Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Samantha and welcome to stuff. Mom never
told you a production of iHeartRadio, and today I am
still anyless as she is still on dury duty doing
her civic duty once again. However, we are here with
(00:29):
a very special edition of Sminty with a bit of
a crossover that I've been envisioning and I think I've
been talking about for a while.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
To you, Caroline anyway.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
That is me and Caroline, if you haven't guess, translating
our real life friendship into the podcast, which Caroline, of course,
have put many years, blood, sweat and tears to help
create and push out into the world. Yes, y'all, I
am joined by dearest and old hat of this podcast, Caroline. Yea.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah, you know it's funny you and I haven't actually
seen each other in quite a while, so I know
you have to schedule me to come on your show
and talk for us to be able to hang out.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
This is essentially I'm paying you to come be my
friend like this is. This has always been my plan.
I guess essentially. I was just thinking about our meet
cute you and I and it had something to do
with this podcast specifically, because the day that I met
you in my Really I was in costume, wasn't.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I was at a Trader Vix in downtown Atlanta, in
the basement of what the Hilton.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I think this is Hilton, and for those of you,
I think Trader Vicks is like a national wide chain.
But it's a huge significance for dragon Com, which we've
talked a lot about on the show. I know your nightmare,
Annie's love and honestly her hunger games and trying to
get everything worked out. But it is like the pinnacle
(02:07):
of that con. I guess and friends of ours who
also loved dragon Con couldn't be there that year or something.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
And this is in our young adulthood.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
So when we were actually doing things, when I was
actually doing things, when we left as when we left
the house and had adventures, Caroline, you know, we had adventures.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
We do.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
But anyway, but like I had dressed up because they
were like they would disown us or be anty with us.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
We didn't.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
You didn't dress up and they still talk to you.
But like I was like, Okay, I'll be the really
cliche schoolgirl Asian schoolgirl.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
You did that I did.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
There's a lot of shame.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
It's fine.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Let it go, but not a regret.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Karma snatched yours immediately because did you get a flat
tire on the list?
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I did, and I was stranded at the varsity with
two of my friends, one who us like Kalaysi, the
other one I believe was like no old country for like,
you know, old man type of thing, and me in
my Asian girl outfit at the varsity. And by the way,
not to put any sexist tropes on it, but the
dude did not know how to change the tire, so
(03:16):
that was even funnier because everybody expected him to be
helpful and he was not. We had other friends to
come pick us up. But that was the night that
you and I met in My Glory and.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
You found out that I was co hosting a podcast
with your best friend's sister.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Yes, it was such a moment and from then on
history has just turned out this way.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Yeah, and now you have to bring me on your
show to talk to me.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
And now to hang out with you since I haven't
seen you in sixth months.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
That's what happened. Oh god, it has I don't know.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I'm just making that.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
It has been since July. Yeah, I was just lying,
but that's what happens. You and I both became homeowners
during the pandemic, and we've crawled into our little holes.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
It's true, it's true.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It's quite funny because apparently I want to be Caroline.
I have done everything in succession to you, including buying
a home, which is hysterical to me. I'm like, I
swear to God, I'm not single, white femaling her. I'm
not white, but you know, you get the gist. And
then following you on the show and all of that
as well. I think it's funny because we just meshed
(04:27):
really well. And at the same time, I think you're
one of the few people who keep me in line,
like generally, and I'm.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Like, oh, happy to do so.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
You do so well and I miss you.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yes, And I also was thinking about the fact that, yeah,
adulthood adult friendships after like hitting past thirty five kids.
We don't even have kids, but it's still pretending like
we do and don't ever leave the house, like we're
so busy. But yet, I mean, I have Peaches still
(05:00):
trying to get you to get a dog.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
You need this.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
We yeah, we want a dog. Everybody's buoying us about
getting a dog. We will. We just have to like
build a fence. Girl, I told you my roof is destroyed.
Not really, that's me being dramatic, but we have to
get a new roof.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I mean it's effective, like your roof, and you know what,
I got the y'all, we're going way off track.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
But I also have a little I found a leak
in one of my ceilings but it wasn't the roof,
and I was like, how am I literally following caroline footsteps?
