really more of a formality. He is now scheduled to appear before the lawmakers on March 29th. He can expect
Starting point is 00:14:14 questioning over the company's alleged anti-union activities. I would personally never want to stare down Senator Bernie Sanders on this matter, especially not if I were Howard Schultz. So worst of luck to him. I think this is going to go terribly. Oh, I love I love the situation when a billionaire squirms like I'm looking so forward to this. Truly worst of luck to you. On Tuesday, The New York Times reported on a burgeoning resale market for this season's new Girl Scout cookie. The Raspberry Rally, which is only available online and has been marketed as a sister cookie
Starting point is 00:14:47 for the ever-popular Thin Mint, is described as follows. Thin, crispy cookies infused with raspberry flavor dipped in chocolatey coating. So if the Thin Mint is the Gigi Hadid of the Girl Scout cookies, the Raspberry Rally is the Bella. After selling out in local markets within hours,
Starting point is 00:15:03 the normally $4 to $7 boxes have been marked up for sale on eBay for as much as five times the price. Have these people no shame? Give the money to the Girl Scouts, y'all. That's like a $25 to $35 box. Sickening. The Girl Scouts of the USA
Starting point is 00:15:19 have rebuked these third-party resellers, asking cookie enthusiasts to support the girls by opting instead for one of their other cookies. Meanwhile, Girl Scout troops with later cookie seasons are busy preparing their customers for the hype. The Girl Scouts of Northern California will start selling their raspberry rallies online today, warning potential customers via Twitter
Starting point is 00:15:39 that like Beyonce tickets, these cookies will be gone and fast. So get in line, Priyanka. Yeah, I need these cookies. I have not been approached by a Girl Scout in like years and years. I need a Girl Scout in my life. Somebody, if you are a Girl Scout, if you know a Girl Scout, get in my mentions. I want this cookie.
Starting point is 00:15:57 I must have it. Can we also talk about how my geriatric self only fills out the Girl Scout form? So I didn't even know this flavor was available, but I'm excited to try it. Yeah, they have an online operation. Like I'm learning so much. We got to step it up. And those are the headlines.
Starting point is 00:16:13 We'll be back after some ads. Hopefully some Girl Scouts can bring us into this century. Please and thank you. It is Wednesday, Wild Squad and for today's temp check we are talking about the reigning queen of the rom-com returning to our living rooms Netflix announced the cast for their upcoming project with Nancy Meyers the writer and director behind classics such as The Parent Trap Something's Gotta Give and The Holiday Scarlett Johansson Owen Penelope Cruz, and Michael Fassbender will star in the movie Interesting Group, which is set to begin shooting in May. Also raising eyebrows is the budget, which is estimated to be $130 million.
Starting point is 00:16:56 Just how much Le Creuset cookware can one protagonist's kitchen have? We will find out what $129 million worth of Le Creuset looks like, I imagine. So Juanita, with this news in mind, how are you feeling about the current state of the rom-com? Well, first and foremost, I've been fucking up Le Creuset, like period, even though it's in my house. So let me confess to that. Number two, love, love, love Nancy Meyers' work,
Starting point is 00:17:24 Something Gotta Give, The Holiday, Winners, Parent Trap, Never Seen It, We'll Never See It. Number three, I will never support anything Scarlett Johansson is. Change this casting. I want to see the movie, but I cannot under these conditions. But Priyanka,
Starting point is 00:17:34 what do you think? Scarlett Johansson, just after everything she's said about all the characters she should be allowed to play, did not sit in so great with me. So I can't say I'm her biggest fan. Nancy Meyers though,
Starting point is 00:17:44 I will give it a shot. I'm curious. The state of the rom-com up until now, you know, there were some good ones. Something from Tiffany's this past winter. That was good. Very cute. I hope that rom-coms are, you know, on a little upswing.
Starting point is 00:17:56 But there definitely have been, like the Ashton Kutcher Reese Witherspoon one. Didn't even try it because no chemistry. Pass. Hard pass. I don't know. Getting mixed messages about the state, but I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. I want to spend like 15 minutes digging into why you are so adamantly anti-parent trap. I love that movie with my whole heart.
Starting point is 00:18:15 Because the original was superior. Lindsay Lohan doesn't do it justice. But okay. Lindsay Lohan is like a 12-year-old Juanita. She's like a kid. What does that got to do with performing? She's a kid who's paid to perform, and she was underwhelming. That's all.
Starting point is 00:18:31 Juanita! That's all I got to say. But you haven't even seen it. You said you'll never watch it. I thought it was lovely. I have seen the previews, and it was flat. Okay, but Lisa Ann Walter, the woman who plays Elizabeth James, Dennis Quaid, there's a lot going on.
Starting point is 00:18:44 Love that movie so much. I guess. Just like that, we have checked our tabs. They are, could be rising. We're curious. We are ice cold, frigid. Absolutely not. Nevermind. They're negative. We broke the thermometer. One more thing before we go. Are you tired of hearing sanitized or even downright trifling versions of women's history? Crooked Media's Hysteria podcast is here to set the record straight. Co-hosts Erin Ryan and Alyssa Mastromonaco lead the charge every week to bring you unapologetically real and opinionated conversations about the women shaping America.
Starting point is 00:19:23 Tune in for new episodes every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, risk it all for a box of raspberry rallies, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just the entire rom-com section on any streaming service like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Cricut.com slash subscribe.
Starting point is 00:19:47 I'm Juanita Tolliver. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And happy International Women's Day. Not that our country loves us or takes care of us or any of that, but okay. Juanita, we're trying to be happy. Okay, I'm gonna keep it 100 with a smile. Every other institution in the world
Starting point is 00:20:02 might not be wishing you a happy International Women's Day, but to us, it's always Women's History Month, International Women's Day. All of it. I don't know. All the things. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance, Jazzy Marine, and Raven Yamamoto are our associate producers. Our head writer is Jossie Kaufman, and our executive producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.

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