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Women Around the World: Polish Reproductive Rights Organizations · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Danny and Samantha. I don't come to stuff.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I never told you production of High Radio and we
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: are doing uh, something a little different once again. We
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  Speaker 1: did this on the last Women Around the World, but
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  Speaker 1: we wanted to do it again for Poland this time.
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  Speaker 1: And we're going to talk about a few organizations, uh
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  Speaker 1: that are women lead and working to fight for the
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  Speaker 1: women and people with uterus is in general, uh in Poland,
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  Speaker 1: and we want to acknowledge what's happening there as well
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  Speaker 1: as the fact that we're kind of watching and learning
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  Speaker 1: from them, I guess because there's a lot of stuff
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  Speaker 1: happening here in the US as well. And I know
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  Speaker 1: we definitely have some listeners who have either family in
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  Speaker 1: Poland or are from Poland or in Poland. And we
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: want to go ahead and time stamp this first and foremost.
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  Speaker 1: Today is December two. Uh, this is our first recording
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  Speaker 1: in December actually, but we did want to talk about
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  Speaker 1: what's happening there, um, including some of the recent events
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  Speaker 1: as well as yes, things are happening here in the
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  Speaker 1: US with our own Supreme Court hearing of a specific
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  Speaker 1: case in Mississippi that could possibly gut or a return
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  Speaker 1: row versus Wade, which has been a focal point in
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  Speaker 1: the US when it comes to abortion rights as well
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  Speaker 1: as reproductive rights in general. And yeah, we are on
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  Speaker 1: edge and kind of nervous about what's happening, so we're
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  Speaker 1: trying to kind of learn and see what happening around
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  Speaker 1: the world who may have actually are fighting this already
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: on a higher level. Is that the way to say it, Nannie,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of the best way to put this,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: trying not to be too pessimistic at the same time,
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  Speaker 1: just realistic. But you know, things are things, And yes,
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  Speaker 1: for those who are listening and are like I said
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  Speaker 1: that are in Poland and or know what's going on
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  Speaker 1: there or have family there, you all have been great
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  Speaker 1: about letting us know what's happening that we may have
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  Speaker 1: missed and or do not know, and may also tell
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  Speaker 1: us how to say uh names organizations that we are mispronouncing,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: and we are trying our damnedest. I really really promise
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: we are. Before we started recording, we've been looking out
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  Speaker 1: pronunciations for like twenty minutes, um, So I absolutely know
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: that we are not going to do a great job
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  Speaker 1: with if some of this pronunciation, please excuse that, but
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  Speaker 1: at the same time, we did not want to not
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  Speaker 1: talk about it just because we couldn't say it. And
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  Speaker 1: for you listeners, if you have a correction, please yes,
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  Speaker 1: let us know, because we want to be respectful of
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  Speaker 1: all of the things that are happening there as well
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  Speaker 1: as the amazing people who are working to fight, uh
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  Speaker 1: for the rights of others and for themselves. So let's
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  Speaker 1: jump into it. Yeah, we wanted to do a quick
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  Speaker 1: revisit of what is happening in Poland and though we've
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  Speaker 1: talked about this for a while now um as in fact,
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  Speaker 1: we've got a couple of episodes to go check out
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  Speaker 1: some of our Monday mini's, but we wanted to come
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  Speaker 1: back and talk about some of the amazing women at
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  Speaker 1: organizations who are continuing to advocate for the right of
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  Speaker 1: women and those with uteruses. And this is going to
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  Speaker 1: be yes a part of our Women around the World series. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: so just a quick review. This year, Poland placed a
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  Speaker 1: near total ban on abortion, with the only exceptions for um,
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  Speaker 1: if women's life and health are at risk or if
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  Speaker 1: the pregnancy was due to rape or incest. And there
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  Speaker 1: have been protests that have been occurring throughout the country
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  Speaker 1: at the time, um when we were revisiting what happened,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: because we kind of did a couple on this and
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  Speaker 1: we were like, we're talking about it, and then we
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  Speaker 1: revisited it again. There had been several arrests and charges
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  Speaker 1: under the guise of health and guidelines and policies placed
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  Speaker 1: due to COVID, and the arrests have not slowed down.