You had a tree thing. I'm like, I got a
tree Thing's let's be friends.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
I got to cut down all of the trees so
they don't hit our house. We're going to replace our.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Roofs oh god.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Anyway, Yeah, so this is our livelihoods as well as
our friendship.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Essentially, this is our friendship.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
But you're hearing the muddled up trying to catch up
on is our friendship usually over drinks. So welcome to
this insight. But I'm so excited to have you.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
On this show.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Welcome Caroline, And you know, I'm excited about this conversation.
Excited and like a dreaded ugh excited. And it was
kind of funny. I love that I sent you a
text me like, Hey, I know this is really odd
and I know it's been a minute, but do you
want to come back on and talk about the subject
with me? In which you were like what as in
like you had had done well in stepping away, not
(06:19):
from the issues necessarily, but being drugged down by the issues.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Well, I think didn't you text me the day that
it got the abortion ruling? And we'll back up, Yeah,
didn't you text me like the day it got overturned?
And so I didn't even I hadn't even seen the headline.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, it was soon after. It was very soon after.
Everything is very fresh.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
I keep up with stuff, but I do have a
nine to five now. I like nine to five concerns
keep me busy.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
I love that well obviously because if any and we
have a lot of loyal listeners that have been with
the show from jump or have been with so many years,
are familiar with you.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
So can you let the listeners know what you've been
up to and how you are?
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Yeah, Hi, everybody, it's your pal Caroline. What I've been
up to? How far back do we want to go?
So I was on you, I was born, No, I
left unladylike in twenty two, so the same year I
(07:27):
bought a house. I loved this.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Think you have changed.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yeah, left my job with Kristen, which you know we
started as y'all know, we started on Lady like after
we left stuff, Mom've never told you, and I have
been working as a communications consultant since then. And yeah,
that's that's it.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
You've done a lot if you haven't, And I don't know
many listeners still follow you on Instagram and all the
social media is except for TikTok is. Caroline refuses to
have tech talk.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
It's fair enough, fair.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Enough, Please stop making me join things.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
It's fair.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
But like, no, you could leave Twitter and come to
tech talk instead.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Well I'm not so. I haven't deleted my Twitter profile,
it's still up, but I'm not on there. Instead. I
made the mistake of joining threads. And I call it
a mistake because I'm not really a doom scroller, but
something on threads, like even if I'm not reading doom
scroll news kind of stuff, I just cannot stop. I'm
just I'm it's it grabs into some part of my
(08:35):
brain that is, like just keep reading these people, Yeah,
random stories that you don't really care about.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So is it like MySpace coming back to life?
Speaker 3 (08:45):
No, I mean it is Twitter.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Don't do threads, Okay, No.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
It's just a Twitter like copy and paste.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Oh so, but threads is Instagram right, Yeah, these are sponsors,
by the way, y'all. I'm just trying to figure this
out because that's the one thing I refuse to do.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Friends is owned by Instagram and I So it's funny
when I left, unladylike and knowing all the things and
having opinions about the things was no longer my job. Yeah,
I fell off of Twitter so fast. I was so girl.
I used to be so online. I knew, I know
the things, and I would bring like I would be
so deeply embedded in whatever Twitter drama was happening every day,
(09:24):
and I would bring it to Kristen and she would
be like, what, Yes, And now I'm that person. Now
I blissfully have no idea what's going on. I mean,
especially Twitter, Like, who even wants to know what's going
on over there? But yeah, I don't know, you know,
the memes, I don't know the weird jokes. I don't
know the main character of the day.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
I feel like our friend Matt does a really great
job in trying to keep us up with the memes,
because we definitely get a lot of messages with things
that I'm like, okay, okay, okay, that's all. And I
have at least two of th friends who keep us
in check.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah, I would say our friend John to who we
met through Matt, also does a good job. He messages
me all sorts of silly things. I didn't even know
Celine Dion was singing at the Olympics until he.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I feel like, that's such a John Cody thing, y'all. Sorry,
these are inside looks in our friendship once again.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
So she is obviously on liin still Instagram and you
could see her adventures in gardening. I find that hilarious.
