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Activists Around the World: Reproductive Rights · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stephan
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Never Told You production off I Heart Radio. Well y'all,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: it's been a rough couple of well, I guess years
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  Speaker 1: and really but it feels like the hits keep coming.
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  Speaker 1: So we wanted to take some time out today to
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  Speaker 1: give flowers to those who have made it their livelihood
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  Speaker 1: to fight for and protect our rights and are still
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  Speaker 1: doing it till this day. So we're gonna talk about
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  Speaker 1: two amazing activists and what we are now referring to
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  Speaker 1: activists and advocates around the world because we want to
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  Speaker 1: keep it inclusive obviously, and uh yeah, we want to
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  Speaker 1: talk about two amazing activists who have and are working
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  Speaker 1: for reproductive justice around the world. Dr Grace Codindo and
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  Speaker 1: Loretta Ross. So we're just gonna jump right into it.
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  Speaker 1: Are you ready, Annie, I am so ready. Let's go. So.
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  Speaker 1: Dr Grace Kodendo was born in the South of Chad
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  Speaker 1: and attended school along with her siblings, and soon after graduating,
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  Speaker 1: received a grant from the Canadian government to study medicine
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  Speaker 1: at the Universe's Day Dave Montreal. Thank you Annie for
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  Speaker 1: the assistance. She continued in her medical studies focusing on
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  Speaker 1: gynecology while studying in Sudan. She soon started returning back
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  Speaker 1: to her country in Chad after receiving another grant from
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  Speaker 1: the government of France to work on reducing the infant
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  Speaker 1: mortality rate in nine and at that time it was
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  Speaker 1: one of the highest in the world, averaging eight hundred
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  Speaker 1: deaths per one hundred thousand births and um not to
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  Speaker 1: make it about the US, but for those of you
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  Speaker 1: living in the United States who may be wondering what
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  Speaker 1: the stats are here in the US well, as of
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  Speaker 1: twenty it was five d forty one point nine deaths
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  Speaker 1: to one hundred thousand births, So we're not okay if
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  Speaker 1: you were wondering. Condendo continued working with the women and
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  Speaker 1: children and Chad even after the end of the grant
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  Speaker 1: and her amazing work the attention of other professionals in
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  Speaker 1: Europe and in North America. She continued her practices, working
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  Speaker 1: to fight against female genital mutilation as well as continuing
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  Speaker 1: to work in reproductive healthcare to combat the high numbers
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  Speaker 1: of maternal deaths. Thanks to her hard work and continue
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  Speaker 1: dedication to her community, Condendo was able to show a
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  Speaker 1: decrease in death related to childbirth at one hospital and
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  Speaker 1: Chad the largest maternity hospital, which went from fourteen percent
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  Speaker 1: to two point three percent in two thousand and eight,
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  Speaker 1: as well as a decrease in death during pregnancy from
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  Speaker 1: to seven point three percent. Her work continues to be
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  Speaker 1: an inspiration and has inspired so many, including through film
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  Speaker 1: in two thousand five, the BBC documentary at Dead Moms
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  Speaker 1: Don't Cry and then the two thousand nine follow up
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  Speaker 1: documentary entitled Grace under Fire, all inspired by her. Her
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  Speaker 1: work has helped begin or inspire nonprofits such as Hope
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  Speaker 1: for Grace, Condendo and Life for African Mothers are l F,
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  Speaker 1: a m which helps fund medical help, volunteers and help programs.
