January 28, 2025 • 36 mins
The Helms Amendment stipulates that “no foreign assistance funds may be used to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning” abroad and has been in effect since 1973. But the amendment is often overinterpreted as a complete and total ban on U.S. funding for abortion care, even in the most extreme cases and in countries where abortion is legal. Rachel Marchand, Public Policy Manager with rePROs Fight Back, sits down to talk with us about the direct harm of Helms and why it’s far past time the amendment is repealed.
The Helms amendment ignores the well-established foundation of reproductive rights as human rights and limits the accessibility of safe and timely abortion care for those that are subject to U.S. foreign assistance. Subsequent harm—including unsafe abortion and maternal mortality, among others—is disproportionately felt by Black and brown communities, young people, people experiencing poverty, LGBTQI+ individuals, and those in humanitarian and conflict settings.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Repro Fight Back a podcast on all
things related to sexual andreproductive health rights and
justice. Hi re pros. How'severybody holding up? I'm your
host Jenny Wetter and mypronouns are she her. So y'all,
this first week has been , um,a , a wild ride with the new
administration and honestly I'mrecording this on the Friday
(00:26):
before you're hearing it. Sowho knows what has happened in
between. I'm sure there havebeen a bunch of new wild
things. Um, you know, so muchhas happened in this first week
with the new administration.
They've tried to end birthrightcitizenship, lots of major
actions against immigrantsshutting down the refugee
program, like withdrawing fromthe Paris Climate Agreement,
(00:49):
withdrawing from the WorldHealth Organization, getting
rid of DEI programs, so manyanti-trans executive actions.
We will definitely dig intosome of these More and later
episodes probably we'llprobably talk about the World
Health Organization and wedefinitely will be talking
about the anti-trans eeo . Butjust, I don't wanna spend a ton
(01:10):
of time on all of that. Justacknowledge that it's happening
and there's a lot of people whoare scared and are just in
harm's way and you know, it'sreally important that those of
us that are supporting thetrans community or immigrants
or all of these other peoplewho are worried are speaking up
(01:31):
and making sure they know thatthey're supported and that
they're loved and that they'reseen. So that's where my head
is at right now is justthinking of what we can do to
slow things down and makethings better for people who
are about to be harmed. I thinkthat's all I wanna say about
that right now 'cause there'sso much going on and it can be
(01:54):
easy to feel overwhelmed andlike get, dig deep into that
and we'll have so many podcaststalking about all of the things
that are happening. Let's tryto keep maybe the intro a
little more upbeat today. Idon't know , I feel like maybe
we need it. Um, let's see. Soof exciting things. I tried a
(02:16):
new recipe, I don't know why itwas speaking to me 'cause I
don't really eat these ingeneral, but I saw a recipe for
oatmeal, cream pie bars. Yeah .
I don't like go and buy thoselike little w oat oatmeal cream
pies. They've never really beenand they just were never part
of my life. But I was lookingto make some sort of bar cookie
(02:38):
mostly 'cause I was too lazy tolike do like rollout cookies or
do something that was a lot ofeffort. So I thought bar
sounded like the perfectsolution and I saw this and I
was like, oh my god, thatsounds so good. And y'all, oh
my god, it was so good. Yeah, Idon't know . It made me happy.
It brought me a little joy overthis week 'cause I made them
(03:00):
last weekend and so , uh, I waseating them all week, eating my
feelings all week to enjoy theoatmeal cream pie bars I made.
I need to not eat my feelingsthrough the whole thing. But
baking has been , uh, my go-toand I think I've talked about
it before, like, I generallytrend to the like making a
breakfast item so I'm noteating like cookies and cake
(03:22):
and those types of things. So Ineed to maybe make some bagels
or something this weekendinstead of sweets because let's
not do that. I don't know . Mysweet tooth knows no bounds
though. Y'all. Let'ssee what else is going on? I
don't know, I just feel likekind of overwhelmed with all
the things happening. Trying tokeep my peace though. Right? I,
(03:46):
one, I've never been a cablenews person, so that really
helps. Like I don't follow thecable news. I really tried to
reduce the amount of time I'mon social and I've been busy
working on other things atwork, so I'm not on social for
work very often. So that hasreally helped to with some of
that. So hopefully I can workand try and keep that going.
I've been less good aboutmeditating this week. Gotta get
(04:08):
back on that. Yeah, I justtrying to keep my peace through
the next four years. That is ,that is my priority right now.
I think I'm gonna end it there'cause I'm very excited about
this week's interview and I, Igive a lot of my shoutouts and
love at the end, but just incase you don't miss it, make it
to the end. I wanna make surethat I am front loading it as
(04:29):
well. I am so excited for thisweek's guest. She doesn't
really come on the podcast veryoften, but she has been
involved in the podcast fromalmost the jump, but for sure
before we started releasingepisodes. And this is
absolutely a partnership likeRachel has been just invaluable
(04:53):
to creating the podcast anddoing all the behind the scenes
stuff. And for so long she didsocial media, which she has now
Ablely handed off to Elena ,who does such a outstanding job
on our social. Rachel has beendoing some writing for us and I
am so, so excited that shewanted to come on and talk
about this brief she wrote thatcame out in December talking
(05:16):
about the Helms amendment. Andwith all the things that are
gonna be coming up, we know theglobal global gag rule will be
reintroduced soon and there'salways so much confusion
between the global gag rule andthe Helms amendment. It just
felt really important to kindof lay that groundwork to make
sure that everybody knows thedifference. So talking about
what Helms is before we get towhere we talk about what the
(05:39):
global gag rule is, which Ithink will probably be next
week. As of right now, it, thenew version hasn't been
released, but I assume it willcome out very, very soon. It
may already be out by the timeyou're listening, but as of
when I'm recording, it is notout yet. So all that is to say
I'm so excited to have RachelMarchand with Free Pros fight
(05:59):
back on as our guest to talkabout the Helms Amendment. So
let's go to my interview withRachel. Hi Rachel, thank you so
much for being here today.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Hi Jenny . Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I am so excited to have you on. This feels very
weird, like we talk all thetime. Yes. Just not on
a podcast.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
So before we like get into like the actual
conversation, do you wanna takea second and introduce yourself
and include your pronouns?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Sure. My name is Rachel Marchand . I use she her
pronouns and I am the publicpolicy manager with the re Pros
Fight Back Initiative , uh, outof the Population Institute.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I'm so excited to have you here. Uh ,
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Thank you for having
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Me. You did an amazing brief that came out
late last year talking aboutthe Helms Amendment and we're
getting ready to start. I mean,not getting ready to start. We
have the new administrationthat just , just started
. Yeah , apparently I'mblocking it out already.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
No, it just feels like it has, it's already been
three out of the four years.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yeah, . And
since we're getting ready to
start the new administration,we know we're ha being the
global gag rule rule will bereintroduced at some point. It
is not as of when we arerecording Ben . The e executive
order hasn't been out, but wesee a lot of confusion between
the Helms amendment and gag andlike lots of confusion. So it
(07:29):
felt really important to likelay a little groundwork before
we got to some of the new stuffand talk about Helms and why we
need to care about Helms aswhen all this attention in the
near future is gonna be on aglobal gag. So with all of that
preamble, , what isHelms amendment?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yeah, so the Helms amendment was basically a
reaction to the 1973 SupremeCourt ruling on Roe versus
Wade. It was introduced andpassed , uh, that very same
year in 1973 by Senator JesseHelms. He was a Republican from
North Carolina and it was anamendment to the Foreign
(08:10):
Assistance Act and it's been ineffect ever since. It's
included annually as part ofthe state and foreign
operations bill and theappropriations process. But
what does it do while on paperit's states that , um, here let
me get the, the direct quotefor from you. It says, quote ,
(08:30):
no foreign assistance funds maybe used to pay for the
performance of abortion as amethod of family planning or to
motivate or coerce any personto practice abortions end
quote. So that's what it sayson paper. But a lot of
implementing agencies that areat the forefront of global
health, we're talking the StateDepartment, the Centers for
(08:52):
Disease Control and Prevention,the United States Agency for
International Development, theyoften over-interpret Helms as a
total ban on US funding forabortion care. So even in cases
of rape, even in cases ofincest or of a life-threatening
pregnancy, and in countrieswhere abortion is legal, those
(09:14):
implementing agencies can oftenover interpret as a complete
and total ban on US funding forprovision of abortion. And the
passage of Helms and thesubsequent over implementation,
as you can imagine, as theaudience can imagine, has led
to a host of poor healthoutcomes, most notably the
(09:35):
restriction of time sensitiveabortion care and increased
maternal mortality as a result.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yeah, this is women , one of those like perpetual
fights. We have had, even withfriendly administrations to
argue that, hey, at the bareminimum we should be able to
ensure that people who needabortions because they were
raped or their lives are indanger or the pregnancy was a
(10:02):
result of incest, should beable to access abortion care.