But you've always been really good with plants.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Well, no, that didn't start until the pandemic and I
needed something to care for or.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Do careful Carabelle.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah, I lived lived in an apartment in downtown Decater
and just started buying all these plants. And then once
Joshua and I started dating, and he's super into what
that mean? Can I have a casual hobby?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, adhd unite.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
We just went deep on those on those gardening hobbies.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
They got so many things. You have a great backyard
for it. Oh well, it's perfect.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
We've got the hoop house, but the tomato in it.
We have all these raised beds. We're toying with the
idea of starting a CSA, but you know, like, but
not because we don't want to get in trouble. As
I say this to like a lot of people, people,
we don't want to teach anyone really because it's like, oh,
(11:18):
we don't want to get in trouble for like having
a backyard, right business. So I mean, did you ever
see me post about having a CSA on Instagram? I'm
just joking. Uh, but please give me money for my letters.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
It's not it's just among friends. I would pay you
for the tomatoes for sure, which I've seen. Anyway, we've
gotten way way for sidetracked again.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
This is what happens when I don't see you in
six months.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
I'm trying to do this professionally. Yeah, I've been telling you, sorry,
but not. This has been a long time in making.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Podcasts parasocial relationships. It's the conversations that matter. Samantha.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Well, it's true, and you know what I feel like
this validates me when I'm like, no, really, I'm friends
with her. No really, I know her in real life,
so I feel like I have to really prove this, Like, see,
I know all this information about Caroline because I know
her in real life.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I do not stalk her. I mean, I'm mean, come on,
don't worry about it.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I do want to put a date, obviously, because things
are ever changing, as we've already said. We actually did
a Monday many about abortions in the state of Georgia
already and it was like, oh, completely out of date
very quickly. But today is October eleventh, twenty twenty four,
and again things are ever changing, very quickly.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Changing.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Elections are here. Early voting has pretty much arrived because
registrations have ended, especially for the state of Georgia.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
See especially I can't I'm going to early vote out
of this election.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yes, me too.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
We haven't really, Caroline said any many episodes about the
election because I'm just so disheartened by everything. Yeah that
it's hard to really gain traction and excitement in anything
except for saving somewhat of our rights in well.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Crossing our fingers that way that can happen. But we'll see.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
But yeah, so Today is October eleventh of twenty twenty four,
and we are talking about abortions, specifically in the state
of Georgia. So with that, this is a conversation that
usually I think you and I would have over Margarita's
with a lot of cursing. And though we may not
have Margarita's in hand, I know that's the sad part.
(13:39):
I have a feeling there's going to be some cursing
because we are very passionate about this. I'm very upset
about so many things.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
So out of the habit of not editing myself, so yeah,
just get the bleep finger ready.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
So if you're listening to this with a child and
they're like, why is that beating so much, just pretend
like it's a rap song.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
It's fine.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Content warning for our listeners again, this will be an
angry episode with carsoning as we talk about the ever
changing situation of the reproductive laws and abortion bands in
the state of Georgia and around. But we are kind
of focusing on Georgia because that's maybe a lot of
headlines recently. So, like we said, we've talked about this
a little bit without a Monday mini about how in
(14:23):
the state of Georgia. At least two women have died
due to the strict abortion laws that have been put
in place in the state of Georgia. So just as
a quick rundown. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v.
Wade in twenty twenty two, Georgia, as well as many
(14:43):
other states, quickly enacted a six week abortion ban, which
had been held up in the Georgia Supreme Court until
that point.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
But it was like a trigger law, right, it was,
but it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Georgia was a little slower, so they couldn't classify that.
But they've been working on banning abortion for a long
long time.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
So it's the Life Act that you're talking about, right,
Like Governor Brian Kemp signed that into law in twenty nineteen.
So when Roevie Wade was overturned in twenty twenty two,
and you and I and a couple of our other
friends went down and marched around the capitol, it took effect.
But we had a a superstar judge. Not that I'm
(15:32):
a fan of elevating any politician or elected official or
anybody on a court to superstar status. But when I
went back and read about that initial attempt at the
ban being struck down, the law being struck down, it
(15:53):
was Robert McBurney. It's the same Fulton County Superior judge.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yeah, so he's been standing toe to toe against this
law for a minute. And this is where this one
was challenged. It was held up in the Supreme Court
because they were like they knew what was coming. Unfortunately,
this was a plan. We've talked about this as a plan.