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  Speaker 1: She has been organized for her courageous works, including the
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  Speaker 1: Chat Medal of Honor, the f I G O Slash,
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  Speaker 1: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Distinguished Community Service
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  Speaker 1: Award for Emergency Obstetric Care, and the Millennium Development Gold
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  Speaker 1: Torch from the Danish government. Right and I believe she
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  Speaker 1: was a professor for Columbia University as well and has
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  Speaker 1: been working with them. We don't have much of an
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  Speaker 1: update of what she's been up to recently, but obviously
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  Speaker 1: her impact was huge and one of the conversations with
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  Speaker 1: the l f a M, which was helped started by
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  Speaker 1: another medical person, nikk You nurse I believe from the UK,
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  Speaker 1: who was inspired by Dr Kadendo's work, started to help
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  Speaker 1: with this foundation helping to make sure they've gotten the
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  Speaker 1: right pills and such for reproductive care. So it's been amazing,
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  Speaker 1: um to see what they've talked about and how they've
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  Speaker 1: changed the face of health care for so many of
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  Speaker 1: those who are pregnant um in different countries. But moving
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  Speaker 1: we also wanted to highlight another activist which many of
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  Speaker 1: you probably already know about have talked about, but again
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  Speaker 1: we think it's important to re talk about, continue to
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  Speaker 1: talk about and shout out what they're doing. Loretta Jay
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  Speaker 1: Ross and Ross as a civil and reproductive rights activists
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  Speaker 1: from the United States. Born in Texas in nineteen fifty three,
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  Speaker 1: Ross has been an activist and advocate throughout her life
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  Speaker 1: and it was in the seventies when she was demonstrating
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  Speaker 1: as an undergrad that she was actually a tear gas
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  Speaker 1: So she knows how this goes and she has experienced
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  Speaker 1: so much throughout her life as an advocate. She became
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  Speaker 1: a founder of the National Black United Front, which was
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  Speaker 1: quote a freedom fighting organization working for cultural and development
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  Speaker 1: of African people. And she has been a change maker
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  Speaker 1: for many of these organizations that have often left people
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  Speaker 1: of color out, whether it's to the programs or nonprofits
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  Speaker 1: such as programs like through rape crisis centers or Domestic
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  Speaker 1: Violence Provision organs and other programs. Ross was the first
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  Speaker 1: black woman to become director of the Oldest Rapes Crisis
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  Speaker 1: Center in Washington, d C. Which was the only crisis
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  Speaker 1: center at that time and primarily serving black women in
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  Speaker 1: other women of color, in nineteen seventy nine, and it
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  Speaker 1: was around this time that she first organized the National
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  Speaker 1: Conference on Third World Women in Violence in d C.
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  Speaker 1: And in nineteen eighty seven, Ross organized the first National
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  Speaker 1: Conference on Women of Color and Reproductive Rights. It was
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  Speaker 1: also around this time that Ross was appointed Director of
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  Speaker 1: Women of Color Programs for the National Organization of Women,
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  Speaker 1: and she did that from nineteen eighty five to nineteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty nine. And she continues to have a long history
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  Speaker 1: and her work for reproductive justice. But before we look
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  Speaker 1: at her impressive work in that area, let's talk a
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  Speaker 1: bit more about her history. Her parents immigrated to the
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  Speaker 1: States from Jamaica. Her father was a military officer and
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  Speaker 1: later a postal worker, and her mother worked in the
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  Speaker 1: domestic field as well as owning a music store, but
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  Speaker 1: later stopped to stay home with her children. Ross excelled
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  Speaker 1: in school and would move up in her academic career. However,
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  Speaker 1: at the age of eleven, Ross was raped by a stranger,
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  Speaker 1: and she was later raped by a distant cousin, which
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  Speaker 1: led to her pregnancy, and because abortion wasn't legal or
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  Speaker 1: accessible at the time, Ross gave birth to her son
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  Speaker 1: at the age of fifteen. She became pregnant again at
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  Speaker 1: the age of sixteen, but was able to have a
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  Speaker 1: safe abortion as it was legal at that time in
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  Speaker 1: d c. And though she was originally awarded a scholarship
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  Speaker 1: for Harvard, it was rescinded because she had a child um,
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  Speaker 1: but she was able to go on to attend Howard
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  Speaker 1: University in nineteen seventy. Ross became active in her advocacy
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  Speaker 1: work during her time in college, with her interest in
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  Speaker 1: black nationalist politics, civil rights, black women, feminism, and other
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  Speaker 1: levels of activism right so in nineteen seventy six, Ross
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  Speaker 1: became one of the first women of color to file
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  Speaker 1: a lawsuit and win against the manufacturer of the birth
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  Speaker 1: control the Diekon Shield, which was an I U D
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  Speaker 1: acquired by the A. H. Robbin's company in the nineteen
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  Speaker 1: seventies that was given to more than two point eight
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  Speaker 1: million women worldwide and caused severe injury and even led
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  Speaker 1: to death to for many of these people. And ha ha.
