Reproductive rights and the rights of transgender individuals are issues that are deeply rooted in bodily autonomy and have been under constant assault for the past year (and many years before). Jessica Mason Pieklo, Senior Vice President and Executive Editor at Rewire News Group and co-host of the Boom! Lawyered podcast and Katelyn Burns, columnist for MSNBC, writer for Medium, and co-host of podcast Cancel Me Daddy, talk to us about the ways in which these two issues are intertwined as well as the importance of supporting reproductive rights and transgender rights as their own, incredibly important individual human rights concerns. 

 The same systems seek that seek to oppress transgender rights undoubtedly oppress reproductive rights, and vice versa. For example, the recent Texas abortion law, SB8, bans abortion at six weeks and empowers pseudo-vigilantism, allowing for the reporting of anyone who “aids and abets” someone in accessing an abortion for a financial incentive. Similarly, in 2015, a Texas state representative introduced a bill that would supply $2,000 bounties to those who turned in transgender students found in bathrooms.

 It’s also critical to remember, though, that reproductive rights and transgender rights should be able to stand strong as their own individual issues, and that both movement deserve support based on their own merits. In 2021, transgender rights faced a barrage of attacks. Most notably, conservative lawmakers have pushed legislation that would prevent transgender women and girls from competing in sports. Other bills attempted to ban trans adolescents from accessing gender-affirming medical care, such as puberty blockers. For abortion access, 2021 has been the most devastating year since before the passage of Roe v. Wade in 1973. On top of the six-week ban passed by Texas and the multiple copycat bills popping up in state legislatures around the U.S., attacks on abortion access have accelerated greatly over the past year due to the extremely conservative make-up of the federal court system.

 Ceaseless assaults on transgender rights and reproductive rights point toward an exceptionally concerning direction that federal and state governments are headed—one that directly challenges basic human rights, bodily autonomy, and the safety, wellbeing, and health of so many across the country.

 Links

Jessica Mason Pieklo on Twitter
Katelyn Burns on Twitter

National Network of Abortion Funds map

Boom! Lawyered podcast

Cancel Me, Daddy podcast

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