This has been a plan since jump from the nineteen seventies,
Like they've been waiting for this moment, knowing that as
(16:20):
soon as Roe v. Wade was enacted, they were like, yeah,
we'll come back to this.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Well we got you. Of course, we talked about Dobbz v.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Jackson before, which was the catalyst in the overturning of everything.
So since then, yes, the six week ban had been
put in due place during that time. Again, I'm gonna
put this as a caveat like at least two women
because they're the ones that being named specifically due to
the abortion van We said in the Monday Many how
(16:48):
the family of Amber specifically was like please, like we
need something to be done. But she is not just
a martyr here. She was a person and this is
what should be noted. This is the conversation should that
should be had. And unfortunately she has become a martyr
for both sides. And I say both sides as in
like left leaning and right leaning. And I'm gonna talk
(17:09):
about that end.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
A little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
But it's really sad that is taken this point. And
it's taken a while for this to be brought to
attention by the way this happened previously, and it's yes,
and then they are like, oh, oh, and the other
death and we'll talk about her a little bit. A
Candy Miller was something because she was afraid of being
(17:31):
prosecuted and persecuted for the want of having an abortion,
and she died tragically due to that. So again, since then,
many stays across the country have been putting more restrictive
bands as well. Stays like Texas, Tennessee, and Idaho and
I'm sure that's just three out of a bucket are
using criminal charges for those who might go across state
(17:53):
lines to access abortion care as well. Alabama was also
mentioned in here. We know that governor at thoughts.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
What the governor of Alabama say, essentially.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Like they deserve to be prosecuted, and this should be
a sederal thing, which everybody swore, you know, abortion overturning
of Rovi Vwade had everything with state rights, which I
feel like they use for anything because we know that
was a whole thing with you know, slavery.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Yeah, I was going to say, whenever the issue of
state's rights comes up, I.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Think we know what's happening, right, that's the biggest like.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Side.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
But we know that that's that level that they talk
about except for state rights. They want to overreach and say,
but that state doesn't have that right only if it
messes with our state. So we know that's happened as well.
And then there are states that are trying to protect
abortion access by putting the issues to vote for the people,
including Nebraska, Arizona, Florida, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, and Nevada
(18:59):
and out Dakota. So I believe Florida the SATIS is
trying to fight against that. I'm not sure if he
was able to. I probably should have looked at him more,
but whatever, because I don't like the saintest it was, however,
but he was really anti putting this on the ballot.
He's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The people
(19:19):
don't understand.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Hey, I mean, he sounds like a traditionalist to me,
because that's what the founding fathers.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Thought too, which is why we're in this mess.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
The people don't understand.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
So in the state of Georgia, that is not an option.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
At one point I thought, actually there was a conversation
about putting it on the ballot, But I should have
known better because Kemp what uh never, he doesn't trust
the people, which is kind of ironic.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
That's the thing. These I'm trying to bleep myself, These
bleepity bleepers won't put it on the ballot because they
know that in this country, like poll after pole, study
after study have shown just how quote unquote popular abortion is,
that it has the support right she remain legal. But anyway, God,
(20:10):
it's like it's like companies that don't want to survey
their employees, you know, It's like, right, yeah, because you
don't want to find out how terrible you've been doing.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Right on top of the size that if people do
find out how terrible you are doing, you don't want
to answer for it. So instead you're just going to
redistrict everything. It hopes that you will win, or just
put in maga like conspiracy people to go ahead and say, yeah,
this this election was invalid, which has already.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Oh my god, have you have you been reading about
Malania's memoir that I only saw parts of it, and
I'm like, what she she she pushes the big lie
in her book. I mean, not surprisingly, but everybody everybody's
focused on I mean that she's supposedly like pro choice, right,
(20:57):
and I'm like, no, we are not elevating this woman.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
No, no, they're trying.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
But which is really funny because once again, that whole
party would be very upset with her if that was
actually true. But it is actually true for her, you know,
she is pro choice for her, and everything we know
about that book is everything to do with Donald Trump's
political advisors being like, we're going to do this book
with her because she's a woman and people are gonna
(21:25):
love it. And then we're gonna be like, look see,
and she supports the president.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
We're like, she's been in my.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Finally, so yeah, I mean, I'm sure he's paying her
a great salary.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Oh absolutely, or at the very least like he's faking
something and giving her buildings or promises I don't know.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
He sounds like a song lyric buildings, you know. Do
we need to talk about the headlines?
