New Legacy Radio

What are the current implications of pronatalism for people without children, collectively and globally? How do extremist actors influence pronatalist agendas, reproductive rights and what is the social impact on our community?

In today’s episode we will focus on some of the current and urgent realities facing us, and the importance of our informed awareness and response to these issues. Joining us are Nandita Bajaj, Executive Director of Population Balance, and TTherese Shechter, director of the documentary My So-Called Selfish Life and founder of Trixie Films, to discuss the immediate and long term implications of pronatalist extremism for our community.

Tune in to learn more about the ways pronatalist propaganda has weaponized fertility decline, in an effort to control reproductive choice and healthcare, and how the childless community specifically, is being targeted in the pronatalist agenda.

In this episode, we will examine the presence of pronatalist influences throughout the mental health profession, from leadership and institutions to research and training. Within these critical roles and educational spaces, the mental health profession largely obscures the lived experiences of people without children.

Given these influences, what is the impact on people without children, both as clients and practitioners in mental health? To help us navigate this conversation about what is needed to create greater inclusion and understanding of the needs of people without children, we will be joined by Katie Maynard.

Katie is an experienced licensed Clinical Social Worker, who is advancing innovative and meaningful change in the mental health space, through her work with clinicians, to expand their competency with therapy that is affirmative of childless and childfree people. Join us for this relevant, insightful conversation!

In this episode, we will examine the presence of pronatalist influences throughout the mental health profession, from leadership and institutions to research and training. Within these critical roles and educational spaces, the mental health profession largely obscures the lived experiences of people without children. Given these influences, what is the impact on people without children, both as clients and practitioners in mental health? To help us navigate this conversation about what is needed to create greater inclusion and understanding of the needs of people without children, we will be joined by Katie Maynard. Katie is an experienced licensed Clinical Social Worker, who is advancing innovative and meaningful change in the mental health space, through her work with clinicians, to expand their competency with therapy that is affirmative of childless and childfree people. Join us for this relevant, insightful conversation!

The Dobbs decision in the United States has created ripple effects of grave consequences for access to abortion, and beyond.

What was is like before the Roe v. Wade decision, and what are the current realities?

How do the expectations and experiences around access to abortion differ from generation to generation?

State laws which prohibit access to abortion, impact all people who can get pregnant, and exponentially impact women. What can we truly say of the status of women in the US today?

Joining us to discuss these issues is Karen Mulhauser, the first National Director for the National Abortion Rights Action (NARAL), in Washington, DC, and Himaja Nagireddy, who is the current UNA-USA Youth Observer to the UN.

Please join us for this in-depth conversation and commit to ensuring your vote makes a difference on November 8th!

In today’s episode, we will discuss the history of the IVF industry, and its latest strategies for expanding its market reach and services. This 44-year-old for-profit industry is estimated to reach to $37 billion dollars globally by 2027. It has done a masterful job positioning itself as a ‘cure’ for infertility and, more recently, selling the ‘promise’ of future family through egg freezing and other third-party services. The hope sale is central to its business model.

Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos has fought for the last decade+ to raise the visibility of those who have been negatively impacted by what she calls “the industry’s saccharine siren song.” She’s educated and brought much needed attention to the prevalent failure rates and health risks that accompany IVF and egg freezing as well as to the heavy personal toll when the reality doesn’t match the marketing.

Here in the U.S., this industry is predominantly self-regulated. Without external oversight, clinics routinely market their reproductive services solely to the upside of the IVF process. Their websites and materials are filled with curated success stories. We will explore what is not being said, in our discussion today.

There is also a concerning trend among larger companies to encourage the use of ‘fertility’ services, targeting young, presumably healthy females, through services such as egg freezing. This is offered under the guise of creating a solution for women to delay having a child or children, in order to remain fully employed. This also allows for some employers to dismiss more immediate workplace needs for parents, such as paid parental leave and childcare, while also dismissing the potential medical consequences and mental health impacts on women.

In 2019, when Goldman Sachs, began offering a $10,000 stipend for egg retrieval and a $20,000 stipend for egg ‘donation’, they also began offering 26 weeks of paid parental leave regardless of gender, caregiver status or method of parenthood (birth, adoption, surrogacy).

While companies are offering much needed, extended parental leave policies and unvetted, one could argue, predatory fertility services subsidies, these pronatal efforts still fail to recognize or reward employees without children. The $10-20k benefit, in addition to parental leave, is hardly an equitable proposition for those unable or uninterested in having children.

Companies must begin to engage benefits for all employees, regardless of parental or family status, from equitable subsidies to universal paid leave, regardless of reason.

Join us for a highly informative discussion, to learn more about the reproductive services industry, and in recognition of survivors.