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  Speaker 1: According to one Polish newspaper, at least four thousand people
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  Speaker 1: have been quote brought to court for protesting, but luckily
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  Speaker 1: many of the judges have dismissed the cases, stating they
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  Speaker 1: were quote violating the constitutionally guaranteed right to assembly. And
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  Speaker 1: one specific woman who's been involved for a while, Marta Lampard,
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  Speaker 1: has had to deal with at least eighty one of
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  Speaker 1: these cases. Lampart, who is a lawyer by profession, is
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  Speaker 1: a co founder of the organization of Polish Women's Strikes,
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  Speaker 1: who we've talked about previously on episodes about the abortion band.
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  Speaker 1: Lampart and Clementina Suhanoff started the organization All Poland Women's Strike,
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  Speaker 1: which in Polish is Ognell Pulsky Strike Copiate or OSK
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  Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen as a women's rights movement to protest
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  Speaker 1: the rejection of the Save Women Bill. H The organization
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  Speaker 1: was responsible for the twenty six black protests which took
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  Speaker 1: place in a one forty seven different Polish cities in
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  Speaker 1: towns and osk has not slowed down. They also organized
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  Speaker 1: they protest after the ruling of the abortion ban, but
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  Speaker 1: not only that. In seventeen they with the Argentinian women's
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  Speaker 1: rights activists helped launch the International Women's Strike with twenty
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  Speaker 1: eight other countries, and the organization, with Lampard as a leader,
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  Speaker 1: continues to work in seeking to change what has happened
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  Speaker 1: in Poland, at the risk of her own freedom and
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  Speaker 1: even her safety. She is possibly facing up to eight
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  Speaker 1: years in prison, has been threatened to the point that
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  Speaker 1: she now has to have police escort due to the
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  Speaker 1: level and nature of the threats. But as she says,
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  Speaker 1: when she was asked if she was afraid for her life,
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  Speaker 1: she said no, I'm not afraid and continues the work
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  Speaker 1: now trying to collect signatures for a petition to table
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  Speaker 1: the law in Parliament and bring about real discussion around
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  Speaker 1: the dangers of the law right. So she essentially was
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  Speaker 1: just like, you know what, the protesting starting to die down.
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  Speaker 1: They're not paying attention. Uh, they're throwing all these charges.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to do a petition and she's garnering a
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  Speaker 1: lot of attention with that. Um And with that, we
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  Speaker 1: wanted to talk about another organization that's been part of
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  Speaker 1: this continued fight, which is the Abortion Dream Team. Socially,
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  Speaker 1: it was a Facebook name. They adopted the name it
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  Speaker 1: just stuck um and was created by Carolina Viskovich, Justina Wizinska,
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  Speaker 1: Natalia Bran New Chick, and Kinga Jalinska Uh. The Abortion
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  Speaker 1: Dream Team works to educate and normalize abortion in Poland
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  Speaker 1: while assisting and participating with the protests that have been
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  Speaker 1: happening around the country. They also have taken the approach
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  Speaker 1: of telling the stories of those who have gone through
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  Speaker 1: the process to normalize the controversial topic and bring a
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  Speaker 1: personal stance to the debate. And since the recent ruling
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  Speaker 1: of the band, they have become more focused on providing
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  Speaker 1: information for transportation for those who are finding access outside
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  Speaker 1: of the country. Co founder of Vietskovich has said that
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  Speaker 1: since the pandemic, the organization has become the quote ultimate
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  Speaker 1: travel agency is been making sure to help anyone who
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  Speaker 1: needs assistance in finding access near them. Right then there's
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  Speaker 1: Abortion without Borders. So Abortion Dream Team and Women's Strike
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  Speaker 1: have been working with organizations to best help those who
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  Speaker 1: are in need of abortion access, including with abortions without Borders.