Speaker 2 (21:54):
But yes, So in the state Georgia, this is not
an option. Putting it down the ballot was like, now
we're not gonna let the people vote for this.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
So again we talked about in our Monday Mini. After
the public was made aware of the preventable depths of
Amber Thurman and Candy Miller, Sister Song, Women of Color,
Reproductive Justice, Collective Peoples and some other organizations filed to
have the current abortion ban struck down and was actually successful.
So here's the quote from the Guardian about what happened. So,
the Fulton County Superior Judge Robert McBurney ruled that Georgia's
(22:24):
six week ban, which outlaws abortion before many people even
though they are pregnant, is unconstitutional.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
And here's the quote. He said.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property,
the disposition of which is decided by majority vote. McBurney
wrote in his fiery twenty six page opinion, forcing a
woman to carry an unwanted, not yet viable fetus to
term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy and
even taking into consideration whatever bundle of rights the not
(22:53):
yet vible feedus may have.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
So he was all about it. He jumped in and
was like yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
He even says, very pointedly, this is obviously geared and
uh subjected to women only, like calling it out.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Can we like cross stitch his whole ruling on a pillow?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yes? Please?
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Really like, I feel like that should have been everybody
I know celebrated to this end. I'm not gonna lie.
I just sat and held my breath because I was like, I.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Was super sid I know, I felt the same way.
I looked at my phone and I was like, oh, yes,
so good. So this is great. I love good news,
good for Georgia, you know. And I follow Sister Song,
I follow Feminist Women's Health Center, and they were all
posting about it, and I'm, you know, I'm that heard
in every post like an old lady at home liking it, like, yes,
(23:48):
this is fabulous. Can't you know, can't celebrate too long
because what's gonna happen next?
Speaker 1 (23:53):
But right, So, here's Governor Kemp's ironic statement, which Ida
said about earlier.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Hit to dad about this about this ruling.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
He says, once again, the will of Georgians and their
representatives have been overruled by the personal beliefs of one
Judge Ran Alert right, protecting the lives of the most
vulnerable among us is one of our most sacred responsibilities,
and Georgia will continue to be a place where we
fight for the lives of the unborn. All right, I
(24:24):
love again he makes no statement. I'm sure he did
try to play into like, oh, yes, these women's deaths
are unfortunate. However, again that whole level of like one
Georgian and.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
I'm like, are you saying this? Who is checking your speech?
Speaker 3 (24:41):
I don't know, I mean, and it doesn't help that
any time anybody talks about the unborn, I just think
about the undiad.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
You have a picture of like zombie vetuses.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
So that all went down and with that temporary victory.
Here's some of the responses for the advocates. A statement
from Monica Simpson, who is the executive director of Sister
Song Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. She said today's
win was hard fought and is a significant step in
the right direction towards achieving reproductive justice in Georgia. We
(25:16):
are encouraged that a Georgia Court has rules for bodily autonomy.
At the same time, we can't forget that every day
the band has been in place has been a day
too long, and we have felt the dire consequences with
the devastating and preventable depths of Amber, Nicole Thurman, and
Candy Miller. For years, black women have sounded the alarm
that abortion bands are deadly, while true justice would mean
(25:39):
Amber and Candy were still with us. Today, we will
continue to demand accountability to ensure that their lives and
the lives of others who we have yet to learn of,
were not lost in vain. Black women have remained at
the forefront of the battle for our reproductive freedom, and
today's victory is historic, powerful, and just the beginning. We
know the fight continued use as anti abortion white supremacists
(26:02):
will stop at nothing to control our bodies and attack
our liberation. We are ready for them and will never
back down until we achieve reproductive justice, the human right
to maintain personal bodily autonomy, the human right to have
children or not and raise them in safe and sustainable communities.
