We Dissent

Alison, Liz, and Rebecca are joined by Jenifer McKenna to talk about the billion dollar crisis pregnancy center industry and its role in the anti-abortion movement. They discuss the massive harms caused by these unregulated fake clinics, Jenifer’s work on the first multi-state CPC investigation, and a new approach to exposing their unethical tactics and fighting back.

Show Notes

• Reproductive Health & Freedom Watch

• “Designed to Deceive: A Study of the Crisis Pregnancy Center Industry in Nine States”

• Reproductive Health & Freedom Watch: Recent CPC research and analysis

• “Why is the billion-dollar unregulated pregnancy clinic industry receiving increasing taxpayer dollars?”

• “Unregulated Pregnancy Clinic Industry’s Revenue Soars to $1.7 Billion Annually”

• “Anti-Choice Leaders Are Mobilizing Thousands of Unregulated Pregnancy Clinics Against Abortion Access Ballot Initiatives”

• Jenifer McKenna’s Ms Magazine articles

• “Anti-Abortion Extremists Are Diverting Tax Dollars to Crisis Pregnancy Centers”

• “Unregulated Pregnancy Clinics Collect Health Information From Pregnant People—With No Privacy Protection”

• “Documentary ‘Preconceived’ Exposes Horrors of Crisis Pregnancy Center Industry: ‘I Came to You for Help. Why Did You Lie?’”

• Women’s Law Project

• Gender Justice

• Rewire investigation on LIFElink Carolina 

• ”Preconceived” Documentary 

Cases

• NIFLA v. Becerra (2018)

• Jane Doe v. Clearway Clinic (2023)

• Four Women Health Services v. Abundant Hope Pregnancy Resource Center (2024)

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

Alison, Liz, and Rebecca interview Sarah Posner, author and interviewer. They discuss the evolution of the Christian right, debate how to talk about Christian Nationalism, and break down the sky high stakes of this year’s election. 

Show Notes

• Sarah Posner’s Website

• Sarah’s new book: Unholy: How White Christian Nationalists Powered the Trump Presidency, and the Devastating Legacy They Left Behind

• Previous episode on Project 2025

• Anna Bower, Lawfare: “Will Georgia's New Election Rules Allow Trump to Steal the Presidency?”

• Catherine Joyce, Vanity Fair: "Behind the Catholic Right’s Celebrity-Conversion Industrial Complex"

• Previous episode with interview of Christians Against Christian Nationalism’s Amanda Tyler

• Lydia Bean, The Politics of Evangelical Identity

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

Alison, Liz, and Rebecca dig into Project 2025, the comprehensive transition project for the next conservative administration. They explain the project and illustrate the throughlines of its policy agenda— Christian nationalist ideology and the obliteration of the separation of church and state.

Background

• SPLC on Alliance Defending Freedom

• Project 2025’s Four Pillars

• #1: Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise

• #2: Presidential Personnel Database & Presidential Administration Academy Questionnaire

• New York Times (2024) - “A Questionnaire for Applicants to the Next Conservative White House” 

• #3: Presidential Administration Academy

• ProPublica (2024) - “Inside Project 2025’s Secret Training Videos”

• #4: 180-Day Playbook

• Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers

• U.S. Department of Education “Dear Colleague Letter”

Resources

• AU’s Project 2025 Hub

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

Alison, Liz, and Rebecca speak with Wisconsin State Senator Kelda Roys. They discuss what it’s like to be a nonreligious lawmaker in today’s legislative world as well as the threat of Christian Nationalism to our secular democracy and civil rights like reproductive freedom.

Background

• Senator Kelda Roys' bio

• Congressional Freethought Caucus

• Abortion resources 

• aidaccess.org

• plancpills.org

• Previous episode that discusses mifepristone

• Jessica Valenti substack

• Jill Filipovic substack

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

Alison, Liz, and Rebecca break down the 2024 Supreme Court term. They explain how the Court decided the two cases affecting abortion access, then they explain several other decisions of the Court that massively disrupt how the government functions and shift even more power away from the people. 

Cases and Background

• Mifepristone Case - FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine

• Previous episode

• Decision

• FFRF and AA’s Amicus Brief

• AU’s Amicus Brief

• EMTALA Case - Moyle v. US

• Previous episode

• Decision

• Joint Amicus Brief

• Chevron Case - Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo

• Previous episode on regulations

• Decision 

• SEC v. Jarkesy

• Corner Post v. Federal Reserve

• Presidency and Criminal Liability Case - Trump v. US

• Decision 

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

Alison, Liz, and Rebecca are joined by reproductive rights expert, political strategist, and advocate Maya Rupert. They discuss how the fight for reproductive justice is being waged post-Dobbs and why the personal has never been more political. 

