Reproductive Justice: Past Lessons and Future Visions panel

And the program was W MST 2 31 women in perspective. So it is really um that class which has been taught now for 50 years. Uh That was the beginning of the program and we're really happy to have students from that class uh Here with us

today. Uh It was a class that a lot of people fought hard for both uh students and faculty. It wasn't something that just kind of showed up and was like, uh it was something that people fought for. Um And we're really, really happy uh to see

it uh still going strong. 50 years later, uh We're very honored to have three wonderful panelists for this topic, uh which is as relevant today. Um As it was when the department was founded, I'm going to start with Diana Phillip right here. Um Diana Phillip has

30 years of experience working for gender rights through legislation, policy reform litigation. She's worked with organizations such as Jane Du Process, Baltimore, abortion funds, Naral Pro Choice Maryland. She received her B A in Criminal Justice and Sociology at Indiana University and her master's in Women's and

gender studies at Towson University going all the way down to the far end. Um uh Doctor Tamisha Ponder, uh who just defended her dissertation at U NBC in the language literacy and culture program. She's the founder of Sankofa Yoga and Wellness Center which provides education, mental

health services, prenatal yoga and other health and wellness services. She's a trained doula and an advocate for reproductive health. In addition to her doctorate, she holds a Bachelor of Science from Bowie State and her master's in women's and gender studies from Towson University. Unfortunately, Michelle Siri

from Maryland Women's Law Center could not be with us today. Uh Bills relating to reproductive rights came up in the state legislature. Uh So that's where she is right now. She's an Annapolis um advocating. Uh but we were very, very lucky and honored to have Samia

Sao. Uh the co-founder CEO and Creative Director of the Violet Project which focuses on sexual and reproductive education for young people. Samia is a clinical researcher at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and gynecology and obstetrics. Uh They hold a B A from Duke University where they

double majored in global health and gender sexuality and feminist studies. And again, we're so honored uh to have all three of you here with your expertise, uh your experience and your passion for reproductive justice. Uh We'll begin by asking our panelists to introduce themselves and their

work uh to discuss their own definitions of reproductive justice. Say a little bit about what they see as the successes uh and or failures of the past 50 years or so and outline their own visions for the future of the reproductive justice movement. And I'm going

to start talkers too. So that's why. So that's great. Great. Hello. Um Ponder Tamesha Jackson. Ponder when I was a student here with Taha Jackson. Um So what I do is a good thing. Can you hear me? Ok, great. Actually get louder without the microphone we

know we were talking about, let me bring it down a little bit. But um the work that I do um I, I have a health and Wellness organization um in, in the city of Laurel County. Um And so it's a yo studio, it's a um Wellness

center primary care as well as a mental health facility. And so my husband and I opened it around four years ago and it specifically um started off as a yoga center. And so um as a doula as a yoga teacher and all the spaces that I

found. Of course, I was the only, we like to say, sometimes chocolate chip black person in this space in many spaces that I was in. And so opening up the yoga studio for the first space was that to be to have a Black Yogi. Um What

I was noticing in the space was that I had many black women who were entering the space who were with child um were recommended to come to the space um to help reduce um black maternal mortality, right? And that is, and that is the space in

which I occupy right now is that I had so many women in my, in my studio who were scared literally to death, um literally to death is that I knew that I had to do more in this space. And so I kind of became a, a

prenatal uh haven, uh prenatal and postpartum haven. And so then I actually did more work in doula work, which came full circle with my work at Towson when I was a, a masters student and it just made, it just clicked. And so I would want to

continue and um my lens of reproductive justice now looks like um um maternal health justice. Um but in the space of not only birth dola but postpartum doula abortion doula as well as bereavement doula because occupying the space, I come into a lot of unfortunate situations

where moms unfortunately pass as well as their, as well as their Children. So my work is actually is on the ground in the hospitals, in the birthing centers, in the homes, in the doctor's offices, um with, with women and birthing people who are experiencing um being

turned away, not being believed, um not being listened to when they're sharing their, their concerns around their health. Um And so if I could define reproductive justice in the lens in which you occupy, now, I would say agency um and information and education three words. Um

um because there's misinformation about not only us as black women, but there's also a lack of education around. Um our likes, our dislikes and what we experience. Um There was, there's assassin failures of the over 50 years of the overturn of Roe V Wade. I think

particularly when it comes to black women, we have a love hate relationship with, with a lot of things. Um Of course, this, this program is actually the reason why I got into the work. My first, the first book that I was assigned um killing the black

body, Dorothy Roberts in 2009, um informed me of, of eugenics. I was unaware of that at that time. And um so the love hate relationship was being tested, experimented um not being able to have a agency of our bodies is, is a direction that I take.

So 50 years of that, um If you take about 100 years is that we were not able to control our bodies in one space. So being able to have that choice and decision, I vowed that I would continue to put that on the platform um vision

for the future short term or long term of the movement. There's so many things and I'm sure that my panelists can, can add to that my fellow panelists can. But I'm sure in this conversation we'll come up with some of those answers but I try to

keep it short because I want to talk. But, um, but essentially that the, that I occupied this evening I hope to bring more of reproductive justice through the space of um maternal health agency and um keeping us alive. Um, hi, everyone. My name is Samia. Um

I, you see her and they then pronounce, um, and I was invited here to talk a little bit about um, well, I guess we're starting with uh who we are. Yes. Right. Sorry. Um So. Oh, perfect. Thank you. Um Yeah, so I um uh and the

co-founder and CEO of a nonprofit called the Violet Project, we were started out of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Um My co-founder is an O B G Y N. Um And we kind of from our different perspectives. I mean, as I'm sure we all see just how striking

gaps are in access to education and access to care specifically for young people. Um Especially being right in Baltimore City. We wanted to create some sort of venue for adolescents to have um increased access to information about them, their bodies, information about care that they couldn't

um could receive and remove barriers to care. So, um the Violet Project is um it's three different things. So the first, the first aspect is a digital health platform. So, um we worked with um a cohort of youth in Baltimore City um to create a uh

an educational website with content that was written by youth um with, in partnership with medical professionals. Um One thing that with being in being in an era where everything we get is just from social media or from Google, we wanted to create a resource where adolescents

knew that they could really trust information they were getting when it comes to suction, reproductive health um and could learn about it in a very um easy to digest manner. Um Along with that, we kind of wanted to create a one stop shop um in terms

of a general platform that was accessible from anywhere. Um So, one of the unique features of the product is we have a completely free online store for youth uh living in Maryland. So we wanted to make access to safe sex products and period products and all

of those things that go along with sexual reproductive health um better for young people living in Maryland. So they're able to order condoms and S T I test kits and a variety of period products whenever they need them from the website. And it uh we tried

to do it in kind of a way that allowed them um privacy and confidentiality. So there's tips about shipping it to lockers or not to their houses or other locations and things like that. And a lot of the work we do really gets into the stigma

that young people in particular face when it comes to suction, reproductive health. So, um that's a big part of the organization. Um We're also a community outreach program. So we have a really large body of youth that work with us um that do a lot of

tabling in their communities. Um And they actually run um section reproductive health advocacy clubs at their high schools. Um and go through a yearlong mod, a series of modules to educate their peers about various topics like healthy relationships and um consent and S T I s