As you can probably tell fromour conversation, that has not
happened, but it has been alongstanding fight that we have
had that, you know, that is notwhat the Helms Amendment says.
It , it is not all abortions.
It's, you know, just abortionsas a method of family planning.
It leaves room for exceptions,but yeah, just , uh, the
(10:27):
perpetual fight. Well,
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yes, and, and it would be a very easy fix too.
It would be very simpleclarification , uh, is all
that's needed. And it goes backto, I look, I've been with this
podcast since day one. I knowthe audience very well. I don't
think they need me to explainany of this, but it all goes
back to the fact thatreproductive rights are human
(10:51):
rights. The , the , so it's,the Holmes Amendment is just
completely trampling on, onreproductive rights being human
rights. That exact notion wassigned, was co-signed , um, by
178 countries at a landmarkconference in 1994 in Cairo,
Egypt called the InternationalConference on Population and
Development. And ultimatelyit's cemented on a global
(11:15):
scale, reproductive rights ashuman rights, and that includes
abortion. And again, I don'tneed to be telling anybody
this, but sexual andreproductive health and rights
is a foundation. It'snon-negotiable. It is
completely necessary. It isgroundwork for women and girls
and transgender individuals andgender non-binary individuals
(11:40):
to be fully engaged in theirown lives, to be in charge of
their own education, their ownhealth, their own political and
economic wellbeing. None ofthat is easily navigable at all
if you don't have thatfoundation, that jumping off
point of being able to chooseif and when and how you have a
(12:05):
family. And that's ultimatelywhat the Helms Amendment does.
It just, like I said before, itjust completely tramples on
that human right by limitingthe accessibility of abortion
care, but not only limiting theaccessibility of abortion care,
propagating stigma on this likeglobal scale. And I think
(12:25):
generally just prolonging this,this general ambiguity about
the rules dimensions and howimplementing agencies have to
comply with that.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So I think it really, that this is all
absolutely true, like settingit up as a human right. That
this just tramples on it, ittramples on it for people who
are unable to access healthcarefrom other places, it is
majorly impacting black andbrown people since it's in
developing countries like it iscolonialism that we are
(13:00):
exporting this terrible policyand forcing it on people. What
other harms are we seeing andlike what are the impacts we're
seeing from the Helms uh ,amendment?
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Very true. I mean, I would like to go back to your
point that this is the , theHelms Amendment specifically
targets foreign assistance inlow and middle income
countries. And the effects ofhelms are of course going to be
disproportionately impactingthose that already experienced
the most marginalization, likeyou said, that includes , um,
(13:33):
black and brown communities,young people, LGBTQI plus
individuals, peopleexperiencing poverty, survivors
of sexual violence, that amonga myriad of other, of other
groups. And this is very, verytangible real harm that we're
talking about that comes fromthe Helms Amendment as you and
(13:55):
I just previously discussed.
It's completely wallpaperingover a well-established human
rights. So that's one harm. ButI just wanna take one second
here and step back and sort ofset the stage a little bit here
so that we can betterunderstand Helm's direct impact
on the people. The individualsare the most important part of
this whole conversation, and Iwant to make sure that we make
(14:16):
that very clear. So bear withme while I said a little
context. The US is the largestbilateral donor for family
planning and reproductivehealth in the world, meaning
that millions of people dependon US funding to access their
sexual and reproductive healthand rights services. But any US
(14:38):
agency that administers foreignassistance is, is subject to
the Helms amendment. Andresearch has shown that that
funding is rarely used by theseagencies to support abortion
care even in the most extremecircumstances. And that, of
course, trickles down to theclinics and the individual
(15:00):
healthcare providers that can'tprovide the services that are
necessary for their patients.
Okay, the patients, let's talkabout the patients. When you
don't have access to dependableand timely and quality abortion
care, you're likely to lookelsewhere. And looking outside
of trusted providers andtrusted medical institutions
(15:23):
means you're, you're verylikely looking at options that
are, that are probably lackingin their medical standards and
they're probably lacking intheir medical skills. And this
will unfortunately, likely leadto unsafe abortion stopping
here. This is already a tragedythat someone feels forced to
(15:43):
pursue this as an only optionbecause they cannot access A
safe alternative is a tragedythat someone, a world away can
directly influence yourhealthcare and your life out of
ideology. Um, in spite. Andbecause it's, you know, an an
amendment to the ForeignAssistance Act of 1961 is is
(16:08):
directly impacting your life.
That is a tragedy. And so Iwanna just share really quickly
this statistic with you. Thisis research performed by the
Gut Macher Institute. Thank youGuttmacher . I'll link this in
the show notes. A HelmsAmendment repeal and healthcare
systems subsequently beingsupported rather than limited
(16:28):
by US policy could result in 19million fewer unsafe abortions.
12 million fewer womenrequiring medical treatment
from complications due tounsafe abortions each year and
17,000 fewer maternal deaths.
