5 Podcasts on Reproductive Rights that Will Vastly Improve Your Life in 2020
Whether you’re a casual consumer of podcasts or you break into a cold sweat at the thought of not having any at the ready, check out this roundup of podcasts and podcast episodes about abortion and reproductive rights. Each of them will elevate your understanding of abortion access, abortion stigma, why abortion rights are vital to our religious freedom as Jews and Americans. Listen well.
The Daily (The Abortion Wars, Part 1 and 2)
“The Daily” is the New York Times’ daily news podcast that’s 20 minutes long. In April 2019, Sabrina Tavernise, a national correspondent for The New York Times and Lynsea Garrison, a producer for “The Daily,” travel to Missouri to visit the last clinic in the state, and interview the doctor who provides abortion there, and then to Ilinois, which in 2019 passed the Reproductive Health Act, protecting access to reproductive health care, including abortion, essentially making it a haven for those seeking abortion care in the Midwest.
Dr. Melissa Madera created “The Abortion Diary Podcast “after she went looking for a podcast of abortion stories narrated by the people who had actually had them, and she couldn’t find it. As of August 2019, it has over 150 entries, from people all over the world ( (i.e. Ireland before the 8th amendment was repealed), abortion providers, and folks who had abortions before Roe, and more. The stories are truly diverse, which “cuts down the stereotype around who has abortions, or that there is only one kind of person who has an abortion, or one age group,” Madera told Cosmopolitan in 2014.
The Chochmat Nashim Podcast: Women Talk Judaism
Not surprisingly, there are not a lot of Jewish podcasts talk about abortion/reproductive rights, but in March 2019, the hosts of “Chochmat Nashim,” Rachel Stomel, Anne Gordon, and Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll, took a look at what Jewish sources actually say about abortion (and also, what happens if you tweet at Ben Shapiro about it). It’s a really sturdy dive into the mess that is abortion stigma, abortion access, and the experiences of actually humans having abortions. Plus, it’s a great example of what can happen when we don’t avoid conversations about things that are complicated and uncomfortable.
Each of the 5 seasons of “CHOICE/LESS” delves into personal stories of folks impacted by anti-choice laws and reproductive injustice. Part of the Rewire.News podcast network, it’s produced and hosted by multimedia journalist Jenn Stanley. Check out the two part series “Marching Toward Gilead: The Rise of American Theocracy,” about how the far-right philosophy of Operation Save America is making its way into state and federal government (relevant to our religious freedom as Jews). Then there’s the entirety of Season 4, about teens, sex, and abortion access (there’s important information about judicial bypass to be found throughout) , and Season 1, “The Backstory,” all about historical injustice and reproductive health.
Sponsored by the Population Institute and hosted by director Jennie Wetter, “rePROS” looks at issues of reproductive and sexual health and how they’re being attacked on locally, nationally, and internationally, as well as how that impacts you. Check out the episodes on Catholic hospitals and how their policies endanger the health of people who can get pregnant, and on faith and reproductive rights (for a reminder that not all people who are religious are also anti-choice).