and all of those things that come with um adolescent health and suction, reproductive health. Um So that's a little bit about our organization and I am going to use this list. Um Yeah. So, yeah, so for the definition of reproductive justice, I'm very similar to things

that you said. But I think coming from an angle where we're working with young people a lot, um reproductive justice really means having access to education no matter where you are in your life, where you are, we work with folks that are as young as nine

years old and sometimes they get or a lot of the times they get left out of discussions when it comes to reproductive justice because no one's really thinking about at that young of an age, the things that you're already starting to experience and how not only

from just having a uterus and the things that come along with that, but also just how long uh how young folks um start to be sexualized, start to experience um uh um sexual content um through social media and things like that. And they often get left

out of discourse when it comes to access to the education that they need um in order to feel protected and safe and empowered about their bodies. So, um yeah, that's kind of what it means to me is making sure that folks, no matter what age or

what gender, what sexuality or what race they are, they have access to the education that they need to really feel safe. Um And also feel empowered. Um I think we'll probably get more into this um in terms of successes and failures of the past 50 years

or so and what we see in the future. But um what we have really tried to focus on in our organization is how we can use existing infrastructure to enhance the access that young people are getting to care and education. Um And we have been doing

a lot of work in schools throughout Baltimore City um to figure out how we can uh assist educators and teachers to deliver more comprehensive sex education. There are a lot of barriers at multiple different levels when it comes to doing this work. But I think um

there, there have already been a lot of improvements when it comes to like schoolwide policy. I don't know if people know, but um there was a house bill that went into effect uh in last August to require um free period products being put in public middle

schools and ba in high schools. We're seeing a lot of issues with implementation. Um And there's definitely access issues just in terms of the way that the bill is written with, you know, gender and language and accessibility issues. But yeah, but, but it's a great, I

think 1st, 1st step um and something that we really want to see in schools across, I mean, not just Maryland but everywhere. Um and also having trusted adults and educated adults who can really be sources of information for young people at every single school, which we

are trying to figure out how we can support educators and also have kind of these peer leaders across the board. Um But I think there's, there's definitely progress being made in terms of school policy, but the the ideal would be having those trusted figures and having

um infrastructure in place at every single school so that all young people could feel that they had the access that they needed. Um Yeah. No, I I I got a list. It's ok. I have a bill for you. Bye. Oh, only 60% I'm sorry, only 6%

of the health educators in the state of Maryland are actually certified. That's why we're failing a sex education. So that's a bill. Hopefully coming down the pike and, and love to work with you on that. Ok. Hi, I'm Diana Phillip. Yes. I went to the Masters

Program here. Um, yes, it took me forever traffic to get here and I'm so happy it was an actual parking space. That was very cool. Thank you. I had no idea of what it was like to try to get to class on time. All right. Um,

my background, it's actually 40 years ago when I went to college, I was 17 years old, Indiana had passed a parental involvement law, forced parental consent law, uh, without a judicial bypass at that time. And then that got struck down by the, um, Indiana Supreme Court.

But we 17 year olds were told that our parents had to no, whether or not we're gonna have an abortion. And so I helped start this transportation network to Louisville, Kentucky and Chicago. So that was my introduction to it when I was doing an internship in,

uh, in our domestic violence shelter off campus. I noticed that when I was 22 years old, that other 2021 20 year old girls were coming into shelter with these babies that they had while they were teenagers. And I realized my God, they were caught up in

the parental involvement law of not being able to terminate pregnancies and being forced to be in relationships, even marrying their partners because their parents insisted that they had to. And then that was also the year that Becky Bell died. That was the Carmel High School, uh,

senior that had gotten an illegal abortion in Indianapolis rather than going through judicial bypass. Then I moved to, I graduated from Indiana criminal Justice and sociology moved to Texas home of Roe V. Wade thinking, oh, ok. We can talk about this here. But no, it was

Texas. And I worked as a crisis intervention specialist, legal advocate for survivors of domestic human trafficking. And noticed that I was the only one sitting in the room talking about reproductive rights, talking about pregnancy, talking about abortion. And in doing that work on the front lines,

it informed my ability to do policy work because I realized things were not going to change unless we actually do policy reform. And that might mean, you know, impact litigation. It might mean legislative, you know, advocacy and city ordinances and county ordinances. And so someone threw

me in front of a mic and said, hey, there's this panel of people trying to figure out why it is that fathers for equal rights wants to not have child support laws follow. Can you stand up and talk about this? And I'm like, I don't know,

can I? And I did and it did well. And then people said, oh, can you do other things? And I realized that I had now had this career where I was looking at everything with this. So I ended up being the regional director for the American

Civil Liberties Union in Texas, top half of the state part of that was uh looking at the pregnancy rights of people who were incarcerated. A lot of folks don't think about it was being the chair of the Greater Dallas Coalition for Reproductive Freedom where we passed

legislation saying that every and you have to understand there's 1161 school districts in the state of Texas, every school district has the right to set the policy in their school clinic about whether or not school nurses could talk to students about health education and pregnancy rather

than the state of Texas demanding that. So that's those are the kind of lessons that I learned over this 40 year career that I've had. That led me to after E C L U. Um I started another project trying to hold people accountable in the criminal

justice system, what they were not doing for victims of crime. I was asked to come to DC and run an organization called the National coalition of abortion providers. That was the five oh one C four business legal lobbying entity for independent providers who provide 60 to

80% of the procedures, the abortion care in the United States and then launched the care network, which is a five oh one C three membership organization that um really supports with allies, those independent providers and lo and allowing them to keep their doors open. But even

before that, I can't believe I skipped over this when I was at L U. I got a phone call from someone saying that Texas had passed a parental involvement law. It was parental notification with judicial bypass and the lawyers were crashing and burning and we need

to create good case law. So people had an actual chance of getting their waivers through these court proceedings. So I started the first nonprofit in the United States for pregnant minors providing them legal services. I trained 100 and 50 attorneys ran a 24 hour hotline two

years into it. We did legal actions for those who wanted legal relief to. So that's I know the school district, uh Emancipation cases for those whose parents already threw them out, trying to establish the right to contract and take care of the families that they were

building and protective orders. So it wasn't just about abortion. And I think that's one of the things that's really interesting in this entire secular repro rights is everyone just always think about abortion and it's not. So, um I came to DC, I ran abortion care network

and then I stopped my career school thinking I want to become a college professor. And then I changed my mind and then um went to work as a public policy director for Free State Justice. The first one that they had and then uh the executive director

at this time, I was working for, I was at the DC Abortion Fund for six years, helped launch the Baltimore Abortion Fund. I was one of the founding board members of that. And then I was at a party actually, it's the annual that Pro Choice Maryland

puts on every year. And I asked the executive director if she needed any help because I lost my funding at free state justice. And I needed a job and they just elected Larry Hogan governor. So I said, do you need anything? She said, yeah, I need

a development director. And so I joined her staff and she left 90 days later and I became the executive director. So I um I about policy and legislation in Texas and even Indiana and the impact litigation work with the AC L U. All the organizing, all

the crisis intervention really prepared me for that job. So I ran 51 C three, a five oh one C four and a political action committee and legislatively wrote 13 original bills. Six in the law passed a bunch of other stuff in include including the menstrual hygiene.