And in addition, the overallnumber of maternal deaths from
(16:48):
unsafe abortions and impactedcountries would decline by 98%.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Just so with that for a minute, that's that's a
lot. And you know, yeah . We'vespent a lot of time talking on
this podcast about how notbeing able to get a legal
abortion in the US doesn't meanthat people are getting unsafe
abortions 'cause we havemedication abortion, which is
safe. That's right. So, youknow, this is a different
(17:15):
context than we're talkingabout in the US that people are
turning to different thingsthan, than they are in the
states. So just to like drawthat distinction a little bit,
that just because you'regetting it outside of the
healthcare system in the USdoes not make it unsafe. It
makes it legally risky. Andwhen we're talking about it in
(17:36):
the context of internationaldevelopment and in , um, the
global south, we are talkingabout unsafe abortion. That's
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Correct, yes. I think a very important
distinction to make, make, andthis isn't even considering,
you know, everything that wejust discussed and in the
context of outside of theUnited States, in the global
south, in countries that areimpacted by the Helms
Amendment, this isn't evenconsidering the entire other
universe of physical and mentalcomplications that come from
(18:07):
turning to clandestine methodsof care. You know, whether it
be damage to internal organs ordamage to fertility or, or the
mental cost , the mental costof not being able to realize
your , your bodily autonomy orbeing subject to that global
(18:28):
stigma. This is the kind ofdirect harm that we're talking
about when, when we talk aboutthe harm of the Helms Amendment
Speaker 1 (18:35):
And all of this is about to get compounded when
the global gag rule gets addedon top of it. Yeah . But we
thought it was really importantthat people understood kind of
the base of where we werealready at before that gets
added in.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Okay. So another thing that we have spent a lot
of time talking about ishumanitarian settings. And
Helms has a particular harm inhumanitarian settings. Can you
tell us a little bit about whywe need to think about Helms
when we're thinking about ahumanitarian crisis?
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, I, I mean, I think this has been said before
on the podcast, but it is areally salient point. And so I
will, I will repeat it again.
Sex, pregnancy, menstruation,childbirth, these, these
things, they don't stop justbecause there's a crisis
happening just because there'san emergency happening. In
(19:31):
fact, it's actually, in thiscase, in this very scenario
when people need even moresupport because they are
disproportionately impacted intheir lack of access to care
and they're experiencing ofgender-based violence, a war or
a climate catastrophe or , uh,a natural disaster. These are
(19:54):
things that can completelyuproot you. It , it completely
uproot you. And a consequenceof being utterly uprooted is it
can be a host of things. It canbe, you know, exposure to
poverty, exposure togender-based violence. Girls
often face higher rates ofexposure to child marriage in
(20:16):
humanitarian and crisissettings. Um, it can look like
displacement. And what do weneed in those moments when
people are uprooted and exposedto increased harm? What you and
I have been talking about,which is a broad spectrum of
sexual and reproductivehealthcare, specifically what
helms blocks, you know, accessto safe abortion care, but, but
(20:39):
it doesn't just stop there. Weshould also have gender-based
violence, counseling andsupport, obstetric care,
skilled obstetric care, birthcontrol, prescription menstrual
health supplies, you name it,no matter the environment, no
matter the life circumstances,people deserve access to those
(21:02):
resources, to that skilled andquality healthcare . But Helms
is like a brick wall standingbetween people in these
settings that are at their mostvulnerable, that are
experiencing the most extrememoments of their life and those
that can provide them thehealthcare that they and, and
(21:25):
the counseling that they theyneed. And then Helms is just
like a brick wall in betweenthem.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
We had a really good episode, I don't know, time
lost all meaning , um, withJill Vic several years ago
really digging deep into thisissue and like how you see the
harms of Helms, particularly inthese crisis settings where
people are not able to get thecare they need in the setting
(21:53):
they're in. And then so they goand they turn to unsafe
abortion and then they comeback and then, then, then they
can be treated for having theunsafe abortion. So they go and
put their lives at risk for aservice that we are preventing
them from accessing a safeversion of, and we can treat
them after the harm is donewhen their lives are at risk.
(22:14):
And that is tragedy upontragedy of like harms that we
are inflicting that could justso easily be solved by ensuring
that these people were able toaccess the care they need in a
setting where care is hard toget.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yes. That's an incredible episode by the way,
that that is a , a reallywonderful episode. I would also
take this moment to alsomention the episode that we did
with , uh, our senior fellowguy , tri Patel on sexual and
reproductive health inemergencies. And it , you know,
that's a real deep dive intothe sort of broad spectrum and
(22:55):
what we can really do from a ,a ground up public health
perspective to support peoplein these situations. So I'll
link that in the show notes aswell. Um, and I, I believe that
Gare also did a policy brief afew months ago on that as well.
Yes.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah . So just so important and like as we're
talking about this , again, wedon't know what the new version
of the global gag rule is gonnalook like. You may know as
you're listening, but at , atthe moment we don't is
that it may expand to includepeople in humanitarian
settings. So this, this crisiswe've just explained could get
(23:31):
worse Absolutely. In preventingpeople from accessing care
where people are having tochoose to take gagged funds or
to not take money and, and itwill just make the tragedy so
much worse. We'll talk aboutglobal gag when it comes out
and when we know what it lookslike. But yeah, I , it just, it
(23:52):
it is one of those thingsthat's in the back of my mind
right now. It's thinkingthrough these people who are
already being prevented fromaccessing the care they need
and then that might get worse.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. And you and I
have done this before. We werein these exact same roles, you
know, when the first Trumpadministration was around and
it's a lot, it's exhausting.
It's a lot of like pivoting andputting out fires and it's only
going to compound. It's, it'sjust, it's only going to get
worse. And so it's reallyimportant that we rally around
(24:24):
bringing attention not only tothis policy, but to how we can
get rid of it and we moveforward on this officially once
and for all.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Okay. So now that we know about the Hels amendment
and all the many ways that itis harmful, what can we do to
get rid of it? Like can it, isit just as easy as, you know,
you hear about the HydeAmendment and we can just get
rid of it in appropriations bynot putting it in like
(24:53):
? Is it just that easy?
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Yeah, I mean, well, yes and no. It's absolutely,
it's gotta go, it's gotta go.