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  Speaker 1: If you want more in depth and the horrify and
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  Speaker 1: look at the history of the dal Con Shield, you
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  Speaker 1: can go listen to the Behind the Bastard's episode guested
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  Speaker 1: on f Y. I lots of content warnings in that
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  Speaker 1: one because it was traumatic just for me to listen
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  Speaker 1: to it and go back on a lot of conversations
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  Speaker 1: about eugenics, able is um um, you know, racism, all
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  Speaker 1: the all the stuff that happens so uh Ross. After
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  Speaker 1: receiving the Dalkon Shield, Ross was hospitalized due to pelvic
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  Speaker 1: inflammatory disease and was sterilized while in a coma without
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  Speaker 1: her consent, and it was stated that she was told
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  Speaker 1: by the doctor that they assumed that she would be
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  Speaker 1: happy to no longer need the usage of birth controls
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  Speaker 1: or deal with administration m hm uh. And it was
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  Speaker 1: during this time that she became more impassioned on reproductive
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  Speaker 1: and racial justice advocacy, linking that that she really believed
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  Speaker 1: that it goes hand in hand. I also would agree
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  Speaker 1: with that, as in fact, Ross was one of the
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  Speaker 1: first to help coin the term reproductive justice, with the
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  Speaker 1: idea that they would pursue reproductive justice with the framework
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  Speaker 1: of social justice ideas and strategies. It was within these
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  Speaker 1: I deal so they pushed a look at reproductive justice
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  Speaker 1: on an intersectional level. So I just want to put
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  Speaker 1: a side note here that this is one of the
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  Speaker 1: reasons we think it's so important when we talk about
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  Speaker 1: abortion rights and reproductive justice rights that we look at
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  Speaker 1: black women because they are the founding beginnings of this conversation. Sure,
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  Speaker 1: we had planned parenthood and they were doing some things
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  Speaker 1: on their own. There's a lot of bleak history behind
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  Speaker 1: that as well, but there was good, but there was bad.
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  Speaker 1: But what we need to talk about is the fact
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  Speaker 1: that when we talk about reproductive justice, we're talking about
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  Speaker 1: a type of human rights that was it has to
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  Speaker 1: be led by women of color because they know what
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  Speaker 1: this is. Okay about Ross's other accomplishments. After the Supreme
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  Speaker 1: Court ruling of Webster versus reproductive health services. In she
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  Speaker 1: fifteen other black women published We Remember African American Women
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  Speaker 1: Are for Reproductive Freedom, which was a pamphlet that spoke
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  Speaker 1: out on our rights for reproductive choices and connected the
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  Speaker 1: history of anti black racism and misogyny to the rights
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  Speaker 1: of autonomy of self and body, and two hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty thousand copies were distributed. She would go on to
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  Speaker 1: be director, member of an even founder for so many
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  Speaker 1: more programs such as National Black Women's Health Project, DC
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  Speaker 1: Commission on Women, Center for Democratic Renewal, and the National
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  Speaker 1: Center of Human Rights Education, and so many more. There's
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  Speaker 1: so many more and so many more. In she Los
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  Speaker 1: Rodriguez and fourteen others founded Sister Song Women of Color
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  Speaker 1: Reproductive Justice Collective, whose goal is quote to build an
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  Speaker 1: effective network of individuals and organizations to improve institutional policies
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  Speaker 1: and systems that impact the reproductive lives of marginalized communities.