Yeah, we did that and it's been a really great experience. But yes, it's very obvious all the things that are missing from this. And one of the things that people are still trying to embrace is the idea of reproductive justice. So we have reproductive health, which

we all traditionally knew that was the health care, access and reproductive rights. What do we have on the books through litigation? Legislation, ordinances were the so social and economic and cultural and political barriers that stop people from exercising those rights, accessing health justice. And so I,

when I came to Maryland from Texas, my friends said I'd be bored. What are you gonna do there? Back in 91? You know, I had the bad referendum in 92. What are you gonna do there? Diana, you're gonna be really bored. Did they pass a marriage?

There's no death penalty there. And I said, well, you need to know where to look. And so I started asking questions to the providers who are you're not seeing, you know, who's missing youth are missing, incarcerated. People are missing. People with undocumented status are missing. A

lot of folks are missing and they're not getting the health care that they need. And so I um yeah, there's a road map of what we need to fix and I, I'm happy to get into that conversation now. Thank you passing on to what we do.

Mhm. You need a battery change. So uh if anyone has a question, they need to formulate a little bit to have the time of a battery change. Actually good. We test for that. Testing 123. Yeah, very good. Um After Marilyn, I went and this is important,

I, I went to the National de Democracy Space because after I had done um been engaged in gender justice, civil liberties and civil rights and looking at reproductive rights and health and justice. Uh everybody I think knows that the Senate is been hampered by the filibuster.

So I joined a national try to fix the Filibuster to pass the Women's Health Protection Act. So that way we have a new law on rep report of rights on, uh, paycheck fairness act. The, what? The violence against Women Act and not have it be, um,

succumb to the pressures of conservatives who love their guns. But unfortunately, that's what happened because of the Filibuster. And again, unfortunately, the last um election we only had one senator when we needed two senators. Um try to counter match the cinema and my project ended. But

that doesn't mean that, of course, we all know that we go from job to job moving to movement project to project, transferring our skills where needed. And now I've been working with uh reproductive, I'm sorry, repro rise, Virginia, which is the New Virginia. And they just

spent 45 days, their session just ended on Saturday. They're trying to pass a gonna take four years to do it to help him figure out how to fund it. And I'm on the chair of the board for Mom Cares, which is an organization in Baltimore City.

With that in most complicated pregnancies with black women and with their babies ended up in Niki and trying to figure out not only that direct services advocacy, but the system's advocacy to allow people to have more access to doulas where it's affordable to do that. So

again, it's the looking at the direct services and trying to figure out the system's advocacy, how we can improve things and that extra time. Thank you so much. Uh Is there anyone who would like to give a question? Ok. Yes. What do they need most right

now in terms of volunteers or I know that we're trying to get help people coming in from other states where it was affecting them. What's their biggest need right now? Uh One of the last things I did at Marylyn a before I left was we created

a practical support. It was transportation and childcare and translation services for people that were traveling within Maryland and to Maryland. And even before the pandemic, people were traveling to Maryland for abortion care. So since then, there's been um a wonderful funder that has allowed Baltimore abortion

fund to hire their first staff, paid staff. And so they're now up to, I believe at least four or five people. And they've got um the practical supply network happening from what on tiers as it is, the funding say this is that the decision and what

I'm really afraid that is gonna happen is that people are going to give a lot of money towards this movement and then turn around and be attracted to something else and it happens all the time. Right? I'm waiting for the big climate change disaster in which

everyone's gonna throw their dollars at. How can we fix this how can we do something about this? And this is a big concern about the abortion funds because they were set up as volunteer organizations where 95 cents for every dollar is paid towards the procedure. But

they felt the need to professionalize because they knew that there was going to be this increased need in order to do that effectively, you need people being compensated well for developing those programs. But what the major funders in the United States are telling us is to

stop relying on major philanthropy and that what we need to turn our attention to is creating the safety nets that should already be there in our governments. So I, yes, they need the funding. They're about to do their fund aon, they're about to launch that. But

I think that everyone that can possibly help out with the idea of going to your local government to figure out what it is they can do on that part. What can the Department of Health do? What can the city council that's gonna be really important because

it's gonna be up to us on a local basis to take care of our own with Roe being overruled. We certainly do know that's up to the States otherwise I'm not so sure. But um funding definitely thank you. Would they need uh volunteers for the fund?

Theon? Yeah. So, I mean that might be if, if she's asking about. Yeah. Ok. So uh so I have some questions that um I've sort of drawn from uh student work. Um Students have been, been thinking about this and um one of the questions that students

have and Diana has actually already answered um is if you would be willing to talk a little bit about um sort of uh the origin of your interest, of your, of your personal interest in reproductive justice and sort of the origin of your work and activism

that you've been doing. Mhm So uh personal um I would say, and I, I, I jokingly say this but in all honesty, hey. Oh OK. Sorry, sir, sorry, classmate. But it's really cool. Cool, cool. OK. So, um um I would say that since my period started,

it's been trying, my uterus has been trying to attack me. That is how I explain it. That is how that is, that is the truth to my story. I started my cycle at what age 11 or so forth and it was already jacked up from the

beginning. And I say that because I felt say not only um hereditary but um in terms of my mother, she had a hysterectomy at 32. Uh my sister a few years older than me. Um At 16, her left ovary was removed. Um Tumor ate her entire

ovary literally. Um And by by examples that I was having to do a cartwheel and accidentally kicked her and she rushed to the hospital to find out a tumor. The size of a grapefruit had been growing on her, on her uterus and ovaries since, since her

period. So, when my period started, I was on watch. So it was up. She's next and I was next. At age 14, I was diagnosed with endometriosis and I had surgery at 15, I was the youngest patient who was, who had that operation performed in the

state of Maryland at age 15 for endometriosis surgery. Um, at high school. Right? And, and being told at 14 or 15 that you wouldn't be able to have kids, right? That wasn't even a concern for me at that moment. I didn't, you know, I couldn't care

less. But I had, I was lucky enough to have a doctor in O B G Y N who was also a holistic health practitioner as well. An old Indian man. He just retired. He's like 95 y'all. Um, and this is, and he had delivered me, he

delivered all my cousins. He was my mom's O B G Y N when she was 16. Ok. So he's been around the block for some time. And so he said there's a way that we can work on this. He's like, you know, I'll perform the surgery

because by that time, like I said, my uterus had been attacking side with the kid surgery was like a piece of cake in my family. It was just as much as wiping your blank, right? It was that easy. Right. It was that easy. So I had

surgery at 15. And so after that, um, I just got really intrigued and obsessed with the women's health, like, with, with my uterus, I was super intrigued and super excited, not excited. I was excited to learn more, but I never had a good relationship with my

uterus because of that. It was all, it was, it was very painful. Um, my periods, um, caused me to seize, I blacked out. I never had a good relationship. And so I was intrigued, learning more and more. Um but I also my, my connection to womanhood

was abrupt because it was always associated with pain. So I start off early as a teenager, completely just non connected to my womb. And then um I go through college and I take a few women studies courses and I love the political ideology, you know, behind

feminism. And I was super, super attractive to that, which led me to going further in my master's program when I started this house in 2009. Um I said that, you know, I want to actually study more about this and I want to take the health and

sexuality tract. I wanna learn more about holistic health. I want to learn more about this womb that I have so just left um you know, barren and not cared as much about. So this um the program um opened up my, my thirst for knowledge more and

more for something that was super personal to me. And um and I, I've always, I come from a long line of doers, um grassroots activist folks, I've always been a community organizer of things is that if I see any need, I feel a need and if

I see something is necessary, I create that space. And um um so after I completed the masters, um I started, I, I was working in a higher education and women's centers, um diversity equity inclusion directors and, and um and program directors at different universities. And I

continued doing the advocacy work and education students about that. Your period is more than just pain. It could be more than that, right? It could be more and you could find out as early as 15, which at that time, the diagnosis was around age 40 right?