This is a reactionary policythat continues to be renewed
annually as part of theappropriations process. It's
caused harm abroad for 52years. And if the US really
wants to be, you know, to claimthe mantle of protector and
(25:18):
supporter of women and girlsabroad, that starts with the
provision of, you know, safeand , and timely and quality
abortion care. And , and thatrequires repealing this
amendment. To answer yourquestion, the good news is that
there is a legislative solutionin place already. It's called
the abortion is HealthcareEverywhere Act. It's been
(25:38):
introduced before, but youknow, we have a new Congress
and it needs to be introducedagain, but it would remove
Helm's language from theForeign Assistance Act and
instead specify that US fundscan indeed be used for abortion
provisions abroad. Andultimately if, if we could get
it passed and it delivers onits promises, removing those
(26:00):
barriers , uh, to safe andtimely abortion care will make
an incredible difference inrates of unintended pregnancy
and in maternal mortalitycomplications from unsafe
abortions. As you and I werediscussing before we started
recording politically, I don'tknow, you know, if that, if
that will be the case,who's , who's to say. But you
(26:23):
know, as Jenny and I sit heretalking, it's, it's two days
into the new Trumpadministration and, and we
certainly don't have a robustsexual reproductive health and
rights champion sitting in theOval Office right now. But I
think that's why we need to berallying around this act more
than ever. That's why we needto be fighting for these
(26:44):
legislative solutions more thanever because we're facing at
the very least a few years ofsystematic dismantling of
systems built to support theprovision of care for women and
girls in other marginalizedcommunities . So, but the good
news is at Rero fight Back,that's not something we're ever
(27:06):
stepping away from, protectingthe people who need it most,
caring for the people who needit most, always fighting for
continuously improving healthoutcomes, fighting for the
ability for people to pilottheir own bodies, to make their
own choices and live their ownlives. That's something that we
are never ever going to take astep back from. And, and part
(27:29):
of that fight is investing inand getting behind the
abortionist healthcareeverywhere act.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Okay. So, as you know, I always love to end the
episodes by giving peoplesomething they could do. Like
this was something that you andI had talked about as we were
starting the podcast of wecan't just focus on it . You
know, we launched it in thefirst year of the first Trump
administration of focusing onwhat the new terrible thing was
(27:58):
and then just telling peopleabout it like that. Mm-hmm
. Was never goingto be enough, like Right . We
could not leave people in thatplace of here's what's
terrible, here's we wanted toend by focusing on here's what
you can do, here's how you canget involved and take action to
make things better. So Rachel,what can our audience do?
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Okay, I'm just gonna start by saying the good news
is I've got you covered. Woo .
I put the show notes togetherso I will make sure that
everything is included. I wannastart by, well, I think tell
your member of Congress thatyou wanna see the Helms
Amendment repealed. I know itcan feel like you're like, Ugh
(28:40):
, I gotta call Congress again.
But I did that job. I was theperson that, you know, when you
call in to your senator'soffice or your, your house
representative's office thatyou talk to and says, okay,
I'll pass your con concernalong to the representative or
the senator and I did it. Ipersonally put the spreadsheet
on the desk at the end of everyday . It does get to, you know,
(29:03):
into your representative'shands. So I would say call the
capital switchboard at (202)224-3121. Um, I have three
phone numbers memorized andthat's my husband, my mother,
and the capital switchboard. Not because I call it
all the time, but because Iused to work there. Yeah. And,
and tell your senator in yourhouse representative that you
(29:24):
know, for you as a constituent,this is an important piece of
legislation and, and you'd liketo see yourself represented and
, and what your representativedoes. So , uh, you could also,
if you don't like talking onthe phone, you can write or
email. And if you do that, it'svery likely you'll get a reply
either about, you know, aspecific piece of legislation
that you're writing in about oryou know, what your
(29:46):
representative or your senatoris doing surrounding that issue
area. I would also say IPAs hasa really great home base for
information on Helm repeal.
There's resources, there'ssocial media toolkits, like
anything you would need to feelempowered or start a
conversation, you can find itthere. And then just to, you
(30:10):
know, plug some of theresources that repos has worked
on, as you said, Jenny , um, wejust in December published a
policy brief on this exactthing, how the Helms Amendment
is, is harming millions ofpeople worldwide. I'll make
sure to include that brief inthe show notes. And of course,
our senior fellow Guy TreePatel's brief on Sexual and
Reproductive Health and Rights, um, in emergencies. That's
(30:32):
really, really incredibleinformation if you wanna dive
deeper. And then lastly, mycolleagues, Manza Habib and
Amani Nelson also recentlypublished a set of fact sheets
on not only on the HelmsAmendment, but on other
extremely harmful internationaland domestic SRHR policy,
including Global Gag and, andHyde in the us . So I'll put
(30:56):
those in the show notes too,but I, I think I would just say
in all, keep learning, keepsharing, keep fighting. And in
the meantime, please, please,please take care of yourself ,
uh, when you need to.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
And just because Rachel was being modest, yes,
re pros put out a brief onHelms, but Rachel wrote the
brief , um, so like, let's makesure to give her her props. It
was a great brief. Thank you.
Um, I know I mentioned it inour intros, but because she's
here, we need to take thesecond to give her her flowers
while she is here. Oh , thankyou. Um,
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Thank
Speaker 1 (31:30):
You so much. And you know, I, I know that feeling of
like, I mean, does it reallymatter if I call my member of
Congress and like this is oneof those issues where they're
not getting very many calls onit? Yeah, it's a global policy,
so yeah, it could actually makea difference. It
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Really can
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Because you may be like one of one person calling
in about it. So it , it reallydoes matter that you are
letting them know that theirconstituents care about these
issues.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
They really truly depend on hearing from
constituents. So it , it makesa huge difference.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Rachel, first of all, because you're here, I'm
definitely going to embarrassyou, but okay, I'm not gonna
say what I was originally goingto do, but um, uh, Rachel has
been with the podcast before itlaunched. Like she was here
basically from day one. Thishas definitely been a team
(32:28):
joint effort there, especiallyin the early days as we were
trying to figure out episodesand like how to get our path
through the conversations. Shewas an invaluable sounding
board for so long. She pitchesideas of things we should talk
about. She puts together theamazing show notes if you go
and look at our show notes. Shemanages the website, she writes
(32:53):
briefs for us. She is just theabsolute best partner in crime
that I could ask for. And I amso grateful for her every day
to have her working with us andworking with me. And I am so
happy and excited that shewanted to come on the podcast
(33:15):
and talk about the amazingbrief she wrote because she
doesn't always wanna come and ,uh, sing her praises. So I'm so
excited that she wanted to thistime and that you all get to
see how amazing she is. Sothank you Rachel.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Oh my gosh, Jenny , thank you so much. That's too
kind. That is too kind. Um, Ilike being with this podcast. I
mean, we've been together likefor forever. We've been doing
this forever, forever and , um,it's the best. I I wake up
every day and I'm so excited,you know, to go to work every
day and be able to go platform,you know, like incredible
(33:53):
leaders and advocates andresearchers in this field and
continue these conversationsand um, to be able to do it
alongside you and our wonderfulsocial media fellow , uh, Elena
is just a cherry on top. Sothank you so much and I really,
really, really appreciate theopportunity that you gave me
for, for having me on. Thankyou so much.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Aw , thanks Rachel.
Okay y'all, I hope you enjoyedmy interview with Rachel. It
was so wonderful to have heron. She did such a great job. I
am so proud of her and all ofthe work she has done for re
pros. Like I said, such a teameffort. She is an invaluable
role of the team. Like Icouldn't have made a better
hiring de decision when I, whenI hired her , uh, seven and a
(34:39):
half years ago. So just so, soexcited that she was able to
come on and talk about hergreat work that she has been
doing. So with that, I will seeeverybody next week. If you
have any questions, comments,or topics you would like us to
cover, always feel free toshoot me an email. You can
reach me at jenn NIe@reprofightback.com or you can
(35:02):
find us on social media or atrepro fight. Back on Facebook
and Twitter are re pros FB onInstagram. If you love our
podcast and wanna make suremore people find it, take the
time to rate and review us onyour favorite podcast platform.