So that was her response, and yes, it definitely was
(26:23):
one of those rallying and remembering type of speeches. We
had a statement from Alice Wayang, who is the staff
attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, and she writes,
the Superior Court of Fulton County has rightfully struck down
George's six week abortion ban as a flagrant violation of
George's long standing and robust right to privacy, restoring access
(26:45):
to abortion at a time when too many have been
prevented from accessing this critical health care and from deciding
what is best for their bodies, health, and family lives.
For too long, the ban has caused a public health crisis,
as evidenced by the testimony plaintifs presented at trial and
devastating stories recently reported about the preventable deaths of Candy
(27:05):
Miller and Ambernicole Thurman. Today's ruling is a step forward
ensuring that people can access and clinicians can provide critical
health care without fear of criminalization or stigma. This victory
demonstrates that when the course faithfully apply constitutional protections for
bodily autonomy, laws that restrict access to abortion and force
people to continue pregnancies against their will cannot stand. So
(27:27):
there was a lot of victorious speeches and I was
really like, yes, I think there are so many more statements.
If you go under the ACLU, they have a whole
slew of representatives talking about what this meant for the state,
what this meant for the country, and how this is
something that is about bodily autonomy and whether you can
(27:49):
or cannot like both of those things about pregnancy, about
pursuing your pregnancy and having a child or not, and
moving on with your life. There's so many things in
this conversation because there's also that bigger conversation about IVF
treatment and that being taken off the table as well.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
And we know many many.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Of political figures as well as people in their lives
that have been through IVF trying to get pregnant because
they felt like that was what they were supposed to do.
I'm just this is an opinion, Like I think a
lot of people have families, especially in the Republican slash
conservative sector, to fall in line with that ideal of
(28:33):
the household in the head of a household, that whole narrative,
which we talked about at length in our Religious Trauma,
because that's something that's completely fed into this abortion ban
as well. But there's this white supremacist ideal behind this
abortion ban and about how it empowers white supremacists, especially
(28:54):
in places like the state of Georgia. So there's definitely
a deeper level of conversation. We have a moment of
victory of like yay, did look at this Georgia which
has given me whiplash. Georgia is an amazing area when
you want excitement dot dot dot with whether we were
talking about the election, as we have done some amazing
(29:16):
things and done some model things as well as talking
about like the way the community uh and its population
has grown in such a different way than fifty years ago,
which we love to see, you would love to see
more of.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Well, I think it's why you hear, you know, when
people right off the South as just it's all mega people,
it's all just racist white people down there doing terrible things.
And for sure there's plenty of that, but you know,
you do have organizations like Sister Song that represent like
(29:53):
the other viewpoint that we are not a monolith down
here for sure.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Right and again we have to remind people, like I
think when we see things happening due to bad laws
and bad faith that happens in the state and then
people are like, this is what you get for voting
for these people, and we're.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Like no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Just a reminder about how heavily the powers that is
currently in place uses every trick in the book in
order to keep that power, and what that looks like
for us who don't have as much of a voice
even if we try. The amount of protesting that happens
here is a lot. Actually, they had to put up
(30:32):
a damn iron fence around the capitol because they were
afraid of the backlash that was going to happen. Atlanta,
which is where Atlanta is in Fulton County, which we
talk about a lot, has a dense part of the
Georgia state population. But because of the way that the
government has set it up, they don't give us much power.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
They do and they don't.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
It's kind of one of those things that limited Cobb County,
which is where Marietta actually where the Braves are now
playing out. It's where I'm from, It's where Caroline Yields from.
Y'all like, has gone from all red to being very
purple slash kind of blue. But they redistricted it so quickly.
(31:12):
I know that's not a term that they like. Again,
it would make your head spin what is happening in
that level. So when people want to throw out that
term like that, that's phrase of like this is your
fault because you voted for this. That's not always true.
And people who are suffering are those who are trying
to change it, much like the black community, which is what.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
How things have changed to begin with.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
And then we got with splash again just this week.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Yeah, and just not too long ago.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
So as soon as we reported this small victory, we
immediately had a reversal. Again we knew this was coming
from the same Guardian article. It says George's Republican Attorney
General Chris Carr quickly appealed mcburney's ruling. On Monday of
this week. Only one judge dissented in part from the
ruling to reinstate the ban. One judge did not participate,
(32:12):
while another had been disqualified from taking part in the case.