So you have young girls who are being told, just deal with it, right? And it's nothing. And then here I was saying, hey, at 15, I was diagnosed like it's not just nothing, right? Um You should get that checked out and I'm talking to my peers,

my classmates all throughout college and graduate school and their doctors are refusing help for them, right? They're saying it's just a period, you know, you're supposed to have these types of pain lo and behold years later as my friends started reaching in their twenties and thirties,

now they're diagnosed with endometriosis, right? And I said, I told you this 20 years ago, 20 years ago, you should have trusted me, right? But I also come from the families that since my mom and my sisters, we all were um um exposed to that. We

knew early that I had, you know, that we needed to take control of our health. I was lucky enough to have such a great doctor who also taught me agency around my body. And I also credit to this program and that I learned how to heal

myself in this space. And I would say is that I completely changed my diet. Um At 16, I made the brave decision to let go of soda and candy y'all. Um And that was a big deal, right? Soda, candy, meat, all of that. And I was

able to actually reverse my fibroids and my cyst and my tumor, they actually decreased over years. And I'm pregnant now. Yeah, without even trying like little. Well, of course, I tried. But, but I always thought honestly, I always thought this is 20 years, like literally 20

years from the day I was told I would never have kids. 20 years later, I, I'm, I'm pregnant without a, without like all the things I was told that I would have to do in order to have a kid. It literally 20 years later is the

exact opposite. And so I say this, that, that I, I always had an interest in my womb regardless of my disassociation with it. And when I said that I saw a need, I feel the need is that um um a few years ago when I had

opened up my studio, there were so many black women who, who came in and out and they were sharing their, that they were referred here by their doctor. And so, um if it wasn't for their doctor's recommendation, they were, it was also things that were caught

too late, right? So, so I need, you know, so I need to fill a need. I decided to open up my own, if I open up my own primary care with all black doctors, all black nurse practitioners. And I saw 10,000 patients in two years, right?

And so in that space is that black women were like, I couldn't keep the door closed when they saw a Black O B, they were running to her when I saw a black nurse practitioner, they were running to her. Why? Because it is so difficult to

find for one. And secondly, is the fact that someone cared and saw them and identified and said, I understand that this is that, you know, that you're experiencing is more than just taboo. So I'm the type of person that said if I see something the next

day, I'm working on how to get that done. And I'm not the type of person who goes for government funding, this is fully funded, private funded by my own, right? Because I don't wanna be held by constrictions. I wanna be able to help my community in

the best way that I know how, whether that, that's grassroots organizing that, that that's funding from our own dollars, my own private savings because I believe that the change needs to happen and it has to start with me and it's always started with me because it

started with me as a young kid, right? Like my personal was super political and it's always been that. And so um when I serve black women, people of color, women of color specifically, they say I've never, I spent 30 years of my life and I've never

had a black doctor, right? Um That matters, it matters. So I've never had a black holistic practitioner, you know, that never met, that matters. And so in a long winded way to answer my story in terms of interest is that I became my story. And then

I worked ardently like arduously to make sure that folks learned about themselves early just as I did because I know that my peers didn't have the same story as me. So um I just find it very full circle to be around here. Now. Is that here

I am um in a space where I know that my sisters are literally um dying in childbirth. Um pre and post well educated um middle class, um upper middle class women are dying. Um And it's very scary to be pregnant. It's time maybe to be a

black woman um, when we have the highest mortality rate. But it's also a recognition is that there's more and what I do is I educate on the conditions. So racism is the number one thing. Right? And I'd be, I'd, I would, I'd be remiss if I

did not mention that the ways that we're viewed, the beliefs that we are lying is a contributing factor to why we are continuously found fatal. And if I don't tell my story and the support that I've had, then who else will be beneficial, you know, be

benefited from it. So I just serve it a testament. Um I found my passion for gender studies and reproductive health activism in college. Um When I first started college, I read a book um called Infidel People have probably heard of it. Um And it was a,

it was a book about, to, to me, I think one of the biggest pieces that stood out to me was how religion and gender and access to empowerment all intersected with each other. And the reason it stood out to me so much is because I feel

like it put into words, things that I had been dealing with all throughout my childhood, but didn't, didn't really, had constantly just been told like you're like making it all up and didn't really understand until that point that there had been. So there had been so

much just like discrimination and stigma around the, I grew up in a very religious household and um I think that book was kind of just, it was like, I want to spend my life making sure that people don't have to face all these barriers to care

and education just because of their, of these different social factors. Um I, um and it kind of caused me to just kind of reflect on my childhood in different instances that had happened. Um my family um or my parents are uh Hindu um and are still

very, very religious. I am not anymore. But um there, there was so much, I feel like in just how everything that was kind of, that surrounded the way that my family worked, both my family in um the US and um abroad in India. Um that just

taught me that like as someone with a uterus, I had a very strict place in society and it wasn't a great place. Um I still remember when I was, I think like 11 or 12, we were visiting family in India and um I was on my

period and I was literally um like, I was not, I was banned from parts of the house because I was on my period and I was, I was like 12, 11 or 12. Um And it was back then I had such a, I had such like

a reaction of anger to it but was just constantly like, shut down and like stated that it's just the way that it was and to not like express any um like frustration over feeling like I was being treated differently just because I had a uterus. Um

and it kind of was continuously like that. Even in the US going, we went to temple every Sunday and we would learn about all of these male gods and all of these like female devotees and how they were constantly worshiping. It's this whole thing about like

how in Hinduism, God is like this genderless, whatever being. But when we actually like give names to gods and give images to gods, they're always male and all of the giant uh festivals that we have every year. It's always about these male gods and these images

of these female devotees around them. And that's like how we were taught that like the world worked and how, what religion should mean to us. Um And whenever you expressed any like discontent with that, it was very much just like, like, like stop, stop questioning this,

like this is what it is. And for my mother in particular to be for religion to mean so much to her, it really had a big impact on the way that I viewed the world and the way that I viewed myself. Um And so reading that

book in college, I think really gave me kind of the words and made me feel comfortable. Um now being able to question all of those things that I grew up, um kind of reading as fact. Um and I uh took a course in the gender studies

department um and a course in the Global Health Department at my university in the same semester. Um and they kind of overlapped in a period when we were talking about reproductive health. Um And it was kind of just from there on, I just knew that that

was what I wanted to spend my life working towards. Um And yeah, I think as time has gone on, I've reflected back on things that have happened throughout my life in terms of access to care. Um Well, actually in access to care um that my mother

and my grandmothers have faced and that I didn't really realize was something that they were, was like genuinely harming them in generations before them. Um because they weren't given the access they needed as women. Um And it was kind of shocking to look back and see

that I took that as space value and it was something that should never have been ok in the first place. Um And yeah, I think the course work that I was able to take um an undergrad in the gender sexuality and feminist studies department and how

it intersected with course work that I took in um global and public health really helped me um realized that the impact that I wanted to have in terms of access to health care, really was focusing on how constructs of gender and constructs of sexuality and the

way that our society positions people um with certain identities um really does dictate so greatly access to health care and access to education just like you were talking about. So, yeah, that's, that's where my um that's where my passion for this field came from. Thank you

for that. Um Look, I do this because of my parents. My parents are the products of unwanted pregnancies. Ended up in foster care, ended up adopted into abusive and neglectful homes. And I think again, it's an old adage, but every child should be a wanted child.