Or if you wanna make sure tosupport the podcast, you can
also donate on ourwebsite@reprosfight.com. Thanks
(35:24):
all.
Welcome to Repro Fight Back a podcast on all
things related to sexual andreproductive health rights and
justice. Hi re pros. How'severybody holding up? I'm your
host Jenny Wetter and mypronouns are she her. So y'all,
this first week has been , um,a , a wild ride with the new
administration and honestly I'mrecording this on the Friday
(00:26):
before you're hearing it. Sowho knows what has happened in
between. I'm sure there havebeen a bunch of new wild
things. Um, you know, so muchhas happened in this first week
with the new administration.
They've tried to end birthrightcitizenship, lots of major
actions against immigrantsshutting down the refugee
program, like withdrawing fromthe Paris Climate Agreement,
(00:49):
withdrawing from the WorldHealth Organization, getting
rid of DEI programs, so manyanti-trans executive actions.
We will definitely dig intosome of these More and later
episodes probably we'llprobably talk about the World
Health Organization and wedefinitely will be talking
about the anti-trans eeo . Butjust, I don't wanna spend a ton
(01:10):
of time on all of that. Justacknowledge that it's happening
and there's a lot of people whoare scared and are just in
harm's way and you know, it'sreally important that those of
us that are supporting thetrans community or immigrants
or all of these other peoplewho are worried are speaking up
(01:31):
and making sure they know thatthey're supported and that
they're loved and that they'reseen. So that's where my head
is at right now is justthinking of what we can do to
slow things down and makethings better for people who
are about to be harmed. I thinkthat's all I wanna say about
that right now 'cause there'sso much going on and it can be
(01:54):
easy to feel overwhelmed andlike get, dig deep into that
and we'll have so many podcaststalking about all of the things
that are happening. Let's tryto keep maybe the intro a
little more upbeat today. Idon't know , I feel like maybe
we need it. Um, let's see. Soof exciting things. I tried a
(02:16):
new recipe, I don't know why itwas speaking to me 'cause I
don't really eat these ingeneral, but I saw a recipe for
oatmeal, cream pie bars. Yeah .
I don't like go and buy thoselike little w oat oatmeal cream
pies. They've never really beenand they just were never part
of my life. But I was lookingto make some sort of bar cookie
(02:38):
mostly 'cause I was too lazy tolike do like rollout cookies or
do something that was a lot ofeffort. So I thought bar
sounded like the perfectsolution and I saw this and I
was like, oh my god, thatsounds so good. And y'all, oh
my god, it was so good. Yeah, Idon't know . It made me happy.
It brought me a little joy overthis week 'cause I made them
(03:00):
last weekend and so , uh, I waseating them all week, eating my
feelings all week to enjoy theoatmeal cream pie bars I made.
I need to not eat my feelingsthrough the whole thing. But
baking has been , uh, my go-toand I think I've talked about
it before, like, I generallytrend to the like making a
breakfast item so I'm noteating like cookies and cake
(03:22):
and those types of things. So Ineed to maybe make some bagels
or something this weekendinstead of sweets because let's
not do that. I don't know . Mysweet tooth knows no bounds
though. Y'all
don't know, I just feel likekind of overwhelmed with all
the things happening. Trying tokeep my peace though. Right? I,
(03:46):
one, I've never been a cablenews person, so that really
helps. Like I don't follow thecable news. I really tried to
reduce the amount of time I'mon social and I've been busy
working on other things atwork, so I'm not on social for
work very often. So that hasreally helped to with some of
that. So hopefully I can workand try and keep that going.
I've been less good aboutmeditating this week. Gotta get
(04:08):
back on that. Yeah, I justtrying to keep my peace through
the next four years. That is ,that is my priority right now.
I think I'm gonna end it there'cause I'm very excited about
this week's interview and I, Igive a lot of my shoutouts and
love at the end, but just incase you don't miss it, make it
to the end. I wanna make surethat I am front loading it as
(04:29):
well. I am so excited for thisweek's guest. She doesn't
really come on the podcast veryoften, but she has been
involved in the podcast fromalmost the jump, but for sure
before we started releasingepisodes. And this is
absolutely a partnership likeRachel has been just invaluable
(04:53):
to creating the podcast anddoing all the behind the scenes
stuff. And for so long she didsocial media, which she has now
Ablely handed off to Elena ,who does such a outstanding job
on our social. Rachel has beendoing some writing for us and I
am so, so excited that shewanted to come on and talk
about this brief she wrote thatcame out in December talking
(05:16):
about the Helms amendment. Andwith all the things that are
gonna be coming up, we know theglobal global gag rule will be
reintroduced soon and there'salways so much confusion
between the global gag rule andthe Helms amendment. It just
felt really important to kindof lay that groundwork to make
sure that everybody knows thedifference. So talking about
what Helms is before we get towhere we talk about what the
(05:39):
global gag rule is, which Ithink will probably be next
week. As of right now, it, thenew version hasn't been
released, but I assume it willcome out very, very soon. It
may already be out by the timeyou're listening, but as of
when I'm recording, it is notout yet. So all that is to say
I'm so excited to have RachelMarchand with Free Pros fight
(05:59):
back on as our guest to talkabout the Helms Amendment. So
let's go to my interview withRachel. Hi Rachel, thank you so
much for being here today.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Hi Jenny . Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I am so excited to have you on. This feels very
weird, like we talk all thetime.
