In this episode, we're diving into a topic we touched on last season, one that’s often at the beginning of many abortion stories: birth control. What we love about it. What we wish was better about it. Why it should be part of publicly funded health care, and how it can even help reframe conversations about abortion.

See the play that inspired the podcast. ‘Hypothetical Baby’ is on stage in Toronto from Feb 22 - Mar 8. Get your tickets here.

Rachel Cairns follows up the launch of the second season ofABORSH (Winner of the Planned Parenthood Toronto’s Choice Award for excellence in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights advocacy and education) with this highly anticipated remount production of Hypothetical Baby, a play that mixes data and drama to publicly talk about abortion the way we do privately — with neurotic vulnerability, unflinching honesty, and frank irreverence.

Episode Sources: 

https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/state-policies-abortion-bans

https://health.wusf.usf.edu/health-news-florida/2024-02-05/politifact-fl-how-many-women-live-in-states-with-abortion-bans-fact-checking-vp-harris

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/08/20/how-americans-really-feel-about-abortion-the-sometimes-surprising-poll-results-as-dnc-gets-underway/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/08/20/how-americans-really-feel-about-abortion-the-sometimes-surprising-poll-results-as-dnc-gets-underway/

https://reproductiverights.org/trump-presidency-2024-threats-reproductive-freedoms/

https://jessica.substack.com/p/project-2025-abortion-explainer?open=false#§how-project-enables-clinic-violence

https://populationmatters.org/news/2019/03/gender-equality-boosts-teen-contraceptive-use/

https://kinfertility.com.au/blog/how-easy-is-it-to-get-the-pill-around-the-world#:~:text=Indeed%2C%20the%20pill%20was%20only,women%20%5B3%5D%5B4%5D

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-09/japan-s-gender-pay-gap-seen-higher-than-oecd-peers-through-2054

https://www.humanrightsresearch.org/post/inside-japan-s-challenge-to-remain-equal

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/06/d578aaf9c1f4-japan-ranks-118th-in-2024-gender-gap-report-still-far-worst-among-g7.html#:~:text=Japan%20ranked%20118th%20among%20146,World%20Economic%20Forum%20said%20Wednesday

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/women-and-education

https://www.statista.com/statistics/447858/enrollment-of-postsecondary-students-in-canada-by-gender/#:~:text=Canada%3A%20university%2Fcollege%20enrollment%202000%2D2021%2C%20by%20gender&text=In%202021%2C%20around%201.2%20million,institutions%20in%20that%20same%20year

https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/files/documents/2023/Feb/undesa_pd_2022_world-family-planning.pdf

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29433012/

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/sep/08/jennifer-gunter-gynaecologist-womens-health-bodies-myths-and-medicine

https://osf.io/xwv7k/

https://thewalrus.ca/why-women-hate-the-pill/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwmMayBhDuARIsAM9HM8fdvUj8NgU3Y8mW7MQDvTMgRgkQNAEf3iKhArC0MbY5zVv6_HJsAxEaAhoxEALw_wcB

https://vajenda.substack.com/p/yes-theres-a-new-paper-on-hormonal

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5505765/#:~:text=Fifty%2Done%20percent%20of%20women,a%20current%20method%20of%20contraception

https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/birth-control-and-reproductive-justice

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5505765/#:~:text=More%20Canadian%20women%20are%20relying,Gynaecologists%20of%20Canada%20(SOGC)

https://med-fom-cart-grac.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2020/12/2015-BC-Sexual-Health-Indicators-CART-CSHS_2017-06-15.pdf

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/checkup/checkup-canada-pharmacare-ai-in-workplace-1.7129412#:~:text=About%201%20in%205%20Canadians,cost%20roughly%201.5%20billion%20dollars

https://cancer.ca/en/about-us/media-releases/2024/national-pharmacare/