Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha, and welcome to stuff.
Speaker 1: I've never told you your production of I Heart Radio. Okay, Annie, Yes,
Speaker 1: we're gonna start off with a question, and it's not
Speaker 1: our little lighthearted ones, it's not necessarily really really deep.
Speaker 1: But I did wonder growing up, what was your perception
Speaker 1: about abortion and reproductive justice. Oh that's a good one. Um. Well,
Speaker 1: as I've mentioned several times before on this show and recently,
Speaker 1: I did grow up in a pretty liberal family in
Speaker 1: a very conservative area. So I was um pro choice.
Speaker 1: I still that terminology still is weird to me out
Speaker 1: that whole thing, but um, I thought that it was
Speaker 1: so women's a woman's right to choose, and that it
Speaker 1: was something that women should have access to. I was,
Speaker 1: I know I've mentioned before. I was on the debate team,
Speaker 1: and I I was the only person who would argue
Speaker 1: that abortion should be a thing, and you would not
Speaker 1: believe like its tactics you see in the Republican Party
Speaker 1: now against it that these like middle schoolers leveled against me.
Speaker 1: But I was. I it made me nervous because there
Speaker 1: was such vitriologic, like strong feelings about it. So I
Speaker 1: wasn't super I didn't broadcast it a lot um and
Speaker 1: I did have like but I like these I I
Speaker 1: don't know that I had realistic Um, now that I
Speaker 1: know more about abortion, I'm not sure that my timeline
Speaker 1: was very realistic because I was like definitely before this time,
Speaker 1: you know, and I'm not sure that that was accurate
Speaker 1: at all or what I really thought. But it became
Speaker 1: a thing like I became known for it, and people
Speaker 1: would either attack me over it or they would get
Speaker 1: really aggressive in their questioning about like why I thought it,
Speaker 1: And like even my friend group now that I still have,
Speaker 1: they would it would be this thing like we would
Speaker 1: not talk about because I felt like they maybe not
Speaker 1: looked down on me, but they were really kind of
Speaker 1: disturbed because we were in a very conservative town and
Speaker 1: that's what they were hearing. They've changed, right, like at
Speaker 1: that time, right, yeah, yeah, I mean I would definitely
Speaker 1: have been one of those people because I we've mentioned
Speaker 1: it before, because we've talked about abortion a lot on
Speaker 1: our show, uh, and of course it is something that
Speaker 1: we want to talk about and continue to talk about
Speaker 1: because it's not just the whole level of you know,
Speaker 1: the conversation of abortion, but it's a whole level of
Speaker 1: um taking away the freedoms and choices of women. And
Speaker 1: that's kind of how I had to rethink because of
Speaker 1: growing up. I was absolutely uh anti abortion. That was
Speaker 1: my perception because a not only was I told I
Speaker 1: was saved from abortion because I'm adopted, but be because
Speaker 1: of my very very conservative religious parents, who sees that
Speaker 1: as a focal point of the biggest issue. And we've
Speaker 1: talked about this many times, like I think we talked
Speaker 1: about before with my mom and I got into a
Speaker 1: really heated argument at a cracker barrel um and this
Speaker 1: was one of the biggest points of contention, to the
Speaker 1: point that we couldn't talk and we both left crying.
Speaker 1: And that was probably one of the most heartbreaking moments
Speaker 1: for me. And it's not that I'm necessarily like I
Speaker 1: still have moments where I catch myself being very antib
Speaker 1: not anti abortion, but and like thinking that manner. I
Speaker 1: guess it's to say, it's hard to let go of
Speaker 1: what is indoctrinated into you, especially when you're being told
Speaker 1: this is who you are, and this is how you were,
Speaker 1: this is why you're alive, essentially because you're the alternative
Speaker 1: choice to abortion. But on top of that, you know,
Speaker 1: just kind of unraveling the idea that a woman's purity
Speaker 1: and responsibility and whole and conceiving it's also all part
Speaker 1: of this and so therefore we are the biggest sinners
Speaker 1: of all, you know, if this is how we believe.
Speaker 1: And overall I've tried to argue it with my family,
Speaker 1: where it's like, you know, it's a conversation of do
Speaker 1: you trust your daughters? Do you trust your family to
Speaker 1: make the right decision for them, And it's this whole
Speaker 1: big thing. Of course, I am very much on the
Speaker 1: other side of this now, and I'm very much um
Speaker 1: because yeah, pro choice is the best way I can say,
Speaker 1: because it's not, as we've talked about it, this is
Speaker 1: everything about controlling women more so than anything else. Is
Speaker 1: not about saving babies or saving lives. It's not about
Speaker 1: you know, the whole term of pro life needs to
Speaker 1: be thrown out the window because as we've seen in
Speaker 1: our administration, that's not what it's necessarily about. UM. And again,
Speaker 1: I worked in social work for so long because there's
Speaker 1: this level of debt that I felt because of rhetoric
Speaker 1: like this and an understanding that I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: this is messed up, because why am I the only
Speaker 1: one who's getting paid less and mental wage to care
Speaker 1: about these lives that were so like intense on saving.