Background

• When We Win with Maya Rupert

• Center For Reproductive Rights

• National Women’s Law Center

• Explanation of EMTALA

• Joint amicus brief

• Episode 30 - The Mifepristone Case at SCOTUS

Cases

• Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022)

• Moyle v. United States (2024)

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

Not two years after overturning Roe v. Wade, the US Supreme Court is considering a case that threatens to take the abortion pill, mifepristone, off the market. Alison, Liz, and Rebecca explain how the anti-abortion activist lawsuit started, how it got to the Court, and what we learned from the recent oral arguments.

Background

• SCOTUSblog

• Oral arguments transcript

• FFRF’s Trump judges report

• Americans United’s amicus brief

• FFRF and AA’s joint amicus brief

• New York Times (2021) - “F.D.A. Will Permanently Allow Abortion Pills by Mail”

• FFRF’s Ask An Atheist - “Dr. Alito, What Pills Can I Take?”

Other Links

• Episode 9 – No Victory for Religious Liberty: Discussing Coach Prayer with Rachel Laser

• AU’s Website

• FFRF’s Website

• AA’s Website

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

Alison, Liz, and Rebecca welcome guest Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee and lead organizer of BJC’s Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign. They discuss the urgent threat that Christian nationalist ideology poses to American democracy, how nonreligious and religious Americans alike can fight back, and Amanda explains the strong historical tradition of supporting state/church separation in the Baptist movement.

Show Notes

• Amanda Tyler’s Bio

• How to End Christian Nationalism by Amanda Tyler

• Baptist Joint Committee 

• Respecting Religion Podcast

• Roger Williams Symposium: Is This a Christian Nation?

• BCJ and FFRF’s joint report “Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021 Insurrection” 

• Christians Against Christian Nationalism

• Previous episode that talks about the Texas chaplain bill

• BJC’s "say 'no' to chaplains in public schools"

• FFRF’s 2023 Convention Panel on Christian Nationalism 

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

Join Rebecca, Alison and Liz for a journey through the history and principles behind the U.S. exempting churches from taxation! We discuss the practice of tax exemption for charitable organizations, including churches, the major cases about the constitutionality of these ideas, and abuses of the Johnson Amendment. 

Background

• History of churches and taxes

• 2024 State of the Secular States report

• FFRF FAQ on churches and tax exemption

• Churchtrac - The State of Church Giving: Trends and Statistics (2024)

• IRS requirements for church audits

• Other podcasts that talk about church taxation

• Tax Chat

• Evangelicalish

Cases

• Trinidad v. Sagrada Orden (1924)

• Walz v. Tax Commission of the City of New York (1970)

• FFRF’s IRS Cases

• FFRF v. Geithner (2014)

• FFRF v. Daniel Werfel (2014)

• Gaylor v. Mnuchin (2016)

• Nonbelief Relief v. Kautter (2019)

• Texas Monthly v. Bullock (1989)

• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.

It’s that wonderful time of year when Alison guides Rebecca and Liz through the upcoming legislative sessions in states across the country. We discuss upsetting trends in state legislation and bills we’re monitoring that affect the separation of church and state and threaten true religious liberty for everyone.

Background and Resources

• Previous episode about the legislative process

• Previous episode about Texas

• 2024 State of the Secular States report

• American Atheists State Legislation Tracker 

• What you can do

• FFRF and American Atheists’ Action Alerts

• Equality Florida

• ACLU State Affiliates 

• Reproductive Freedom For All

Bills Discussed

• Religion in schools

• School chaplain bills

• Texas

• Florida

• Indiana

• Nebraska

• Alabama

• Oklahoma HB 2962: Would require the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms

• Utah HB 269: Would allow teachers to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms

• Arizona SB 1151: Would allow teachers to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms

• West Virginia SB 280: Would allow teachers to each intelligent design as a theory of how the universe came to exist

• Trans bills

• The Guardian - “Missouri is ground zero for the firehose of anti-trans legislation”

• Missouri HB1674: Would make it discrimination for a business to allow trans employees to access appropriate bathrooms

• Utah HB 257: Would make using a bathroom that does not align with one’s sex assigned at birth a criminal trespass offense

• Healthcare

• Missouri HB 1519: Prohibits discrimination against health care professionals who refuse to assist in trans healthcare

• Oklahoma SB 1729: Would recognize abortion as homicide

• Idaho HJR001: Would remove the no aid clause from the Idaho constitution

Cases Discussed

•  Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)

• Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022)

• Stone v. Graham (1980)

• Van Orden v. Perry (2005)

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Our website, we-dissent.org, has more information as well as episode transcripts.