a podcast.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
So before we like get into like the actual
conversation, do you wanna takea second and introduce yourself
and include your pronouns?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Sure. My name is Rachel Marchand . I use she her
pronouns and I am the publicpolicy manager with the re Pros
Fight Back Initiative , uh, outof the Population Institute.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I'm so excited to have you here. Uh ,
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Thank you for having
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Me. You did an amazing brief that came out
late last year talking aboutthe Helms Amendment and we're
getting ready to start. I mean,not getting ready to start. We
have the new administrationthat just , just started
Speaker 2 (06:59):
No, it just feels like it has, it's already been
three out of the four years.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yeah,
start the new administration,we know we're ha being the
global gag rule rule will bereintroduced at some point. It
is not as of when we arerecording Ben . The e executive
order hasn't been out, but wesee a lot of confusion between
the Helms amendment and gag andlike lots of confusion. So it
(07:29):
felt really important to likelay a little groundwork before
we got to some of the new stuffand talk about Helms and why we
need to care about Helms aswhen all this attention in the
near future is gonna be on aglobal gag. So with all of that
preamble,
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yeah, so the Helms amendment was basically a
reaction to the 1973 SupremeCourt ruling on Roe versus
Wade. It was introduced andpassed , uh, that very same
year in 1973 by Senator JesseHelms. He was a Republican from
North Carolina and it was anamendment to the Foreign
(08:10):
Assistance Act and it's been ineffect ever since. It's
included annually as part ofthe state and foreign
operations bill and theappropriations process. But
what does it do while on paperit's states that , um, here let
me get the, the direct quotefor from you. It says, quote ,
(08:30):
no foreign assistance funds maybe used to pay for the
performance of abortion as amethod of family planning or to
motivate or coerce any personto practice abortions end
quote. So that's what it sayson paper. But a lot of
implementing agencies that areat the forefront of global
health, we're talking the StateDepartment, the Centers for
(08:52):
Disease Control and Prevention,the United States Agency for
International Development, theyoften over-interpret Helms as a
total ban on US funding forabortion care. So even in cases
of rape, even in cases ofincest or of a life-threatening
pregnancy, and in countrieswhere abortion is legal, those
(09:14):
implementing agencies can oftenover interpret as a complete
and total ban on US funding forprovision of abortion. And the
passage of Helms and thesubsequent over implementation,
as you can imagine, as theaudience can imagine, has led
to a host of poor healthoutcomes, most notably the
(09:35):
restriction of time sensitiveabortion care and increased
maternal mortality as a result.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yeah, this is women , one of those like perpetual
fights. We have had, even withfriendly administrations to
argue that, hey, at the bareminimum we should be able to
ensure that people who needabortions because they were
raped or their lives are indanger or the pregnancy was a
(10:02):
result of incest, should beable to access abortion care.
As you can probably tell fromour conversation, that has not
happened, but it has been alongstanding fight that we have
had that, you know, that is notwhat the Helms Amendment says.
It , it is not all abortions.
It's, you know, just abortionsas a method of family planning.
It leaves room for exceptions,but yeah, just , uh, the
(10:27):
perpetual fight. Well,
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yes, and, and it would be a very easy fix too.
It would be very simpleclarification , uh, is all
that's needed. And it goes backto, I look, I've been with this
podcast since day one. I knowthe audience very well. I don't
think they need me to explainany of this, but it all goes
back to the fact thatreproductive rights are human
(10:51):
rights. The , the , so it's,the Holmes Amendment is just
completely trampling on, onreproductive rights being human
rights. That exact notion wassigned, was co-signed , um, by
178 countries at a landmarkconference in 1994 in Cairo,
Egypt called the InternationalConference on Population and
Development. And ultimatelyit's cemented on a global
(11:15):
scale, reproductive rights ashuman rights, and that includes
abortion. And again, I don'tneed to be telling anybody
this, but sexual andreproductive health and rights
is a foundation. It'snon-negotiable. It is
completely necessary. It isgroundwork for women and girls
and transgender individuals andgender non-binary individuals
(11:40):
to be fully engaged in theirown lives, to be in charge of
their own education, their ownhealth, their own political and
economic wellbeing. None ofthat is easily navigable at all
if you don't have thatfoundation, that jumping off
point of being able to chooseif and when and how you have a
(12:05):
family. And that's ultimatelywhat the Helms Amendment does.
It just, like I said before, itjust completely tramples on
that human right by limitingthe accessibility of abortion
care, but not only limiting theaccessibility of abortion care,
propagating stigma on this likeglobal scale. And I think
(12:25):
generally just prolonging this,this general ambiguity about
the rules dimensions and howimplementing agencies have to
comply with that.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So I think it really, that this is all
absolutely true, like settingit up as a human right. That
this just tramples on it, ittramples on it for people who
are unable to access healthcarefrom other places, it is
majorly impacting black andbrown people since it's in
developing countries like it iscolonialism that we are
(13:00):
exporting this terrible policyand forcing it on people. What
other harms are we seeing andlike what are the impacts we're
seeing from the Helms uh ,amendment?
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Very true. I mean, I would like to go back to your
point that this is the , theHelms Amendment specifically
targets foreign assistance inlow and middle income
countries. And the effects ofhelms are of course going to be
disproportionately impactingthose that already experienced
the most marginalization, likeyou said, that includes , um,
(13:33):
black and brown communities,young people, LGBTQI plus
individuals, peopleexperiencing poverty, survivors
of sexual violence, that amonga myriad of other, of other
groups. And this is very, verytangible real harm that we're
talking about that comes fromthe Helms Amendment as you and
(13:55):
I just previously discussed.
It's completely wallpaperingover a well-established human
rights. So that's one harm. ButI just wanna take one second
here and step back and sort ofset the stage a little bit here
so that we can betterunderstand Helm's direct impact
on the people. The individualsare the most important part of
this whole conversation, and Iwant to make sure that we make
(14:16):
that very clear. So bear withme while I said a little
context. The US is the largestbilateral donor for family
planning and reproductivehealth in the world, meaning
that millions of people dependon US funding to access their
sexual and reproductive healthand rights services. But any US
(14:38):
agency that administers foreignassistance is, is subject to
the Helms amendment. Andresearch has shown that that
funding is rarely used by theseagencies to support abortion
care even in the most extremecircumstances. And that, of
course, trickles down to theclinics and the individual
(15:00):
healthcare providers that can'tprovide the services that are
necessary for their patients.
Okay, the patients, let's talkabout the patients. When you
don't have access to dependableand timely and quality abortion
care, you're likely to lookelsewhere. And looking outside
of trusted providers andtrusted medical institutions
(15:23):
means you're, you're verylikely looking at options that
are, that are probably lackingin their medical standards and
they're probably lacking intheir medical skills. And this
will unfortunately, likely leadto unsafe abortion stopping
here. This is already a tragedythat someone feels forced to
(15:43):
pursue this as an only optionbecause they cannot access A
safe alternative is a tragedythat someone, a world away can
directly influence yourhealthcare and your life out of
ideology. Um, in spite. Andbecause it's, you know, an an
amendment to the ForeignAssistance Act of 1961 is is
(16:08):
directly impacting your life.
That is a tragedy. And so Iwanna just share really quickly
this statistic with you. Thisis research performed by the
Gut Macher Institute. Thank youGuttmacher . I'll link this in
the show notes. A HelmsAmendment repeal and healthcare
systems subsequently beingsupported rather than limited
(16:28):
by US policy could result in 19million fewer unsafe abortions.
12 million fewer womenrequiring medical treatment
from complications due tounsafe abortions each year and
17,000 fewer maternal deaths.