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  Speaker 1: Abortion without Borders was launched in twenty nineteen and has
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  Speaker 1: been working tirelessly to find accessible care for anyone that
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  Speaker 1: is looking. In this year alone, they've been able to
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  Speaker 1: assist thirty four thousand women in Poland to access these services,
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  Speaker 1: including getting access to pills and traveling to clinics outside
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  Speaker 1: of the country. UH They also have been able to
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  Speaker 1: provide outside services and any local services to those that
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  Speaker 1: have been reaching out through their hotline and other contacts,
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  Speaker 1: and according to their website abortion dot Eu, they have
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  Speaker 1: been able to provide financial assistance to at least two
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  Speaker 1: hundred and sixty people currently and the number continues to
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  Speaker 1: grow as they are continuing to assist as many people
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  Speaker 1: as possible. Some other organizations we wanted to shout out
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  Speaker 1: um Women, Help, Women in Abortion Support Network and Varshavsky Jewa,
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  Speaker 1: which all have been working to fight and advocate for
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  Speaker 1: reproductive justice in Poland right and recently um A woman
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  Speaker 1: diad die due to septic shock, and one who had
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  Speaker 1: been denied uh an abortion by the doctors in the
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  Speaker 1: hospital that she was at due to their fear of
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  Speaker 1: the punishment from the government had they gone through with it.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, there's a lot of back and forth of this,
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  Speaker 1: and it kind of unfortunately her death has become a
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  Speaker 1: rallying cry about what could possibly happen in the dangers
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  Speaker 1: of these laws um And at the same time, those
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  Speaker 1: who are anti abortion are pushing a specific build that
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  Speaker 1: would go after anyone who did have an abortion and
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  Speaker 1: or assisted for possibly like without prison of at least
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  Speaker 1: twenty five years. So there's a lot of talks about
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  Speaker 1: what's happening, and according to the same reports, we're seeing
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  Speaker 1: that kind of like in the US, most of the
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  Speaker 1: people are actually all about giving access. They do not
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  Speaker 1: have a problem with abortion access. They do not have
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  Speaker 1: a problem in that they think that it should be
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  Speaker 1: a person's choice and not necessarily the government. So it
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  Speaker 1: is again interesting to see how the main federal lines
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  Speaker 1: are very different from their people's and again kind of
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  Speaker 1: like in the US, how we've seen it. We know
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  Speaker 1: that according to polls, people are not against abortion, as
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  Speaker 1: in fact it's more than who are like, yeah, no,
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  Speaker 1: we think pro choice is the way to go. But
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  Speaker 1: of course we have the louder, more conservative cries of
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  Speaker 1: anti choice narrative that's been happening and that is happening
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  Speaker 1: currently in our country as well. Um, so we're definitely
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  Speaker 1: watching all across the world essentially about what is happening
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  Speaker 1: and who is being denied access and who is being
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  Speaker 1: punished essentially, and and and about the fact that yeah,
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  Speaker 1: this is dangerous and it is going to cause a
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  Speaker 1: lot of harm when we talk about these types of
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  Speaker 1: laws and these types of bands overall. Yeah, yeah, it's
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  Speaker 1: a it's it's frightening. Um yeah, but I mean, if
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  Speaker 1: you're looking for the silver lining, it is amazing to
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  Speaker 1: see um, these organizations and these women and these people
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  Speaker 1: fighting and fighting and fighting, and we have seen that
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  Speaker 1: around the world and we've seen it across um this
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  Speaker 1: country as well. And uh, yes, as you said Smith
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  Speaker 1: that we would love to hear from your listeners wherever
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: you may be, what's going on where you are, if
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  Speaker 1: there's any organizations or resources or people any of that
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: kind of stuff we should shout out. Please, I'll let
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: us know. You can email us at stuff you need
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: your mom Stuff at iHeart meta dot com. You can
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: find us on Twitter at mom Stuff Podcast or on
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Instagram at Stuff I've Never Told You. Thanks as always
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: to our super producer Christina Really, thank you so much,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening stuff Whatever told me?
• 11:01
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• 11:05
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