rePROs Fight Back

In April 2025, some organizations and health centers receiving Title X funding were given sudden notice by the current administration that critical funding would be withheld. This action by the federal government threatens roughly $65.8 million in Title X funds and implicates an estimated 846,000 patients. It has resulted in massive layoffs, stopped contracts, mental strain, and confusion for both employees and patients. As patients are not receiving the care they need due to a stop in funding, possible results could include rising rates of unintended pregnancies, rising rates of STIs, poorer maternal health outcomes, and later diagnoses of breast and cervical cancers. 

 We sit down with co-founders and executive directors of some of these impacted organizations, including: 

Michelle Trupiano, Executive Director for the Missouri Family Health Council, and

Danielle Lampton, and Jamie Bardwell, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Directors at Converge in Jackson, Mississippi.

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

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Immediately after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade,shock, sadness, and anger were predominant. But even still, abortion providers, abortion fund workers, and other advocates and leaders in the field provided, facilitated, and fought for access to care. Carole Joffe, professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco and professor emerita of sociology at UC Davis, and David Cohen, law professor at Drexel's Klein School of Law in Philadelphia and pro bono counsel to a number of Pennsylvania abortion clinics, sit down to talk with us about their book, After Dobbs: How the Supreme Court Ended Roe but not Abortion.

Since Dobbs, abortion numbers have gone up, likely related to impassioned grassroots advocacy, media coverage, fundraising, and the help of abortion funds and patient navigators. Some additional developments since Dobbs include providers moving their offices to different states and abortion pills becoming increasingly depended on. In addition, some similarities in both legal ruling and repeal of bodily autonomy can be drawn between Dobbs and the recent, devastating Supreme Court ruling, United States v. Skrmetti, which upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors. 

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

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 We’re dropping in with an episode from Sex Ed with DB, a podcast all about inclusive, pleasure-focused sex ed. In this episode, host Danielle Bezalel sits down with Dr. Emily Nagoski — bestselling author of Come As You Are — to talk about what it really takes to keep sex fun and fulfilling in long-term relationships. They cover desire myths, polyamory, and the science behind sexual connection. Plus, Emily shares her top three tips for great sex with a long-term partner, and there’s a hilarious new listener story in their segment Booty Call. 

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

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2/3 of Massachusetts voters support expanding access to abortion later in pregnancy, according to recent polling. Massachusetts still has on the books a 24-week abortion ban, with additional exceptions later added. Jeanette Kincaid, Associate Director of Care Coordination at DuPont Clinic and Kate Dineen, abortion later in pregnancy patient and advocate and Board Member of Reproductive Equity Now, sit down to talk with us about Massachusetts’ abortion access status and the reality of exceptions.

When Kate, located at the time in Massachusetts, had a personal experience needing access to an abortion later in pregnancy, she was told travel would be necessary to obtain care. Kate then traveled to the Washington, D.C. area to receive the care she needed. Currently in the Massachusetts, Kate and other advocates are working to pass the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act, which would expand access to abortion care after 24 weeks of pregnancy based on the best professional judgement of a licensed physician. Getting rid of the state’s gestational ban would increase access to care and equity not only for Massachusetts, but for the Northeast region. 

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

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The One Big Beautiful Bill is a reconciliation bill which passed the House and has moved on to the Senate. Included in this bill are provisions that would defund Planned Parenthood, threaten health insurance access, undermine access to abortion and gender-affirming-care nationwide, and raise costs on working families. Ianthe Metzger, Senior Director, Advocacy Communications at Planned Parenthood, sits down to talk with us about this insidious bill and how it, among other things, threatens the care Planned Parenthood provides.

Defunding Planned Parenthood, which refers to cutting the provider out of the Medicaid program, would threaten access to cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, prescription services, abortion care, and more across the country. In fact, a new analysis shows that, if the bill passes, nearly 200 health centers across the country would have to close, and 1.1 million people who depend on Planned Parenthood for a spectrum of care would be forced to look elsewhere.

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

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Mifepristone is the first (and extremely safe) in two medications that people will take during a medication abortion—and access to it is under blatant attack in the courts. Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, Public Health Scientist based at University of California San Francisco, and Julia Kaye, Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, sit down to talk with us about recent anti-abortion propaganda and how it could be used to shape the FDA’s regulations of medication abortion.