And this is what they wrote. Fundamentally, the Stays should
not be in the business of enforcing laws that have
been determined to violate fundamental rights guaranteed to millions of
individuals under the Georgia constitutions. Just as John Ellington wrote,
the status quo that should be maintained is the state
(32:32):
of the law before the challenge laws took effect. Once again,
I'm kind of going back and forth with like, do
y'all hear what you're saying, because if we want to
challenge that, we should go back to what it was
before it was like what are you talking which which time?
Speaker 2 (32:48):
At which time?
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Yeah? Now, I think conservatives are really good at doing that,
And honestly, from just like a pr key messaging talking
coin standpoint, I feel like liberals are bad at it.
We're too honest, we're too straight forward.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
We do we hold ourselves to accountable.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
We don't want to sound stupid by saying stuff like
that because then somebody will just say, well but it
was this other way before, to be caught in a lie.
But conservatives have no problem doing that. They play a
little dirtier, which I loved. That's in heavy air quotes.
I loved Clear Bartlett's quote. You know, she's the executive
director for the Georgia Life Alliance. She was telling the
(33:28):
AP how worried she was that, you know, there were
just going to be like streams of women coming across
the border getting abortions, and I'm like, I love the
border of Georgia, of like, everybody's going to be coming
into our state to get surgical abortions, to get healthcare.
And her quote, she said, there's no right to privacy
(33:49):
in the abortion process because there's another individual involved. It
goes back to protecting those who are the most vulnerable
and can't speak for themselves. And honestly, Samantha, it makes
me think of the headline this week about the UGA
player who was arrested for beating up his pregnant girlfriend.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, he was.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
He was only arrested because of you know, whatever physical
damage he might have inflicted on the fetus, not anything
he did to the living, breathing adult woman. And I mean,
that's a whole other conversation you and I could have
for three hours about the perception of just women themselves,
people who are giving abortions, themselves being pregnant. That person
(34:32):
is not who anyone is trying to protect, right obviously,
I mean, look at the women who are dying, right.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
That the fact that that's not even a factor in
this conversation, that they are not being looked at as
a part of society to care for at all.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
To be to be protected.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
We already know statistically pregnant women are the most vulnerable
to being murdered and abused by their partners. So it's
really really shocking, No, it's not. And I say that sarcastically,
that that they are so quick to ignore this and
the fact that people are going to use this, uh
(35:10):
and I mean people as in conservatives to be like see,
but it protects both of like this like rational, like
this is what you wanted, right to protect both of them.
And this is the fact that they are being pushed
into this headline and the conversation shouldn't be about abortion
in this conversation because this woman we don't know where
she is, we don't know who she is, we don't
know what she wants to do in her pregnancy, but
(35:31):
that is become the forefront of her like trauma, instead
of the fact that oh, I'm being abused by this man,
which happens a lot, which is already hard enough to prove,
which is usually not at all punished other than fines
in a slight probation.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Like it's just it's.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Everything in my social work brain wants to like crash
out over that kind of headline even more so Caroline,
So I was making you listen to it TikTok because
you won't go on TikTok.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
We just can you please people if you if there's
something on TikTok, you want me to see chess through
instag so that I can see it.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
They do, they do well, but you don't. I don't.