And that's why I do this work. Do we have any questions from the online audience? So you might, I'm assuming you'll want to answer a little more generally. Um And maybe connect this issue to, to the reproductive justice piece which is closely related

to sexual violence. I, I can only think about policy and legislative that we've passed these laws in Maryland about title nine in offering, I believe, free legal representation for both sides of the party. And I believe that there's even more legislation that's been passed about training

and audits and trying to hold the system accountable because it's not just how there's many universities within the university system in Maryland that are fighting this or trying to figure out what to do and their students are incredibly upset And so I don't know what the

answer is. I don't know if it's pressing your particular migration to say, we know that certain things have been put in place and we, we need to know and demand what the plans are, what the plan of actions are. Um, I experienced this at Fos Frostburg.

I was speaking there a few years ago and I got hit with that question of what do we do. Um, because their school had hidden the fact that one of their security guards had assaulted a student and it was not the first time and the students

didn't know about it until I read in the paper and read that Frostburg was in trouble by the Feds for not handling it. Well, this is a huge problem on every campus. It seem quite unfortunate and I don't have a clear answer and then I'll, I'll

just add very briefly, um, just coming from the angle of working a lot more with high school students. Um, we, uh, I mean, a big part of what, what youth have expressed is that they hear from their peers that their peers don't actually even really quite

understand what sexual violence is in some contexts. It's, it's really horrible to hear. But, um, they kind a lot of, a lot of very young girls, um, state that they kind of just expect it to happen. Um, and don't understand that it is there that they

have the right to their own bodies almost. Um So one thing that we're doing is through education at a variety of high schools in Baltimore City. Um Just educating young people on what consent actually means, what sexual violence actually means and giving them concrete resources if

they have experienced something like that. But I know there's so much more that needs to be done on a legislative level that um we kind of it within our capacity are right now really focusing on education. But, um, many more things that certainly litigation works. Echoing,

um, echoing what the panels have shared education, um, defining what consensually means that fine line is especially working with, um, college students and, um, in my career, um, as like the multicultural director of things. And so working with Women's Center is that, is defining, would be

the top thing that comes up. But, exactly. Yeah. Mhm. Hi. I'm all right. Um, I wanted to know I was really interested in what all of you were saying and I wanted to know what the education looks like for men. I know that a lot of

the education and sexual reproductive health education is focused and geared toward women, especially young women. But I wanna know what are the benefits or do you think it's beneficial to have the same form of education for men and young boys as well? Um, because a lot

of them grow up to be men that have daughters or sisters that have these issues and I think that the same type of education could be beneficial for them as well. Yeah. No, the ab, like, absolutely. Um, so one thing I'll say is that when we,

when we approach schools to kind of start a relationship with them and offer, um, like, support for teaching sexual reproductive health, um, sometimes, um, teachers, I don't know if I, well, I can say that part of it, I think is that a lot of schools just

haven't been able to teach sex ed in like any format yet. And I think that what like for so many high schools, we've been like the first outside organization that's come to their school to talk about this stuff. Um And so there is still some resistance

to talking to people of all genders about this material. But um we once so I will, I will say that for schools that we have longer lasting relationships with um we do education for people of all genders and it's actually the same lesson. Um And one

thing we found is that people um like people with X Y anatomy, they are, they have so many questions about this stuff and are actually very willing to learn. Um It's just that for some reason, the burden of having all this education and protecting yourself against

pregnancy and protecting yourself against S T I S has just always falling on the person with the uterus. Um And I'm glad that we're like moving away from that and moving towards, um, both parties involved having, you know, some, um, having the knowledge and, uh, to,

um, prevent that. But, um, I, um, yeah, I would say that it's, it's really important in particular for us to educate men. Um, I think one kind of going off the sexual violence comment. Um, 11 question that we get a lot from young girls when we're

talking only to them is um you, you know, you're teaching us all of this stuff about sexual violence, but we're not the ones often perpetrating it, which of course, um and we so often focus, I feel like on what to do when you've experienced sexual violence

and not, you should not be someone who perpetrate sexual violence. Um And so having discussions that include people of all genders, certainly, I think we're, we're moving in the right direction. Um But I know that for some people, I think who perhaps this is their first

time even um like broaching the subject are still a bit resistant to it. Um But yeah, I would say whenever you have the opportunity to like give education to um anyone making it open to people of all genders is like extremely important. I just wanted to

say making it gender inclusive has just changed everything because when I was growing up, I went to Catholic school, I'm a recovering Catholic and non separated us, right? The boys were in one room to talk about what dreams and the girls were in the other room

to talk about their periods and then they brought us together and told us that we couldn't tell one another what was spoken in those isolated classrooms. And so now I want you to know that in 2019, the state of Maryland did pass a comprehensive health education

package K through 12. And it's really good. It's in, it's very inclusive. Unfortunately, the conservative Republican folks are really having a problem with it. There's something called Moms for Liberty that have been going to school boards in different counties to talk about how they're up in

arms about the idea of mandated sex education and that their kindergartners don't need to know about these things and it's really distracting from learning about math and science and you don't understand this needs to be taught in the home. But the experts in the field that

got together and took this time to build this curriculum knew exactly what they were doing right now. There's a bill that's pending saying that the school districts have to come up with a plan about how they're going to implement it because we have a couple of

counties in Maryland that flat out said we're not gonna teach this so they need to be made to do it. So that's the kind of thing that we can do along with certifying that the people teaching it actually understand what the curriculum is because we still

have situations of bringing in math teachers and music teachers and substitute teachers that teach that eight weeks of sex ed. And then we can't understand why it is that the students are walking out of the classrooms, very confused and ill informed. So I, I know that

as the MC I'm not supposed to answer, but I want to say a couple of words as just as the mother of three boys um that it's never too young to do um education around bodies and health and um sexuality and reproduction that um my guys

and there are a number of wonderful resources out there for the tenant or unsure parent who's like, oh, I don't know how to talk about this stuff that there are a number of really wonderful gender inclusive books uh that are out there that kind of allow

you to have as simple or as complicated a conversation as you want. And um I can tell you right now that, you know, my 25 year olds and my nine year old possibly know more than some of my college freshmen. Um Oh yes. And it's a

segue of what you just said. Um off of what you just said, Diana mentioned, only 6% of educators are certified. What kinds of certification would you like to see educators have as a something else? So there's only one university in the State of Maryland that offers

the certification for health education. It's Frostburg, that's it. And so, um I think that a lot of us would like to see just not the certification you get online but the kinds of grant structures in order to allow teachers, especially the supervisors of health educators to