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  Speaker 1: So that is from their site and it continues on
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  Speaker 1: that They formed because they quote recognized that we have
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  Speaker 1: the right and responsibility to represent ourselves and our communities
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  Speaker 1: and the equally compelling need to advance the prospectives and
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  Speaker 1: needs of women of color. Um and by the way,
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  Speaker 1: that organization still exists and are still going strong and
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  Speaker 1: are at the front of what is happening today when
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  Speaker 1: we're talking about trying to obtain our rights once again.
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  Speaker 1: So they are someone that you should be following, you
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  Speaker 1: should be donating, and you should be listening to. So
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  Speaker 1: uh and she has not slowed down at all. Ross
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  Speaker 1: acted as national co director of the March of Four
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  Speaker 1: Women's Lives in two dozen four, founder of the National
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  Speaker 1: Center of Human Rights Education here in Atlanta, Georgia, and
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  Speaker 1: it still exists. I try to get a job there.
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  Speaker 1: I did not Annie, I did not know. She is
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  Speaker 1: a writer, a scholar, a professor within these fields as well.
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  Speaker 1: And of course she's been recognized for amazing wars, including
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  Speaker 1: recipient of the Community Helped Activist Award from the Black
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  Speaker 1: Women's Health Imperative, the only award from the International Black
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  Speaker 1: Women's Congress Foundation of Black Women's Wellness Legacy Award, and
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  Speaker 1: so much more. Um And as for her recent thoughts
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  Speaker 1: on the sustainability of reproductive rights today, especially when it
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  Speaker 1: comes to black folks, she says in her interview and
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  Speaker 1: Black Women Radicals dot Com quote, reproductive justice is based
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  Speaker 1: upon the Global Human Rights Framework. It's actually a portal
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  Speaker 1: for bringing human rights to the United States. Globally, people
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  Speaker 1: are using the human rights framework. I think that's one
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  Speaker 1: of the things that makes reproductive justice so attractive to
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  Speaker 1: people trains nationally, because it resonates with what they're familiar with,
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  Speaker 1: which is embedding our demands for bodily autonomy, the right
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  Speaker 1: to have children and the right not to have children,
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  Speaker 1: and the right to raise our children in safe and
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  Speaker 1: healthy environments in the global human rights framework, which has
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  Speaker 1: to be respected, protected and achieved for any of these
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  Speaker 1: other things to take place. I'm really energized and excited
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  Speaker 1: about the way people use reproductive justice in a very
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  Speaker 1: localized context, and they're doing it in a very adaptable way. Um,
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  Speaker 1: and I think that's really important. She also has come
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  Speaker 1: out and talking about how to call people in. I
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  Speaker 1: think she's the one that actually coined that as well,
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  Speaker 1: instead of calling people out. UM. So we'll have to
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  Speaker 1: look at that maybe on a further different look, but
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  Speaker 1: she has become a pioneer for reproductive justice. Has become
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  Speaker 1: a pioneer when it comes to a civil rights movement,
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  Speaker 1: especially at this time and age, with our being able
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  Speaker 1: to coin terms like women of color and reproductive justice.
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  Speaker 1: There's obviously a lot that she has done and has
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  Speaker 1: seen and has laid out foundationally for us to learn. Yes, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: and as we've been talking about, it's always important to
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  Speaker 1: learn this stuff and to do the work and to
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  Speaker 1: respect people who have been doing this work um and
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  Speaker 1: everything that they have done. So in the meantime, as always, listeners,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: if you have any suggestions for people we should talk
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: about in this segment, please let us know. You can
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: emails at Stephanie mom Stuff at i heeart me and
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: dot com. You can find us on Twitter at mom
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Stuff podcast or on Instagram and stuff I Never told you.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Thanks there's always To our super producer Christina, you are
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: super Thank you super hero. Yes and thanks to you
• 12:57
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