rePROs Fight Back

Amy Littlefield on Her New Book: Killers of Roe: My Investigation into the Mysterious Death of Abortion Rights

From an IRS agent who originally penned the Hyde Amendment to the lawmakers involved in creating parental consent laws, there are several actors in the antiabortion movement’s fight to dismantle Roe v. Wade. Amy Littlefield, abortion access correspondent at the Nation, freelance abortion writer, and author of Killers of Roe: My Investigation into the Mysterious Death of Abortion Rights, sits down to talk with us about the motives, means, and opportunities behind the antiabortion movement's victory, and more closely unpack the murder of Roe.For more information, check out Future Hindsight: https://www.futurehindsight.com/Support the showFollow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfbFacebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.comRate and Review on Apple PodcastThanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Fertility Tracking Must Be Grounded in Evidence and Reproductive Justice

Fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) are different approaches to tracking fertility and identifying which days someone is most likely to conceive if they are having sex without contraception. These include features such as tracking one’s menstrual cycle, basal body temperature, and cervical mucus, among others. Chelsea Polis, Principal Research Scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, sits down to talk with us about different FABMs, their effectiveness, advantages, and disadvantages, and why it is necessary for each method to be rooted in scientific evidence and reproductive justice. By tracking these markers, someone can choose to have sex for the purposes of pregnancy or abstain from sex/use additional contraception methods if they seek to avoid pregnancy. Based on their advantages and disadvantages, FABMs may work for some individuals and not others. Some people use FABMs for contraceptive purposes, yet not all of the methods have been tested for that purpose or approved by any regulatory body for that use. Some methods are engaging in inappropriate marketing as a contraceptive tool, when it is not backed up by science or regulatory approval. FABMs have also become a piece of the Make America Health Again (MAHA) movement, being touted as a substitute for the full spectrum of reproductive care.To best integrate FABMs as a contraceptive option into the full menu, we need to support providers, fund research, and combat misinformation. For more information, check out Future Hindsight: https://www.futurehindsight.com/Support the showFollow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfbFacebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.comRate and Review on Apple PodcastThanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Shocking In Its Cruelty: Looking Back at The First Year of Trump 2.0

It has now been one year of the second Trump administration, with many attacks to sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice aligning entirely with Project 2025’s blueprint. Amy Friedrich-Karnik, Director of Federal Policy at the Guttmacher Institute and Anna Bernstein, Principal Federal Policy Advisor at the Guttmacher Institute, sit down to talk with us about the year’s assaults on sexual and reproductive health and rights, LGBTQI+ rights, and science and healthcare by the Trump administration. From day one of their return to office, protections for abortion access put in place by the Biden administration were rolled back. This included several protections for privacy, emergency care, and veteran’s access. President Trump immediately pardoned anti-abortion activists who had previously violated the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act and has stopped enforcing the act in most places. Anti-science rhetoric increases, with the Food and Drug Administration endorsing junk-science against mifepristone-- one of the drugs used in a medication abortion. To promote mis- and disinformation, data sets, research, and websites were removed from the internet. The passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act defunded Planned Parenthood and set work restrictions on Medicaid coverage. Additionally, the administration froze Title X funding, expanded the already-expanded Global Gag Rule, and issued endless attacks to the transgender community.For more information, check out Future Hindsight: https://www.futurehindsight.com/Support the showFollow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfbFacebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.comRate and Review on Apple PodcastThanks for listening & keep fighting back!

A Year of Harms: The Impact of US Foreign Aid Cuts on Women and Girls in Humanitarian Crises

A humanitarian crisis-- where life has been upset by natural disaster, conflict, or forced displacement-- can disproportionately impact women and girls. Women and girls, at disproportionate risk for gender-based violence, maternal health complications, and barriers to accessing aid, have different requirements in these settings. Julianne Deitch, Associate Director of Research at the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC), looks back with us on this last year’s foreign aid cuts and talks to us about the substantial impacts on women and girls in crisis.Before 2025, the U.S. was one of the largest donors to humanitarian aid globally, with aid hovering at 13 billion dollars annually to address immediate needs for population in crises. Still, humanitarian aid made up less than 0.1% of the gross national income. In January 2025, the Trump administration froze all U.S. foreign aid and dismantled U.S. foreign assistance infrastructure (including closing USAID). Over the last year, WRC collected concrete evidence from over 32 countries. They found that women and girls in humanitarian crises: 1) have lost access to necessary health care (maternal health, sexual and reproductive health care, antiviral drugs, and more); 2) are less safe from gender-based violence; and 3) have lost access to women-led, targeted, trusted, local support. Increased funding, advancing the life-saving principle of gender-specific humanitarian aid, supporting local, women-led organizations, and holding governments accountable are all recommendations for addressing this reality. For more information, check out Future Hindsight: https://www.futurehindsight.com/Support the showFollow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfbFacebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.comRate and Review on Apple PodcastThanks for listening & keep fighting back!

Abortion Criminalization and ICE Are Barriers to Reproductive Justice for AAPI Immigrants

The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community is made up of various ethnicities, languages, and translation needs, requiring different and individualized advocacy and policy discussions-- particularly when that policy relates to sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice. Christina Baal-Owens, Executive Director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) sits down to talk with us about recent research performed by NAPAWF showing the most pervasive barriers to abortion access for the AAPI community and AAPI immigrants in the U.S. Stigma, cultural differences, language and translation, and healthcare deserts prevent AAPI immigrants from accessing necessary services, such as abortion. Additional clinics and health centers, improved language accessibility, and expanded access to health insurance (regardless of immigration status) are all options for lowering barriers to this care. It is important to remember that ICE activity impacts AAPI communities, too. ICE’s presence negatively affects the realization of reproductive justice; many might be fearful to access services outside their homes, many might worry about their naturalization process, or others may be stymied by criminalization and stigma.For more information, check out Future Hindsight: https://www.futurehindsight.com/Support the showFollow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfbFacebook: rePROs Fight Back Bluesky: @reprosfightback.bsky.social Buy rePROs Merch: Bonfire store Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.comRate and Review on Apple PodcastThanks for listening & keep fighting back!