And in addition, the overallnumber of maternal deaths from
(16:48):
unsafe abortions and impactedcountries would decline by 98%.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Just so with that for a minute, that's that's a
lot. And you know, yeah . We'vespent a lot of time talking on
this podcast about how notbeing able to get a legal
abortion in the US doesn't meanthat people are getting unsafe
abortions 'cause we havemedication abortion, which is
safe. That's right. So, youknow, this is a different
(17:15):
context than we're talkingabout in the US that people are
turning to different thingsthan, than they are in the
states. So just to like drawthat distinction a little bit,
that just because you'regetting it outside of the
healthcare system in the USdoes not make it unsafe. It
makes it legally risky. Andwhen we're talking about it in
(17:36):
the context of internationaldevelopment and in , um, the
global south, we are talkingabout unsafe abortion. That's
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Correct, yes. I think a very important
distinction to make, make, andthis isn't even considering,
you know, everything that wejust discussed and in the
context of outside of theUnited States, in the global
south, in countries that areimpacted by the Helms
Amendment, this isn't evenconsidering the entire other
universe of physical and mentalcomplications that come from
(18:07):
turning to clandestine methodsof care. You know, whether it
be damage to internal organs ordamage to fertility or, or the
mental cost , the mental costof not being able to realize
your , your bodily autonomy orbeing subject to that global
(18:28):
stigma. This is the kind ofdirect harm that we're talking
about when, when we talk aboutthe harm of the Helms Amendment
Speaker 1 (18:35):
And all of this is about to get compounded when
the global gag rule gets addedon top of it. Yeah . But we
thought it was really importantthat people understood kind of
the base of where we werealready at before that gets
added in.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Okay. So another thing that we have spent a lot
of time talking about ishumanitarian settings. And
Helms has a particular harm inhumanitarian settings. Can you
tell us a little bit about whywe need to think about Helms
when we're thinking about ahumanitarian crisis?
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, I, I mean, I think this has been said before
on the podcast, but it is areally salient point. And so I
will, I will repeat it again.
Sex, pregnancy, menstruation,childbirth, these, these
things, they don't stop justbecause there's a crisis
happening just because there'san emergency happening. In
(19:31):
fact, it's actually, in thiscase, in this very scenario
when people need even moresupport because they are
disproportionately impacted intheir lack of access to care
and they're experiencing ofgender-based violence, a war or
a climate catastrophe or , uh,a natural disaster. These are
(19:54):
things that can completelyuproot you. It , it completely
uproot you. And a consequenceof being utterly uprooted is it
can be a host of things. It canbe, you know, exposure to
poverty, exposure togender-based violence. Girls
often face higher rates ofexposure to child marriage in
(20:16):
humanitarian and crisissettings. Um, it can look like
displacement. And what do weneed in those moments when
people are uprooted and exposedto increased harm? What you and
I have been talking about,which is a broad spectrum of
sexual and reproductivehealthcare, specifically what
helms blocks, you know, accessto safe abortion care, but, but
(20:39):
it doesn't just stop there. Weshould also have gender-based
violence, counseling andsupport, obstetric care,
skilled obstetric care, birthcontrol, prescription menstrual
health supplies, you name it,no matter the environment, no
matter the life circumstances,people deserve access to those
(21:02):
resources, to that skilled andquality healthcare . But Helms
is like a brick wall standingbetween people in these
settings that are at their mostvulnerable, that are
experiencing the most extrememoments of their life and those
that can provide them thehealthcare that they and, and
(21:25):
the counseling that they theyneed. And then Helms is just
like a brick wall in betweenthem.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
We had a really good episode, I don't know, time
lost all meaning , um, withJill Vic several years ago
really digging deep into thisissue and like how you see the
harms of Helms, particularly inthese crisis settings where
people are not able to get thecare they need in the setting
(21:53):
they're in. And then so they goand they turn to unsafe
abortion and then they comeback and then, then, then they
can be treated for having theunsafe abortion. So they go and
put their lives at risk for aservice that we are preventing
them from accessing a safeversion of, and we can treat
them after the harm is donewhen their lives are at risk.
(22:14):
And that is tragedy upontragedy of like harms that we
are inflicting that could justso easily be solved by ensuring
that these people were able toaccess the care they need in a
setting where care is hard toget.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yes. That's an incredible episode by the way,
that that is a , a reallywonderful episode. I would also
take this moment to alsomention the episode that we did
with , uh, our senior fellowguy , tri Patel on sexual and
reproductive health inemergencies. And it , you know,
that's a real deep dive intothe sort of broad spectrum and
(22:55):
what we can really do from a ,a ground up public health
perspective to support peoplein these situations. So I'll
link that in the show notes aswell. Um, and I, I believe that
Gare also did a policy brief afew months ago on that as well.
Yes.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah . So just so important and like as we're
talking about this , again, wedon't know what the new version
of the global gag rule is gonnalook like. You may know as
you're listening, but at , atthe moment we don't
that it may expand to includepeople in humanitarian
settings. So this, this crisiswe've just explained could get
(23:31):
worse Absolutely. In preventingpeople from accessing care
where people are having tochoose to take gagged funds or
to not take money and, and itwill just make the tragedy so
much worse. We'll talk aboutglobal gag when it comes out
and when we know what it lookslike. But yeah, I , it just, it
(23:52):
it is one of those thingsthat's in the back of my mind
right now. It's thinkingthrough these people who are
already being prevented fromaccessing the care they need
and then that might get worse.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. And you and I
have done this before. We werein these exact same roles, you
know, when the first Trumpadministration was around and
it's a lot, it's exhausting.
It's a lot of like pivoting andputting out fires and it's only
going to compound. It's, it'sjust, it's only going to get
worse. And so it's reallyimportant that we rally around
(24:24):
bringing attention not only tothis policy, but to how we can
get rid of it and we moveforward on this officially once
and for all.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Okay. So now that we know about the Hels amendment
and all the many ways that itis harmful, what can we do to
get rid of it? Like can it, isit just as easy as, you know,
you hear about the HydeAmendment and we can just get
rid of it in appropriations bynot putting it in like
(24:53):
? Is it just that easy?
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Yeah, I mean, well, yes and no. It's absolutely,
it's gotta go, it's gotta go.
This is a reactionary policythat continues to be renewed
annually as part of theappropriations process. It's
caused harm abroad for 52years. And if the US really
wants to be, you know, to claimthe mantle of protector and
(25:18):
supporter of women and girlsabroad, that starts with the
provision of, you know, safeand , and timely and quality
abortion care. And , and thatrequires repealing this
amendment. To answer yourquestion, the good news is that
there is a legislative solutionin place already. It's called
the abortion is HealthcareEverywhere Act. It's been
(25:38):
introduced before, but youknow, we have a new Congress
and it needs to be introducedagain, but it would remove
Helm's language from theForeign Assistance Act and
instead specify that US fundscan indeed be used for abortion
provisions abroad. Andultimately if, if we could get
it passed and it delivers onits promises, removing those
(26:00):
barriers , uh, to safe andtimely abortion care will make
an incredible difference inrates of unintended pregnancy
and in maternal mortalitycomplications from unsafe
abortions. As you and I werediscussing before we started
recording politically, I don'tknow, you know, if that, if
that will be the case,
(26:23):
know, as Jenny and I sit heretalking, it's, it's two days
into the new Trumpadministration and, and we
certainly don't have a robustsexual reproductive health and
rights champion sitting in theOval Office right now. But I
think that's why we need to berallying around this act more
than ever. That's why we needto be fighting for these
(26:44):
legislative solutions more thanever because we're facing at
the very least a few years ofsystematic dismantling of
systems built to support theprovision of care for women and
girls in other marginalizedcommunities . So, but the good
news is at Rero fight Back,that's not something we're ever
(27:06):
stepping away from, protectingthe people who need it most,
caring for the people who needit most, always fighting for
continuously improving healthoutcomes, fighting for the
ability for people to pilottheir own bodies, to make their
own choices and live their ownlives. That's something that we
are never ever going to take astep back from. And, and part
(27:29):
of that fight is investing inand getting behind the
abortionist healthcareeverywhere act.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Okay. So, as you know, I always love to end the
episodes by giving peoplesomething they could do. Like
this was something that you andI had talked about as we were
starting the podcast of wecan't just focus on it . You
know, we launched it in thefirst year of the first Trump
administration of focusing onwhat the new terrible thing was
(27:58):
and then just telling peopleabout it like that. Mm-hmm
could not leave people in thatplace of here's what's
terrible, here's we wanted toend by focusing on here's what
you can do, here's how you canget involved and take action to
make things better. So Rachel,what can our audience do?