be certified in order to learn those skills in order to learn those modules. Um There is a concern about fly by night, you know, take eight hours online and get your certification. I think that teaching pedagogy in a classroom is really very useful. A lot of

attitudes and behaviors can come out of the students. If you can make it a safe environment, then people can talk about what can work and what can't certification is incredibly key. But um we would have to pass legislation mandating that would have to happen. It would

have to be a phase 5% of the supervisors the first year. It's going to take money in order to do this because we should be, we should make up for what we have not done and we should be giving them some kind of a tuition break,

if not some grants in order for them to pay for the courses to be certified. So we've got a real fighting chance to actually teach that curriculum that people have worked so hard to build for the state. Thank you, not be related, but I feel like

it is, but it's just the comment. So bear with me. Ok. Um, I think about that, the conversation is often about, um, the education of K through 12 and, or mainly K through 12 or college. But there's so many adults, um, who are close and I

just see this so much and it's, it's, it's, it's, I don't wanna say it's comical but it's, it's, it's very glaring when I'm in the delivery room and the parents are at odds and I have helped many men off the ground. Um And I've never seen

some things before. Right. Right. As you can imagine, I'm trying to be loosely around it but not, I mean, also from just following families throughout the journey. Um and knowing just the, and, and identifying the differences of education on their parts and their, and their partner's

parts, but I would also add even around people with uteruses too. I find myself at 35 still, still, still educating my friends on how to use a diva cup, um how to use other menstrual products. Um Or knowing the difference of what exactly is ovulation like

that is even even the women in my age from 35 plus. Is that a conversation around that too? Is that so, um especially just a comment too. Um I remember when I had started my graduate program, there are many side eyes about, well, what's that degree

gonna do for you? Right. Did y'all get that too? Like women and gender studies? Like at the time when I went here it was women studies, right? Um And so it was, it's like, well, what's that? You know, you know, you're already a woman, what else

you have to learn? And then as we go through life and matriculate, I'm like, wow, like you really don't understand. I mean, I like, aside from female parts or, um, just like the anatomy, but also just like male, female relationships, gender identities think that all of

this is what makes society um society and how we are at odds. This is how we continuously have so many uh misnomers and misinformation and things. But I also want to say, I find it really odd but striking is that I have not seen, I would

say up until last year's overturn of Ray Roe versus Wade was when I first heard the most men concerned. I don't think I noticed that like, I, I noticed it in my community, like men were like, what abortion is illegal, right? Because what did that do

for them? Right? You get what I'm saying? It was like, because, because they actually started caring and I said, wow, that was an interesting dichotomy of that space. But I was, I was curious if you all um experienced that as well. Um Or at least heard

in your circles that men were also outraged. And what also it did is that, that also created a sense of no agency for them as well. So men um were involved in some space and they want to do something about it and they're asking how can

we help. So that's why I said it was a comment and bear with me. Ok, I, I just wanted to add everything up. I worked in an abortion clinic for three years and that was really heartbreaking to talk to patients about how we got there. You

know, I have an UN one pregnancy pregnancy or the pregnant uh military. I thought that was fascinating that that was a, a group of people that I had to spend a lot of time talking to them about their future contraceptive use. And um I, I just,

I, of course, this was in Texas which has um at one point, the school state school board was trying to approve and I was on a flight from El Paso to Austin and I was reading the three textbooks that they had in mind to approve one

of them had. But there was nothing in the text to explain it or talk about it. And then there was another book that had diagrams and in the text they mentioned clitoris, but clitoris wasn't part of the diagrams. And the third textbook didn't have any of

that. But, but there were 10 top ways to not get pregnant and number seven was get plenty of sleep so you can make good decisions, getting a good night's sleep. Um Do you want to sure, do you think that free or far less expensive reproductive care

for women, free and postpartum would decrease the demand for abortions at all. There are some countries where women have far better standards of reproductive health care surrounding pregnancies. So I wanna ask you, if you think this would ever be possible in the US? I like a

lot. I, I, I know nothing about the financial workings of the health care system and if it would be possible, but I would certainly say like, yes, as the more access to care that we can get, the more people are getting to choose when and if

they want to be pregnant. So um it's, you know, even better contraceptive counseling, better access to even even better access to just pregnancy tests, better access to education about ovulation and what, what actually is fertility, all of these things. So, I mean, absolutely. I think if

care were more affordable, more conducive to even um I know there's so many, so many folks who are already parents, they, they're, it's so hard for them to continue accessing health care because they don't have child care for their existing. Um So, so just better infrastructure

in terms of how people can get to their health care appointments for reproductive health and of course more affordable always. Um I'm sure would, would um allow folks to have to have Children more intended and end of their choice. I would say what I observed in

our health center, um, when it comes to contraceptive care or just, or general knowledge of education, there's a lack thereof. Um, many of the folks who will come in asking for contraception don't, aren't informed about the different types and only know one and they just call

it the pill. And, um, so we have a segment where we'll take the patients into, into the room, we'll do contra contraception counseling and then I'll provide the holistic side of things that you can do or maybe, you know, maybe it's um different routes or so

forth, the things that you can have more agency of your body if they don't want to be. Um they, they don't want to use medicine and so forth. But my realm has always been education because many things have been pushed towards the women that I work

with. They just that they've been told what to do. They've been as soon as they got their period, they just were given a pill immediately and had no decision in what type of contraception they would like to use. So, education has been my, um my biggest,

I guess entry point into, into the work is discussion around it. Um And in terms of access to health care, uh we've always had a um um a uh a non if you're looking at, at health care in certain communities. Um Medicare has uh Medicare and

Medicaid seem to be the most. Um I would say the most complex. Um, and then it's just, it's just the medical system of the health care system completely is that you have 15 minute visits, right. 15 minute visits in your doctors. Which, what are you supposed

to do with 15 minutes besides say hello? And then immediately it's open up. Right. It's like that doesn't, it's like, hello. Can we go out on a date first? Like, can we have some coffee? Right. And so that conversation, you get 15 minutes in there and

that's how much the, that's the amount of time that health insurance, health insurance provides um, a medical providers to meet with their patients. So that's already a education barrier. So, what I was doing was that they met with them for 15 minutes with their providers that

I took them alongside talking them with, you know, provided them the resources additionally and the free resources and the pamphlets and other information and say, let's talk offline, but the 15 minutes is up in the patient room, but I can talk to you more in the

lounge. And so I just, um, that's how I've been just doing my work. Is that like being the supplemental aid to the, to the uh medical providers? But it's a lot of things that they can't do but they want to do. But because of the ramifications

around it is that they're limited to 15 minutes in the room. Thank you. Um So I'm gonna take one from this list. And, um, uh we, we've talked about it a little bit around the edges. Um, but I was wondering if you could speak to the