I don't do either.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Actually, But anyway, So Jessica Valenti, who has become a
giant voice within the reproductive justice world, releasing a book
by the way, which I want to pick up.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
I'm excited about.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
But she was talking recently that she I don't get
on TV, so I don't watch ads if at all possible,
I have become that person. I'm like as are awful,
I said, ironically on a podcast that has a lot
of ads.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
She loves ads.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Uh meal kids, Yes, it's been a minute for you anyway,
And I apologize to those who complained about the ads
is a lot. I know it's not our fault. But anyway,
moving on. So in this ad, the Susan B. Anthony
Foundation for Pro Life America decided to put out like
(37:09):
half a million dollars in this ad campaign, in which
they take the depths of these two young womens and
sated that it is because of the Democrats slash left
leading people who have catastrophicized and dramatized these bands into
scaring women to dying, essentially that it is their fault
(37:34):
for making it too big of a deal. And then
they try to go in and say no. Ban says
that women cannot go for care if they're in danger,
in which my response was, these women went in for
(37:54):
care and the doctors refused. Yeah, because the Georgia state
laws are unclear, and they have already seen people being
prosecuted for just accidental miscarriages, right, so they already know
that there's a possibility they can be convicted if the
political system decides to turn it that way. Also, as
(38:17):
well as the fact that right leaning medical staff feel
like they had the moral high ground to judge a
woman to be sentenced to death, and I'm putting that
in my own terms.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
The Amber Thurman situation was horrifying to read about, just
like the layer upon layer of just absolutely subpar care
that she received. I mean, setting aside the fact that
they delayed the DNC because they, oh, we need to
make sure that it's okay, you know, then giving her
(38:51):
the blood pressure medicine, and then that affected blood flowed
or the area where they would do surgery. It's a mess,
and it's it's a horrifying, horrifying tragic. I was going
to say side effect of these laws, but it's something
(39:11):
more direct than a side effect.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
I mean, it's definitely a result of, yeah, of these laws.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
And we already know of the case of the woman
who went in had a miscarriage with an actual like
she was trying to get pride of that she was
trying to start her family, but had a miscarriage.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
They refused to help her.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
She went home, like to an unviable fetus, went home,
delivered this miscarriage, and then they charged her for murder,
even though it was proven that it was a miscarriage, like,
and they had to go through this whole thing. This
is a constant thing. This is not the only one
case that we've seen. These are just one of the
many cases we've seen. The case with which the woman
(39:52):
got into a fight, got shot, her, lost the fetus,
and then she got charged with endangering the child.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Like.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
This is that conversation, that bigger picture of what is happening.
Who's controlling this narrative and who is controlling fetuses and
uteruses essentially is what's going down. And the fact that
they had the audacity to spend money to put onto
TV to be like a this is the leftists fault.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
Don't blame us.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
It's not because of a bad rule or the law
that we are literally forcing women to carry a pregnancy
to full term whether or not they want to or not,
as well as not supporting them during or even after
the fact. Like, there's so much to this conversation that
it's like wow. But with all of that, we're here
(40:47):
today with China face. What's going down? I have a
feeling this is going to go up. This is going
to try to revamp this conversation, perhaps going back to
the Supreme Court. It's definitely going to be a conversation
with the elections to come. This has been a battleground
for a long time in the state of Georgia. So
we'll come back. I know, we'll talk about it again,
(41:08):
and maybe I can convince Caroline to come back with us.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
Anytime. If I get to actually talk to you.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
I know I'm.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
Excited, yes, and I know we have to wrap up.
So Caroline, thank you so much for joining us in
this kind of hard It is a very hard conversation.
Speaker 3 (41:26):
It's just it's infuriating. It's it's worse than infuriating, and
it's discouraging to seek to see how successful the Conservatives
have been over the past fifty some odd years, ever
since Roe v. Wade first first happened. Yeah, it's discouraging
to see how effective their campaigns have been.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
Right, So where can our listeners find you who are
not already following you?
Speaker 2 (41:53):
That'd be odd.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
Well, y'all. I'm posting gardening pictures on Instagram, yes, and
I am on threads, but like what a Hell'scape, I
recommend not doing anything over there but reading other people's stories.
So I just appreciate you inviting me on today, Samantha
to come and talk about the news. I don't really
(42:17):
get to do that as part of my day job anymore,
as you might imagine, so it's nice to talk about
important stuff.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
I'm going to try to try to get you back
on for more stuff. You know, I'm going to make
this happen. The listeners know I got my ways. Thank
you so much, Harolin for joining us and if you
have anything that you want to add to this conversation.
You have information what's happening in your state, if you're
one of the states that has it in your ballot,
we would love to hit from you. You can email
us at stuff Media Mom, Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com.
(42:47):
You can find us on Instagram and TikTok at stuff
Mom Never Told You. We have a book. Find it
anywhere that you buy your books. You know we love
a good independent bookstore. And yes, we do have a
section about abortion in there. Thanks to super producer Christina,
executive producer Maya, and contributor Joey, and thanks to you,
Stuff Mom Never Told You is a production of iHeartRadio.
(43:08):
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