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Okay, I'm just gonna start by saying the good news
is I've got you covered. Woo .
I put the show notes togetherso I will make sure that
everything is included. I wannastart by, well, I think tell
your member of Congress thatyou wanna see the Helms
Amendment repealed. I know itcan feel like you're like, Ugh
(28:40):
, I gotta call Congress again.
But I did that job. I was theperson that, you know, when you
call in to your senator'soffice or your, your house
representative's office thatyou talk to and says, okay,
I'll pass your con concernalong to the representative or
the senator and I did it. Ipersonally put the spreadsheet
on the desk at the end of everyday . It does get to, you know,
(29:03):
into your representative'shands. So I would say call the
capital switchboard at (202)224-3121. Um, I have three
phone numbers memorized andthat's my husband, my mother,
and the capital switchboard
all the time, but because Iused to work there. Yeah. And,
and tell your senator in yourhouse representative that you
(29:24):
know, for you as a constituent,this is an important piece of
legislation and, and you'd liketo see yourself represented and
, and what your representativedoes. So , uh, you could also,
if you don't like talking onthe phone, you can write or
email. And if you do that, it'svery likely you'll get a reply
either about, you know, aspecific piece of legislation
that you're writing in about oryou know, what your
(29:46):
representative or your senatoris doing surrounding that issue
area. I would also say IPAs hasa really great home base for
information on Helm repeal.
There's resources, there'ssocial media toolkits, like
anything you would need to feelempowered or start a
conversation, you can find itthere. And then just to, you
(30:10):
know, plug some of theresources that repos has worked
on, as you said, Jenny , um, wejust in December published a
policy brief on this exactthing, how the Helms Amendment
is, is harming millions ofpeople worldwide. I'll make
sure to include that brief inthe show notes. And of course,
our senior fellow Guy TreePatel's brief on Sexual and
Reproductive Health and Rights, um, in emergencies. That's
(30:32):
really, really incredibleinformation if you wanna dive
deeper. And then lastly, mycolleagues, Manza Habib and
Amani Nelson also recentlypublished a set of fact sheets
on not only on the HelmsAmendment, but on other
extremely harmful internationaland domestic SRHR policy,
including Global Gag and, andHyde in the us . So I'll put
(30:56):
those in the show notes too,but I, I think I would just say
in all, keep learning, keepsharing, keep fighting. And in
the meantime, please, please,please take care of yourself ,
uh, when you need to.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
And just because Rachel was being modest, yes,
re pros put out a brief onHelms, but Rachel wrote the
brief , um, so like, let's makesure to give her her props. It
was a great brief. Thank you.
Um, I know I mentioned it inour intros, but because she's
here, we need to take thesecond to give her her flowers
while she is here. Oh , thankyou. Um,
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Thank
Speaker 1 (31:30):
You so much. And you know, I, I know that feeling of
like, I mean, does it reallymatter if I call my member of
Congress and like this is oneof those issues where they're
not getting very many calls onit? Yeah, it's a global policy,
so yeah, it could actually makea difference. It
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Really can
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Because you may be like one of one person calling
in about it. So it , it reallydoes matter that you are
letting them know that theirconstituents care about these
issues.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
They really truly depend on hearing from
constituents. So it , it makesa huge difference.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Rachel, first of all, because you're here, I'm
definitely going to embarrassyou, but okay, I'm not gonna
say what I was originally goingto do, but um, uh, Rachel has
been with the podcast before itlaunched. Like she was here
basically from day one. Thishas definitely been a team
(32:28):
joint effort there, especiallyin the early days as we were
trying to figure out episodesand like how to get our path
through the conversations. Shewas an invaluable sounding
board for so long. She pitchesideas of things we should talk
about. She puts together theamazing show notes if you go
and look at our show notes. Shemanages the website, she writes
(32:53):
briefs for us. She is just theabsolute best partner in crime
that I could ask for. And I amso grateful for her every day
to have her working with us andworking with me. And I am so
happy and excited that shewanted to come on the podcast
(33:15):
and talk about the amazingbrief she wrote because she
doesn't always wanna come and ,uh, sing her praises. So I'm so
excited that she wanted to thistime and that you all get to
see how amazing she is. Sothank you Rachel.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Oh my gosh, Jenny , thank you so much. That's too
kind. That is too kind. Um, Ilike being with this podcast. I
mean, we've been together likefor forever. We've been doing
this forever, forever and , um,it's the best. I I wake up
every day and I'm so excited,you know, to go to work every
day and be able to go platform,you know, like incredible
(33:53):
leaders and advocates andresearchers in this field and
continue these conversationsand um, to be able to do it
alongside you and our wonderfulsocial media fellow , uh, Elena
is just a cherry on top. Sothank you so much and I really,
really, really appreciate theopportunity that you gave me
for, for having me on. Thankyou so much.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Aw , thanks Rachel.
Okay y'all, I hope you enjoyedmy interview with Rachel. It
was so wonderful to have heron. She did such a great job. I
am so proud of her and all ofthe work she has done for re
pros. Like I said, such a teameffort. She is an invaluable
role of the team. Like Icouldn't have made a better
hiring de decision when I, whenI hired her , uh, seven and a
(34:39):
half years ago. So just so, soexcited that she was able to
come on and talk about hergreat work that she has been
doing. So with that, I will seeeverybody next week. If you
have any questions, comments,or topics you would like us to
cover, always feel free toshoot me an email. You can
reach me at jenn NIe@reprofightback.com or you can
(35:02):
find us on social media or atrepro fight. Back on Facebook
and Twitter are re pros FB onInstagram. If you love our
podcast and wanna make suremore people find it, take the
time to rate and review us onyour favorite podcast platform.
Or if you wanna make sure tosupport the podcast, you can
also donate on ourwebsite@reprosfight.com. Thanks
(35:24):
all.
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