rePROs Fight Back

We are approximately one year into Trump 2.0, where the administration has dismantled the systems we have worked to build. Civil rights offices have been gutted, DEI programs paused or eliminated, data erased, and enforcement mechanisms present behind-the-scenes. Meanwhile, the decimation of USAID and the de-prioritization of global health have led to a radically different foreign policy architecture and the closure of health clinics, service disruption, and the shutdown of community organizations abroad. Gayatri Patel and Preston Mitchum, Senior Fellows with rePROs Fight Back, sit down to talk with us about attacks to LGBTQI+ rights and gender, and how these attacks intersect.

Attacks on gender equality have been front and center, as evidenced by the early release and adoption of Project 2025. This is, of course, exacerbated by attacking DEI and inclusion. From the federal to the state level, all-out assaults on gender equality, transgender health and rights, and sexual and reproductive health and rights continues. Attacks on LGBTQI+ issues are insidiously persistent. This includes the restriction of access to gender affirming care, the banning of transgender people from school sports, and the stripping of inclusive terms from federal guidance. Black and brown LGBTQI+ people, especially those dealing with poverty, immigration systems, or disability, are disproportionately feeling the rollbacks in rights. 

For more information, check out Relationscapes: https://www.relationscapes.org/

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If you're planning to have an abortion soon or you have had one in the past… if you’re feeling a strong emotion (or many of them) before or after receiving care… or if you are looking to support a friend, Becca Rea-Tucker’s (author, baker, and reproductive rights advocate) new book, The Abortion Companion: An Affirming Handbook for Your Choice and Your Journey, is a safe and supportive resource to learn more and have a safe space. 

Becca wrote the Abortion Companion after her own abortion. Many pre-existing products for abortion contribute to stigma, but Becca’s book emphasizes that any feeling (including joy, sadness, relief, or a mix) is ok to feel. The book features self-compassion exercises, comfort tv and movie sections, conversation scripts, affirmations, and more. The book also offers a break from the day-to-day fight for abortion care, imagining a future where the world is unapologetically pro-abortion. 

For more information, check out Relationscapes: https://www.relationscapes.org/

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America is facing a gender backlash—a backlash so swift and severe, it feels more like a whiplash. Right now, no group is more at risk than trans Americans. On his first day back in the White House, Trump signed a controversial executive order meant to deny trans identity and push transgender people out of public life. Since then, attacks on trans rights—trans existence—have become increasingly hostile and widespread. But even as many conservatives work overtime to focus the public's ire on trans people, it's clear that their attempt to enforce a strict gender binary could have much broader consequences. Consequences that will reach all Americans.

If you enjoy this drop, check out the season here. 

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In the U.S., a large proportion of immigrant communities remain unable to access healthcare. And even before the fall of Roe v. Wade, Latine people, immigrants, and communities of color faced disproportionate barriers to abortion care. Criminalization, ICE raids, travel, and language barriers further deter immigrant communities from seeking abortion care. Lupe Rodriguez, Executive Director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice (NLIRJ), sits down to talk with us about how immigrant justice and reproductive justice intersect. 

Latine people make up 41% of uninsured people in the country, and a large portion of that number reflects immigrant communities. Many immigrants, depending on the type of immigration status they hold, are not eligible for Medicaid. In some states, undocumented immigrants are not able to buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) marketplace. In addition, language barriers increase the difficulty of navigating the healthcare system. 

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” (OBBBA), passed earlier this year, will be devastating. According the NLIRJ, nearly 1 in 3 Latine people around the country rely on Medicaid for healthcare access, and many Latine communities also rely on Planned Parenthood as a hub for healthcare access. Combatting mis- and dis-information, building community, and progressive policy change can make a difference in this horrible moment. 

For more information, check out Relationscapes: https://www.relationscapes.org/

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There’s still time in the year to hear from leaders and advocates in the sexual and reproductive health and rights field! On this episode of our most popular series, SRHR Hero Origin Stories, we talk to a number of amazing heroes in the field of reproductive health, rights, and justice about how they began working in this space. On this episode, hear from Lupe Rodriguez, Executive Director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, Dr. Monica McLemore, Professor at New York University’s Rory Meyer’s College of Nursing, Samira Damavandi, Senior Policy Associate for Federal Issues at the Guttmacher Institute, and Jennie Wetter, Director and Host of rePROs Fight Back.

If you haven’t already, check out our previous episodes, SRHR Hero Origin Stories: Round 7, SRHR Hero Origin Stories: Round 6, SRHR Origin Stories: Round 5, and more.

For more information, check out Relationscapes: https://www.relationscapes.org/

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Feminist foreign policy is a policy framework that challenges traditional understandings of foreign policy. It prioritizes peace, gender equality, human rights, and environmental integrity. Jill Montilla, Development and Communications Associate with the Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative and Spogmay Ahmed, Senior Policy Advisor with the Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative, sit down to talk with us about why a framework that disrupts colonial, racist, patriarchal, and male-dominated power structures is critical.

