CHOICE/LESS – Rewire News Group

Season 4 of CHOICE/LESS is all about teens, sex, abortion, and the law. In episode 1, Jenn Stanley takes you back to her own adolescence and talks with a former classmate about their experiences attending a small, all-girls Catholic high school.

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Season 4 of CHOICE/LESS is all about teens, sex, abortion, and the law. In episode 1, Jenn Stanley takes you back to her own adolescence and talks with a former classmate about their experiences attending a small, all-girls Catholic high school.

From the archives: Before Season 4 premieres next week, we’re taking you back to a related episode from 2016 that explores what happens to teens who can’t involve a parent in their abortion decision but are forced to by the state.

With the news of Justice Anthony Kennedy retiring, CHOICE/LESS creator and host Jenn Stanley shares a few thoughts about what it means, where we’re headed, and how the upcoming season fits into the picture.

Transcript (PDF)

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Jenn shares some thoughts on the news and where we're headed.

Niky was called “the slut” in high school for her reproductive rights activism. Jane had to cross state lines to get an abortion at 15 without involving her parents. Veronica thought her grandparents would make her continue an unwanted pregnancy as punishment for having unprotected sex.

Thirty-eight states require minors to involve a parent in their abortion decision. In some cases, parental consent is required with no exceptions, essentially banning abortion for many teens. Yet most of these states are doing little to nothing to teach teens about sex and how to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Season four of CHOICE/LESS unpacks a simple question awash in complexity: If adults won’t talk to young people about sex, how can the law mandate that teens involve parents in their abortion decision? This summer, host Jenn Stanley will help teens, parents, lawmakers, activists, and anyone who cares about young people find some answers—and raise their own questions about what’s right.

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Niky was called “the slut” in high school for her reproductive rights activism. Jane had to cross state lines to get an abortion at 15 without involving her parents. Veronica thought her grandparents would make her continue an unwanted pregnancy as punishment for having unprotected sex.

Thirty-eight states require minors to involve a parent in their abortion decision. In some cases, parental consent is required with no exceptions, essentially banning abortion for many teens. Yet most of these states are doing little to nothing to teach teens about sex and how to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Season 4 of CHOICE/LESS unpacks a simple question awash in complexity: if adults won't talk to young people about sex, how can the law mandate that teens involve parents in their abortion decision? Soon, host Jenn Stanley will help teens, parents, lawmakers, activists and anyone who cares about young people find some answers – and raise their own questions about what's right.

This is Part II. Click here for Part I.

UPDATE: December 14, 2017: Kentucky State Rep. Dan Johnson died of apparent suicide on December 13, 2017, two days after the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and Louisville Public Radio published an investigation that alleged that Johnson sexually assaulted one of his parishioners when she was only 17 years old.

Roy Moore lost, but barely. And his theocratic vision for the country lives on through Operation Save America (OSA), an organization committed to a United States in which abortion, homosexuality, Islam, and anything else its leadership considers “ungodly” is a criminal offense. In this two-part audio documentary, CHOICE/LESS host Jenn Stanley and Rewire investigative reporter Sofia Resnick team up to reveal the alarming ways OSA’s far-right ideology is worming its way into state and federal government. While often dismissed as a group of fringe extremists, OSA has a path to power–and even after Roy Moore’s loss, it’s farther along that path than you think.

An edited excerpt from Part II:

Jenn Stanley: [Operation Save America] started stalking abortion providers at their homes and offices under [former OSA director] Flip Benham’s leadership. And they’re still doing this. They have large wanted-style posters and fliers with local abortion providers’ photos on them. Under each photo they’ve printed the doctors’ addresses and that they murder babies. They hand the fliers out door to door to the doctors’ neighbors and protest outside their homes in quiet residential neighborhoods.

Cal Zastrow typically organizes the groups that protest in front of abortion providers’ homes

Cal Zastrow: Ma’am, can we talk and pray with you? We’re here because we want abortionist [named redacted] to stop murdering babies and turn to mercy and love and compassion and healing with his medical gifts?

[…]

Jenn: I ask one of the protesters how he would feel if people were protesting like this outside of his home.

He’s not officially a member of OSA, but he’s part of a local organization that he says is even more confrontational.

[…]

Jenn: Would you mind if they had your address and knew where your kids lived?

Local protester: Nope, not at all. We’re heavily armed.

Transcript (PDF)

WARNING: Some photos below contain graphic anti-choice imagery.

Sofia Resnick/Rewire

Jenn Stanley/Rewire

Sofia Resnick/Rewire

Jenn Stanley/Rewire

Jenn Stanley/Rewire

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Roy Moore lost, but barely. And his theocratic vision for the country lives on through Operation Save America (OSA), an organization committed to a United States in which abortion, homosexuality, Islam, and anything else its leadership considers “ungodly” is a criminal offense. In this two-part audio documentary, CHOICE/LESS host Jenn Stanley and Rewire investigative reporter Sofia Resnick team up to reveal the alarming ways OSA’s far-right ideology is worming its way into state and federal government. While often dismissed as a group of fringe extremists, OSA has a path to power–and even after Roy Moore’s loss, it’s farther along that path than you think.

This is Part I. Click here for Part II.

An edited excerpt from Part I:

Jenn Stanley: After the opening-night rally in Kentucky, we introduce ourselves to Rusty [Thomas]. … It was really loud in the church; it was packed from earlier that night. There were kids running around everywhere. So, we were really just looking for a quiet spot. But the only room open is the nursery. Rusty makes a comment that it’s fitting that we’re in the nursery, given that this is an interview on OSA’s attempt to close down the last [abortion] clinic in Kentucky.

But that’s only a fraction of what we talk about in that nursery.

The only chair for an adult is a rocking chair, and Rusty sits there. And Sofia and I sit in these desk chairs that were made for children no older than 5 or 6. So, we look a little ridiculous.

And Rusty starts by telling us his testimony, how he gets involved in the movement

Rusty Thomas: […] Honestly, I had murder in my heart. I was filled with rage. And when God intervened, right before he intervened I was literally plotting the murder of my mother.

Transcript (PDF)

Jenn Stanley/Rewire

Jenn Stanley/Rewire

Jenn Stanley/Rewire

Jenn Stanley/Rewire

Jenn Stanley/Rewire

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Part 2 of 2: If you haven't listened to Part 1, please check your podcast feed or visit https://rewire.news/gilead.

Roy Moore lost, but barely. And his theocratic vision for the country lives on through Operation Save America (OSA), an organization committed to a United States in which abortion, homosexuality, Islam, and anything else its leadership considers "ungodly" is a criminal offense. In this two-part audio documentary, CHOICE/LESS host Jenn Stanley and Rewire investigative reporter Sofia Resnick team up to reveal the alarming ways OSA’s far-right ideology is worming its way into state and federal government. While often dismissed as a group of fringe extremists, OSA has a path to power–and even after Roy Moore's loss, it's farther along that path than you think.