Infertility affects approximately 17.5% of the adult population, or roughly 1 in 6 people globally, according to the World Health Organization. The global assisted reproductive technology (ART) market size was $21.32 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach $45.06 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 9.8%. On today's episode we will explore the complex and personal impact of infertility and reproductive technology, what this all means for the lives behind these statistics. What can be learned from the stories of those who have experienced infertility trauma and other adverse mental health effects? How have survivors found pathways toward healing? Tune in live, as we have the honor of being in conversation with today's guest, award winning filmmaker Irina Vodar, just ahead of the North American premier of her documentary film, Anything You Lose. The film delves into the reproductive industry, and follows Irina on her personal, seven-year journey. Her film is a story of hope and resilience, chronicling the impact of reproductive treatments, such as addiction, shame, isolation, and silence.

Today we celebrate International Childfree Day. In reflecting on what this day means for so many in our collective community, we also want to acknowledge the history and advocacy, behind the origins of this day, and the transition to becoming what it is today.

The National Organization for Non-Parents (NON), later named the National Alliance for Optional Parenthood (NAOP), was founded in 1972 by Ellen Peck and Shirley Radl. NON first designated August 1st as Non-Parents' Day, in 1973.

In 2013, Laura Carroll, childfree author and writer, lead the way in bringing back the acknowledgment and celebration of this day and date, as an annual “International Childfree Day. Laura guided these efforts for a decade, and this year, passed the torch to Childfree Media, which is co-founded by LeNora Faye and Cody Hetzel.

Joining us today are Joan Eisenstodt and Marie Bernardy, who were active participants in NON/NAOP and played key roles in education and visibility on behalf of the organization. Their personal stories of reproductive experiences and choices, and the responses to their public advocacy work demonstrate their deep commitment, to having a choice to become a parent or not. Their work helped create the foundation for many of the ways we continue to seek change for our community today.

We will also be joined by LeNora Faye and Cody Hetzel, the co-founders of Childfree Media, and the co-moderators of the Childfree Convention, which was held for the 3rd year, this past weekend.

You will not want to miss what these dynamic childfree guests have to share and exchange, from experiences and perspectives over the past 50 years, to their insight on what is most needed now, for our collective community to be recognized in equal and equitable ways, and beyond.

What role does workplace culture play in the ways we are acknowledged or not and valued and not, socially and professionally? Amidst all of the initiatives around workplace equality and equity, people without children are still largely missing from this consciousness and from the conversations about what impacts us most, on day to day basis, and long term. What is the consequence of working in a company that designs pay structures & benefits, to favor people based on their marital status, family structure, and whether to not they have children? Employees who are married and have children have long been the beneficiaries of pronatalism. Their status and value in the work place, has continued to be elevated, often accompanied by an invisible cloak of credibility, unlike their colleagues and peers who are single, unmarried, and do not have children. Isn't it time we begin to envision a workplace beyond inequality & inequity? Joining us today is Dr. Erin Conner, who is the Co-Founder and Vice President of Inclusion Design Group, a leading DEI firm. Tune in to learn more from her experience and expert insight on issues impacting our community!

In our premiere episode, we will discuss the experience of being involuntarily childless in a pronatalist world, through personal experiences, and the need for change. Our guest for this episode is Hilary Fennell.

Hilary is an award-winning programme maker and journalist with extensive experience of working in television and radio as a series producer and director. In her ground-breaking radio documentary, Childless, Hilary Fennell explores the realities and dynamics of being involuntarily childless in a child-centered society.

Her voice as a childless not by choice woman, is interwoven with the stories of six other women. Each of the women speak to their diverse journeys in coming to terms with living a life without children.

Currently, it is estimated that one in five women in Ireland will not have a child, by the time they reach age 45. It is further estimated that only 10% of these women are childless by choice (child free). Childless, focuses on the other 90% of women, who represent an often less represented group.

This group is often silenced by the taboo nature of this topic, which remains today, despite the number of women living without children, not by choice. Further, these statistics do not include other genders. A majority of countries primarily track the parental status of women only.

Societies have become obsessed with motherhood and the idealization of human reproduction, supported by pronatalist rhetoric, which is reinforced through policy, in the workplace and socially.

Hilary navigates the social, physical and emotional impact of childlessness throughout her documentary, with skillful artistry and a full heart, amidst the shadows of grief, a call for social change, and the lightness of learning to live a full and meaningful life.

Please join us to learn more about her incredible radio documentary, and the issues that matter most to those who are living without children, involuntarily.

What are the current implications of pronatalism for people without children, collectively and globally? How do extremist actors influence pronatalist agendas, reproductive rights and what is the social impact on our community? In today's episode we will focus on some of the current and urgent realities facing us, and the importance of our informed awareness and response to these issues. Joining us are Nandita Bajaj, Executive Director of Population Balance, and TTherese Shechter, director of the documentary My So-Called Selfish Life and founder of Trixie Films, to discuss the immediate and long term implications of pronatalist extremism for our community. Tune in to learn more about the ways pronatalist propaganda has weaponized fertility decline, in an effort to control reproductive choice and healthcare, and how the childless community specifically, is being targeted in the pronatalist agenda.