Upwards of 15 global governments have formally committed to utilizing a feminist foreign policy, and many more have engaged with the topic in multilateral settings. A recent, re-occurring report from the Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative, which analyses over 20 countries’ commitment to feminist foreign policy, found that these policies have survived more elections than they have lost, that several countries have expanded their commitments, and that several countries have increased multilateral, bilateral, and regional activity. Many governments have taken up sexual and reproductive health and rights, in particular, as a priority. Some countries have stepped back from their commitments, though, amongst a troubled landscape for funding. 

For more information, check out Relationscapes: https://www.relationscapes.org/

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Impending Medicaid cuts, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s defunding of Planned Parenthood, and the freezing of Title X funding have fueled clinic closures across rural areas. Ashley Kurzweil, Senior Policy Analyst for Reproductive Health and Rights at the National Partnership for Women and Families and Sarah Coombs, Director for Health System Transformation at the National Partnership for Women and Families sit down to talk with us about the future of rural hospitals and clinics and the patients they care for.  

Many Medicaid cuts will take effect in January of 2027. One of the most immediate impacts of the law is the failure to extend premium tax credits-- which helps those who do not have access to Medicaid or employer-sponsored health coverage-- afford marketplace coverage. Rural residents, who have higher rates of Medicaid coverage and benefits from enhanced ACA premium tax credits, will be disproportionately affected. Increased financial strain will be placed on these rural hospitals, and maternal health programs, labor and delivery units, and reproductive health care clinics will be dire in rural areas. This will disproportionality impact Black communities, indigenous communities, and Latina communities, as well as rural health workers.

For more information, check out Relationscapes: https://www.relationscapes.org/

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It’s that time of year again! Ready for a reprisal of our most popular series, SRHR Hero Origin Stories? If you haven’t already, check out our previous episodes, SRHR Hero Origin Stories: Round 6, SRHR Origin Stories: Round 5, SRHR Hero Origin Stories: Round 4, and more, where we talk to a number of amazing heroes in the field of reproductive health, rights, and justice and about how they began working in this space. On this episode, hear from Christina Krysinski, Associate Director for Global Advocacy at Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Asha Dahya, filmmaker, reproductive rights and freedom advocate, and mother of two, and Rachel Marchand, Senior Policy Analyst and Podcast Producer at rePROs Fight Back.

For more information, check out Relationscapes: https://www.relationscapes.org/

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No one’s health experiences exist in a vacuum. Individuals live multifaceted lives and often have multiple, intersecting health concerns. Our health influences our lives, and our lives (including our economic realities) influence our health. Nourbese Flint, President of All* Above All and All* in All Action Fund, sits down to talk with us about how comprehensive reproductive justice, including abortion access, requires economic security.  

To achieve full reproductive justice, people need access to abortion care. To access abortion care, people need economic security. Being unable to access abortion can lead to a host of negative outcomes, including but not limited to economic insecurity. In the U.S., money and access to healthcare go hand-in-hand. 

The Hyde Amendment refuses to cover abortion care for those who receive their insurance from the federal government, forcing specific people to pay out-of-pocket for an abortion. And, more broadly, general healthcare continues to be impacted by the government shutdown, which was negotiated on the back of Affordable Care Act subsidies. Since Trump’s second inauguration, funding freezes have impacted vast swaths of those working in sexual and reproductive health and rights both in the U.S. and abroad. General healthcare is not, in any way, disconnected from abortion access, and both issues closely intertwine. Maternal health, obstetrics, delivery, rural hospitals, and more are also impacted. 

For more information, check out Relationscapes: https://www.relationscapes.org/

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Texas, long at the forefront of restrictive abortion policy in the U.S., has passed a new law (which goes into effect in early December) which would take state law and the already in-place abortion ban (SB 8) and apply it beyond its borders. Jessica Waters, Senior Scholar in Residence at the School of Public Affairs at American University, sits down with us to talk about Texas’ new law restricting telehealth medication abortion, an incredibly common and safe method of care.  

Specifically, the law prohibits the manufacturing and distribution of mifepristone in the state, and outlines the inability to mail, transport, deliver, prescribe, or provide abortion-inducing drugs to anyone in the state. Currently, pregnant people in Texas cannot receive legal abortion care, so they have relied upon out-of-state abortion care. This new law, though, allows for anyone to sue an out-of-state company or medical professional which provides a person in Texas with mifepristone, even if that doctor or company is in a state where abortion is legal. This law is in direct tension with the shield laws that protect against this very scenario. This will likely create a chilling effect on doctors and abortion funds out-of-state. 

For more information, check out Relationscapes: https://www.relationscapes.org/

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