Sex Ed Is Reproductive Justice

This week Alda Santana sexual health educator and coordinator of the City's peer sexual health educators program joined me to talk about sex education as a necessary component of reproductive justice. neither can exist without the other.

Texas Striving for Highest Teen Birth Rate in the Nation

Tina Hester, Executive Director of Jane's Due Process joined me to talk about the implementation of HB 3994 which further restricts judicial bypass access for teens seeking abortion. Now their request can be put off for 5 days at which point it is essentially denied. Time is of the essence for teens who statistically get their pregnancies diagnosed later and have even fewer resources to meet the 20 week ban and get to one of the remaining clinics in the state.

Legislative Look - Contraception

This week was more editorial. I dive into some of the bills filed in the current legislative session regarding contraception, and as you hear, this involves so much more.

Have You Seen S.E.X.?

This week my guests were Karen Rayne, PhD. & Sam Killerman, M.A. producers and presenters of the S.E.X. Show for adults going on this weekend. Half comedy, half sex-education for 18+ crowds, they allow audience to submit questions anonymously beforehand.

The Reason for the Season is not Thwarting Civil Liberties

Sara Hutchinson Ratcliffe of Catholics for Choice joined me to talk about a recent poll they conducted among Catholic voters. The poll results showed overwhelming support for #ACA contraception coverage mandates. This is in line with American Catholics' self-reported [religious] practices.

How the Prochoice Movement Saved America Again

Cristina Page joined me to talk about issues she brings up in her book, How the Prochoice Movement Saved America. We talk about the incremental antichoice efforts to remove access to safe, legal abortion. 

Choosing Your Contraception

Guli Fager, MPH joins me on Issues for Your Tissues to discuss contraception and the contraception workshop she holds at the Women's Center of Central Texas. 

Religiosity

The War on Women has many facets. Of them the vilification of contraception and the refusal of actual science are the most insidious. 

On this episode of Issues for Your Tissues Amanda Marcotte, contributor to Slate.com, RHRealityCheck.org and more joins me to talk about religiously affiliated employers forcing their beliefs on employees with attempts to strike contraception coverage from mandated health insurance plans. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires coverage for contraception without copay in prescription plans. Some employers are refusing to comply citing "religious freedom."

The real problem with this is that it is gender based discrimination against the female employees of said companies. Furthermore, the cost of the contraception is NOT paid by the employer. Health insurance programs are compensation for work that employees do. This is tantamount to your employer preventing you from spending your money on something you want. It's even worse than that really. It's equivalent to your employer paying you, you buying a product and then your employer coming in and tampering with that product to make it perform worse for you—to your own detriment.

It's willful ignorance to call IUDs abortifacients.