Dobbs decision and its potential effects at both the local, national and even perhaps the international level, we have one global health expert here. Um And, um, what do you think are the best avenues of response um, considering that you've uh had sort of a real dependence

on um judicial decision for a while. And uh do you think that there are other better avenues to respond? That's a lot. Do you want me to start? Ok. Oh, yeah. Uh Congressman Jamie Raskin has always said that we only had a couple of days of

a Liberal Court, you know, Supreme Court and that we shouldn't have been surprised by what happened last year. Um We always knew that the road decision, you know, was a floor, we had a judge make a legal construct of pregnancy by trimester, which wasn't even in

the medical field to begin with. So we knew that something had to replace. And I think there was a lot of hope about the Women's Health Protection Act would have done that. So when I think about the changes that we can make, taking that kind of

legislation and passing, it means that we need to actually vote, we need to actually vote the right people in to change the Senate so we can do that. So there's a federal law because trust me, an abortion ban that gets passed, you know, even Maryland can't

deal with it. Right. So, that decision was something that we've been talking about for five years. The last five years, there's been a series of meetings. If row should fall, what should we do? Um, what about 15 states that have it protected already? How do we

build the structures that add a second, a second story to take on all the patients that are gonna be crossing state lines. How do we, what do we do with that are going to lose their jobs in the clinics in the states in which it's so

much how we increase access to medication, abortion. How do we make sure that telehealth is knocking outlawed in the states in which I just want you to know for several years, we've been talking about this and that there's a plan and the plan went into effect

right before the decision was handed down and everybody's doing everything they possibly can. What can you do about it? Um I think it depends on what state you're in, but I am not kidding about the democracy space and tying voting rights to reproductive rights and making

sure we voting their values. We can have all the rallies quite frankly, it's that elected official who's got the power to make some determinations. And we also need to pay attention to what's going on in local government if we're not paying attention to who is running

for school board. City Council, county council, abortion activists are cutting their teeth there and then they're running for higher office and then they end up in our state legislatures and then they have and end up in Congress. So those are the things that kind of kind

of keep in mind that I have in mind when I think about there's a already been influx before patients crossing into state lines to get the care that they need. But I am very, very concerned about the criminalization of pregnancy outcomes. Very concerned. It's not something

that we talk a lot. Several years since there have been, I wanna say 2800 arrests, um violations of pregnancy outcomes in which someone's had a miscarriage, a stillbirth, someone took medication. And I'm very concerned about the constitutional amendments and the statutory amendments that state legislatures are

looking towards that is not inclusive enough that is not talking about decriminalizing pregnancy outcomes or assisting people with a pregnancy outcome to make sure that they're getting the medical care that they need. Just concentrating on that little sliver about abortion is not enough. We need to

take care of everybody and we need to also remember what we've done with minors. We threw young people under the bus in order for adult women and we still have 36 states that mandate parental involvement and that's a disgrace. Uh We only have three states in

the nation that offer later abortion care. You know, that one of them is Maryland DC, which is not a state also offers it access to later. Abortion care is going to be really, really tough here. But I I'm still being optimistic. I was on a panel

discussion with the Political Science Department today at one o'clock, I did and someone asked about burnout and activism and one of the panelists said, like I just have hope, I'm just really optimistic. We're gonna figure this out. And um and that, that's where I am. Yeah,

just to add one thing about um from a health care provider standpoint. So working in an O B G Y N department, we've had a few department wide um meetings since uh the decision. Um And um one, yeah, one thing that's really concerning just about about,

like you said, any um all people who are pregnant um not just those who are seeking an abortion, but really any decisions affecting pregnancy. One thing that really stood out to me is worrisome is um health care providers are so afraid of um repercussions like legal

repercussions um especially because folks are coming from other states um uh that there's, there, there, there have been health care professionals who kind of need to make um a really instantaneous decision and they're having to get a hold of a lawyer before they can do that

and it's affecting uh it's affecting health care outcomes because they are, they're worried that they don't know what they have the right to do or not do to take care of this person's pregnancy. Um, and they're having to figure out how to consult with lawyers and

sometimes the lawyers don't even know what, what is the right decision in this, um, in this place. And law should never, it should never affect your, uh, a decision to, to, you know, to have a positive health care outcome um in any way. So, um yeah,

that's uh I'm sorry to just add more negative effects to the discussion. But that's another thing to be aware of is that it's also affecting health care decision making even in a state where um thankfully, we hadn't, we haven't had um much in terms of restrictions,

but it's still having an impact. What? Uh Yeah, thank you so much. Um For all three of your comments. This has been an amazing panel. Um So, um so grateful. Um It's, I I'm thinking about um kind of like the bigger picture where reproductive reproductive justice

is absolutely important. I'm a faculty member in the women's general department. I'm on, I'm 100% concerned about reproductive justice, but I'm thinking about all, I'm wondering if you have thoughts about how this fits into a larger picture of kind of like authoritarian is um from the

right, you know, like, um you know, attacks on critical race theory um in Tennessee cross addressing was just banned. Um That's my home state. Um You know, so like, there's, there's a, um, you know, I wanna say resurgence, but it's kind of always been there. And

reproductive justice is, you know, one response to this, like array of um uh like this, this, this broader attack on different people in different ways. Um And I'm wondering like, what you think about that, it's not a really well formed question. But do you know what

I mean? Like, how does reproductive justice fit into the bigger picture where there's an attempt to roll back the clock 100 years? Um uh you know, and, and, and all that, that means, you know, so many things that, that means, you know, it, it, it resilient

commitment to fossil fuel in infrastructure when clearly that is not working anymore, you know, that, you know, do you know what I mean? Ok, I agree because I know I know what you're saying, right? Um Because it's a, it's a, it's a comment from personal experience,

right? Um It was everything. Um I guess my perspective or, or my addition to the comment is that I, what I've noticed are lots of organizations which are making um education on abortion assessable in different ways. For example, most recently last fall, um AC L U

did a eight week abortion um clinic study, welcome study. It was eight week training on abortion around the country to help it, you know. No, matter what state that you're in. Um and others and I wanna shout out to a fellow abortion of underground um abortion

spaces that we are driving folks around the country. Um I don't know if I will say that on camera but um but, but I, I wanna get, I wanna give credit to that space is that the continued education um on, on the doula side is that

dual are inclusive of, of all the situational outcomes, right? Um There's some of the misnomer that it's only about, you know, um for, for that, that uh that do are, are anti choice. Um But that's, that's opposite in terms of that. We're, we're all, we're pro-choice,

we're for the, for the um the decision of the birthing person, but also in the space of that abortion do is very much a thing. We need more abortion doulas. And what I'm happy to see is that as actually there's a growth in abortion doulas that

more information. Um And we are like connecting in the space, like I said, operating like the underground railroad of spaces. But um on a larger scope, is that what I can do locally is continue to share the information. Um connect with folks, I know a lot,

a lot of folks in abortion clinics in, you know, Virginia where we see lots of things happen in Virginia but being a safe haven. Um And I'm not certain if I'm answering your question, but I just wanted just to share that there are other pockets of

segments who were answering the call that may not be um noticed or, you know, you know, or observed and that we are working together um and continue with other forms of trainings and just, you know, information and working collectively. I mean, what the pandemic did of

course is, is connect us uh globally nationally and we're able to meet weekly about it and find out more about what's happening in the States and just shout out, I know you've done numerous work with AC L U, you know, um but just just uh I'm

very excited to continue to work with them. Um but also with me um a dual organization that support the, support the cause. And again, I'm not certain to have answered it, but I just wanted just to share that there are other ways that we are doing

it regardless of the larger scope is that, I mean, there is clearly a larger agenda, you know, what we're doing and whether or not it's one person that we're helping or, you know, or, you know, we're 100 is that the change is happening and we just