Speaker 1: And don't get me wrong, of course we want to
Speaker 1: protect life, but true life and life the whole conversation
Speaker 1: of conception and all of that is the bigger point
Speaker 1: of science. Oh, there's so many things that we could
Speaker 1: talk about, but and and the reason I was thinking
Speaker 1: about this today, we are specifically talking about Argentina, and uh,
Speaker 1: we are celebrating with them as the giant victory of
Speaker 1: our family and Argentina and all the people of Argentina
Speaker 1: can celebrate the legalization of abortion as of December thirty
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty um. And for them, it's been a
Speaker 1: long and hard and drawn out battle, and we've seen
Speaker 1: continue activists even talking about and celebrating, still understanding that
Speaker 1: it is a bigger battle to come. But yeah, so
Speaker 1: we want to talk a little bit about what happened
Speaker 1: and to celebrate with them, right. So, on December eleven,
Speaker 1: the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Bill was passed by the
Speaker 1: Chamber of Deputies, which is the lower house, with a
Speaker 1: vote of one thirty one to seventeen and was sent
Speaker 1: to the upper house, the Senate, which passed on the
Speaker 1: thirty December by a vote of thirty eight to twenty
Speaker 1: nine and was passed by the President Alberto Fernandez. The
Speaker 1: law legalizes all abortion up to fourteen weeks of pregnancy,
Speaker 1: so the previous law only allowed to abortion access in
Speaker 1: case of a pregnancy as a result of rape or
Speaker 1: if it endangered the health and life of a woman
Speaker 1: and was punishable without to fifteen years of jail. Yeah. Uh,
Speaker 1: And we can't talk about the success of reproductive justice
Speaker 1: in Argentina without talking about the boots on the ground
Speaker 1: groups who have pushed and fought within that country. Organizations
Speaker 1: like La Collectiva Fimnista, the Yalta and Collectiva Una Manos
Speaker 1: have been pushing for the rights and protection of women
Speaker 1: and the marginalized community right. So in thousands of Argentinians
Speaker 1: marched the spotlight the injustice and violence against women or
Speaker 1: it was called hashtag neona mentos, which grew into a
Speaker 1: movement that expanded into the larger issues of women's rights,
Speaker 1: including reproductive justice. A bill was introduced into the eighteen
Speaker 1: but it was defeated in the Senate, though it had
Speaker 1: passed in the lower House. As the administration changed, President
Speaker 1: for Nandez showed support for the bill and even wore
Speaker 1: a green tie, which was the symbol of the abortion
Speaker 1: rights movement known as the Green Wave. And he said
Speaker 1: that the previous law unfairly punished his quote, vulnerable and
Speaker 1: poor women, right. And I think that's a big conversation
Speaker 1: of who had access and who it really affected. Um.
Speaker 1: And according to a report by the Human Rights Watch,
Speaker 1: nearly forty tho women and children in Argentina were hospitalized
Speaker 1: as a result of unsafe, clandestine abortions or miscarriages. So
Speaker 1: this included at least six thousand of them being between
Speaker 1: the ages of ten through nineteen. So this bill uses
Speaker 1: inclusive language and thanks to the activism of transactivists like
Speaker 1: Camilla Fernandez Um. These actives made sure to use language
Speaker 1: such as quote people with ability to be pregnant, right, um.
Speaker 1: And just kind of as we were talking about earlier,
Speaker 1: how you know you're in doctor neated with so much,
Speaker 1: especially growing up, whether it's through religion or what not
Speaker 1: a life for me, it was religion not necessarily the
Speaker 1: same as Argentina because we are very Southern Baptists, but
Speaker 1: very along the strict lines. Argentina is heavily influenced by Catholicism,
Speaker 1: as in fact, one report shows at least of Argentineans
Speaker 1: still identify as Roman catholic Um and the bill has
Speaker 1: been contested by many anti abortion groups, including the fact
Speaker 1: that the Senate was encouraged by the Church of Argentina
Speaker 1: to vote against it. And just like everywhere, we've been
Speaker 1: talking about this a lot over around the world lately,
Speaker 1: there is still a lot to do in making sure
Speaker 1: to keep reproductive justice secure. But but seeing victories like
Speaker 1: this is really encouraging, especially knowing and witnessing the many
Speaker 1: activists who have tirelessly fought for these things and continue
Speaker 1: to And as we always say in these international episodes,
Speaker 1: we would love to hear from listeners who are in Argentina,
Speaker 1: who have experience aunts, who have seen these things, who
Speaker 1: have helped make these things possible, and it is very inspiring.
Speaker 1: Um so yeah, we would love to hear from you. Uh.
Speaker 1: You can email us our email U Stuff Media mom
Speaker 1: Stuff at iHeart media dot com. You can also find
Speaker 1: us on Twitter at mom Stuff Podcast or on Instagram
Speaker 1: at Stuff I've Never Told You. Thanks as always to
Speaker 1: our super producer Andrew Howard. Oh, thank you, and thanks
Speaker 1: to you for listening. Stuff I've Never told You's a
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