A past case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, was brought by anti-abortion groups to a federal judge in Texas known to have a hostile record against abortion with the goal of challenging the FDA’s mifepristone regulations. The Supreme Court ruled that these groups could not challenge the regulations in June 2024. Anti-abortion Attorneys General of Missouri, Kansas, and Idaho are now attempting to revive this litigation, called Missouri v. FDA. Meanwhile, a new report from a Project 2025-backed organization falsely states that 11% of people who have a medication abortion have a serious adverse event. Sec. Kennedy has cited this report as a basis for conducting a “complete review” of the FDA’s mifepristone regulations. 

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

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There are many reasons why someone may require a third-trimester abortion, including both fetal implications and maternal implications (such as health diagnoses and difficult life circumstances). Dr. Shelley Sella, retired OB-GYN, first woman to openly provide third-trimester abortion care in the U.S., and author of Beyond Limits: Stories of Third-Trimester Abortion Care, sits down to share her expertise, discuss the multitude of reasons why someone seeks a third-trimester abortion, and touch on the personal stories shared in the book.

Dr. Sella became involved in the women’s health movement in college, which eventually sent her to medical school to begin her journey studying to be an OB-GYN. Dr. Sella was mentored by Dr. George Tiller, who provided late term abortions and who was assassinated in Kansas in 2009. Beyond Limits follows Dr. Sella during a week at the abortion clinic, sharing stories of patients requiring third-trimester abortions for a myriad of reasons. 

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

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Global reproductive rights and investment in the agencies and organizations that support reproductive rights have often been used as a political football. The bodies of women, girls, and LGBTQI+ persons have been used to push and pull power for decades—and this anti-rights, anti-choice framework has become increasingly exported around the world. Beth Schlachter, Senior Director for U.S. and External Engagement for MSI Reproductive Choices, talks to us about how attacks to human rights frameworks and funding will further endanger global reproductive health and rights.

Some apparatuses the U.S. have been using to redefine human rights, and therefore, redefine access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services, include the Commission on Unalienable Rights, the International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief, and the Geneva Consensus Declaration. These frameworks and tools then get internationally exported. MSI has a host of programs around the world that will be impacted by these tools, frameworks, and funding attacks. MSI’s programs support maternal health and access to other reproductive health services. In addition, these attacks will likely and broadly impact child marriage programs, the PEPFAR program, the Sustainable Development Goals, and more.

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

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Title X, under the Public Health Services Act, allows for a family planning and reproductive health-based pool of funding that government agencies and nonprofits can apply for and use to support patients. Providers who receive Title X funding see all patients regardless of insurance status and income level. Clare Coleman, President and CEO of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA), sits down to talk with us about the recent and extremely harmful changes to Title X announced by the new administration.

At the beginning of April 2025, the government announced the withholding of 22 Title X awards. These awards, given consistently to projects who are years into their research, were rescinded with one day’s notice. On an annual basis, this impacts about $66 million in Title X funds-- about a quarter of all Title X grants. As of today, there are no Title X funded services in eight states, and 15 other states have lost either some or most of their Title X funding. About 842,000 people were served under these grants, and the number of health centers that are affected totals 865. These changes will impact access to care (particularly for young people and those with low incomes), affordability, and contraceptive choice.

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

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T/W: Discussions of suicide in the last 1/3 of this conversation

The health, rights, and wellbeing of the LGBTQI+ community are under increasingly distressing strain, with a collection of new court cases only cementing the burden. Preston Mitchum, writer, policy analyst, consultant, star of Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard, and Senior Fellow with rePROs Fight Back, sits down to talk with us about a host of Supreme Court cases that have broad and damaging implications for the health and rights of the LGBTQI+ community.  

Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, Inc. is a SCOTUS case surrounding the Affordable Care Act’s requirements for low-cost coverage of preventative services, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which is used by many different populations. This could threaten the affordability of an essential and effective medicinal treatment, pushing the price high enough that PrEP becomes inaccessible to many. Mahmoud v. Taylor revolves around school boards’ inclusion of books featuring LGBTQI+ storylines in the school curriculum, citing a violation of religious rights. 

In addition to the above Supreme Court cases, A leaked budget showed that there would be significant funding cuts and elimination of services for 988— a three-digit number to reach the national suicide and crisis hotline. Preston’s work was instrumental in the legislation that developed this number, which passed the House, passed the Senate, and was signed by President Trump in his first term. The line has counselors specifically for high-risk groups, including LGBTQI+ folks. 988 is still available if you need someone to talk to. 

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

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