hope that we can really move the be concise. I think the, the intersectionality of the different movements together is it's really hard to do when I was in Annapolis, I showed up for labor, for environment, for criminal justice reform, for immigration. And they would turn around

and say, Dina, it's great that you're here representing reproductive rights, but just know that we can't show up for an abortion bill and that's heartbreaking. Absolutely heartbreaking. But we were there. So environmental justice, environmental bills that talk about heat and water, um soil pollution that affects

pregnancies, right? You know, talking about immigration rights, the right for people that are undocumented to be able to give birth in a hospital and not have to worry about ice being there, being able to go to a courthouse and get your protective order and don't think

that ice is going to be there when you're trying to protect your your family. There's all these different intersections that we weighed in on 100 and 25 bills my last year as director because so many intersections were there and my job was to sit there and

go. What about pregnant people? What about the right to have families and to thrive and to be safe? And that's how we built those connections. So I know that's being done. It's just really hard to sit there at the table and have labor say, yeah, I

can't show up for your abortion bill. But what I did do in Maryland is again, I didn't talk just about abortion. We wrote um bills about pregnant parents and students. So um we wrote bills about reproductive justice inside for incarcerated people. There was all sorts of

ways to bring people in how we got the incarcerated uh reproductive justice bills actually pass if we start with menstrual hygiene products. Access. And the Republican women were upset about that. And I said while I have your ear, do you know that we are putting pregnant

people in solitary confinement in the only women's prison in the state of Maryland, right at 13 weeks to protect them. Ok, we need to ban that and we were the first in the nation to ban that, but I had to get their attention first about what

were the common issues that you would be upset about? I will say one of parental rights and how now it's parents who own the, the bodies of youth, of their Children and not understanding they have agency, they have autonomy that feeds right into spousal privilege and

spousal control. I, I don't wanna see that. I don't want to see that trajectory. I really don't. Uh, but the government is going towards a vision of controlling our bodies and a lot of people just don't understand that. I think that is something that we should

really try to raise, you know, about the government interfering in a way that they shouldn't yet. We have conservatives and republicans who don't want to be there except in our personal lives. Mm. Oh, yeah. Did someone else want to go for, um, first of all, thank

you for this. Really? To me informative and thoughtful discussion and I appreciate what Emily was saying too, she was on my democracy today initiative in the college. And we're looking at divides in the country and how to bring people together. And I do think this is

part of a bigger divide. One thing that concerns me is something that we heard from. Uh someone whose name we probably don't talk about a lot, but Marjorie Taylor Green about divorcing uh you know, different states in the country. And I think sometimes having lived for

a long time in the state of Illinois in a very liberal party state, we become complacent and judgmental, we think. Oh, it's ok where we are and all those, just those Hoosiers in Indiana and now it's Wisconsin that are the real problems. So maybe one day

they'll get it. But what I want to ask you is so we've heard a lot from you today. Uh If I were young, I might be discouraged, what inspires you as you think of the future, your, in your work. Um I'll say that. Yeah, my, the,

the young people I work with, they inspire me. They're genuinely like who just, it'll just be a comment here, like here and there like every other week and it, it just helps so much. Um When I first started working with these high school students, um are

the youngest person who was part of our peer to peer education program. She was 14. Um and she um just, she started the program with just like all of these questions and how she was so curious, but she didn't have much knowledge. Um And I think

it was like five or six months later, um she came to me and said she wanted to start um like an advocacy club at her high school for reproductive health. Um And we supported her in uh like representation at her club fair. And she spent like

two hours talking to all of these teenage boys about menstrual cycles and handing out condoms and doing all these amazing things and um to see someone like so young and there's like hundreds of other of these like very young people, but I think they feel, they

feel like such an urgency and it like really shows in their desire to increase access for their peers to educate their peers on topics that like old people don't feel comfortable talking about like, it's like, sorry, I mean, old people, I mean, like people who are

like people who graduated college, like there's no, there's no age at which necessarily people feel comfortable talking about these topics, right? Like it's, there's such like taboo stigmatized topics in our day to day lives. But these young people are like stepping up to the plate and

like, you, you just give them materials and they're like ready to go and are like so invigorated. So just seeing like their passion for this stuff and seeing how much um they have been able to grow just by like giving them what they need has been

like super inspiring and definitely just helps keep me good. That was such a great one. Some people are in danger, right? It is. But um personally, I'm inspired by black women, black women who continuously show up for themselves and other people, I've witnessed it. I see

it. I am her. Um And um I'm inspired by the wave of the movement that's happening now of when black women are told, no, we make a way and seeing and witnessing the exponential growth of black women becoming birth workers in this space. Um Considering that

we were birth workers prior years ago as wet nurses and seeing us reclaim um reclaim our identity as the women who literally helped birth this nation. I'm, I'm inspired by a woman reclaiming that um by, by black women stepping into these roles and getting into the

hospitals and getting into um reproductive education spaces and just taking more agency because we've always, I say in the most recent years, we've just been told what to do. Um And now we are reclaiming our time, echo young people. Um I, I love the activism for

people. They're fighting for the rights of undocumented folks. They're, they're fearless and young dads are actually turning into a really interesting population that are getting it. So those, those are the three populations. Ok. I think we have time for one more question. Hm. I ask a

quick question about what my major isn't anything in women studies, the reproductive health. And I'm growing interested. Um So I wanna know like, what I can do, like just, you know, not academically but just in my own time to help bring awareness, maybe volunteer and like

what would be helpful from people like me who aren't necessarily um super educated on it, but what type of education should I be looking for? It is my life. You guys talk about it all you had to say? OK, no, no, no, no. Um Yeah, I

got this question at one o'clock too. So um there's a full of health rights and justice. So I always tell people pick two things, pick two things because you're gonna overwhelm yourself if you're going to be an expert or die into something that's more than two

things because once you get into it, you're gonna want to make a commitment and that means it's showing up. So what are the things that, that really rile you up or you're passionate about and then find out who's doing that work and go to them and

say I want to learn more. How can I help? It's really, really that simple. Yeah, that's the point. You know, uh I would say that um you know, no matter what your major is, there are often opportunities either for um for projects in particular classes, especially

once you get to upper level classes where you have some choice on sort of what you're educating yourself around or what topic you're doing a particular paper on or something. And I think it's always, everybody loves to read a paper that's about something you're passionate about.

So when you get into the, you know, those upper level classes where you have, say a bit of choice about your final paper or one of your projects, um, you can combine some self education with something you have to do anyway. Um And that every organization

that I've had students reach out to, they're either really, really happy to do something with you and they're like, get in here tomorrow and we'll create an internship for you. Like we don't have one, but we'll create one. Um We'll create one. Uh And um people

are really, really happy to hear from interested students. Um never feel like afraid or shy to send an email or to pick up that funny thing, the phone um people will answer, they'll get back to you. Uh Even if you're looking for a Panelist at the

very last minute, um people want, they want to share their information and they, they want you to work with them. Say that. Um So thank you guys so very much um for your conversation. Thank you all for your questions. Thank everyone in Zoom land and for

those of you who are here in person, we have dinner, we have cake and we have things if you want to take them and you definitely should. Thank you so much. Wait ok.