No Body Criminalized (If/When/How, Repro Legal Defense Fund)

Ma'ayan Anafi, Senior Counsel for Health Equity and Justice for the National Women's Law Center, joins host Rafa Kidvai to share the disturbing reality of forced sterilization laws still active in the majority of U.S. states. They discuss the historical roots of these laws, their impact on disabled people today, and opportunities for reform. Ma'ayan highlights the intersections of reproductive justice and disability justice, advocating for a future where every individual's autonomy and dignity are respected.

If you have questions about your legal rights or access to abortion, go to the 

Repro Legal Helpline

 or call 844-868-2812. If you are being criminalized for something that happened during a pregnancy, go to 

Repro Legal Defense Fund

 to learn more.

Renee Bracey Sherman wants to shift society’s idea of abortion by sharing real abortion stories. As founder and executive director of WeTestify, an organization working to change the conversation surrounding abortion, she empowers individuals to talk about their decision on their own terms. She speaks with host Rafa Kidvai about her mission and why she thinks abortion is a rejection of patriarchy and white supremacy. 

Visit Repro Legal Defense Fund to learn more. Follow Renee on Twitter @RBraceySherman.

If you have questions about your legal rights or access to abortion, go to the Repro Legal Helpline

 or call 844-868-2812. If you are being criminalized for something that happened during a pregnancy, go to reprolegaldefensefund.org. 

Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi joins Rafa Kidvai to discuss the challenges faced by abortion providers in the wake of a post-Roe reality–and how her Texas-based practice has had to navigate barriers to care even before the Dobbs decision. Dr. Moayedi shares the impact of abortion bans she experiences first-hand on both providers and patients, and the strategies she employs to ensure continued compassionate abortion care.

Visit Repro Legal Defense Fund to learn more. Follow Dr. Moaydei on Twitter at @dr_moayedi.

If you have questions about your legal rights or access to abortion, go to the Repro Legal Helpline or call 844-868-2812. If you are being criminalized for something that happened during a pregnancy, go to reprolegaldefensefund.org. 

Chase Strangio, the Deputy Director for Transgender Justice with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project, and host Rafa Kidvai of the Repro Legal Defense Fund at If/When/How know that their movements’ path to freedom depends on one another. They go deep on the interdependence of transgender and reproductive justice, and explore what true liberation should be founded on–love.

Visit Repro Legal Defense Fund to learn more. Follow Chase on Twitter and Instagram @chasestrangio.

If you have questions about your legal rights or access to abortion, go to the Repro Legal Helpline or call 844-868-2812. If you are being criminalized for something that happened during a pregnancy, go to reprolegaldefensefund.org. 

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg joins host Rafa Kidvai to explore the connection between abortion and her Jewish values. Rabbi Ruttenberg shares her perspective on the role of faith in empowering individuals to control their own reproductive health. 

Visit Repro Legal Defense Fund to learn more. Follow Rabbi Ruttenberg on Twitter @TheRaDR.

If you have questions about your legal rights or access to abortion, go to the Repro Legal Helpline or call 844-868-2812. If you are being criminalized for something that happened during a pregnancy, go to reprolegaldefensefund.org. 

Journalist and author Victoria Law joins host Rafa Kidvai to discuss the harrowing experiences of incarcerated pregnant people, exemplified by the story of K. Winston, who was denied an abortion in an Ohio jail. They delve into the systemic barriers to reproductive care in prisons, the intersection of incarceration and reproductive justice, and the urgent need to address these hidden injustices.

If you have questions about your legal rights or access to abortion, go to the Repro Legal Helpline or call 844-868-2812. If you are being criminalized for something that happened during a pregnancy, go to Repro Legal Defense Fund to learn more.

Sophia Gurulé, an immigration defense attorney and policy advocate, explains “crimmigration”–the intersection of the criminal legal system with the U.S. immigration system. Sophia shares with host, Rafa Kidvai, how even very brief encounters with the criminal punishment system can lead to detention and how state surveillance using these two systems can lead to deportation.

Visit Repro Legal Defense Fund to learn more. Follow Sophia on Twitter @s_phia_. 

If you have questions about your legal rights or access to abortion, go to the Repro Legal Helpline or call 844-868-2812. If you are being criminalized for something that happened during a pregnancy, go to reprolegaldefensefund.org.

From navigating parental notification laws to being under state supervision, Oriaku Njoku, executive director of the National Network of Abortion Funds and co-founder of Access Reproductive Care Southeast (ARC), shares with Rafa Kidvai the various factors that can make accessing abortion care difficult and how abortion funds can help. Oriaku discusses their mission to shift attitudes around abortion in the South and what organizers in that region can teach others in the fight for reproductive justice.

Visit Repro Legal Defense Fund to learn more. Follow Oriaku on Twitter @Oreawku.

If you have questions about your legal rights or access to abortion, go to the Repro Legal Helpline or call 844-868-2812. If you are being criminalized for something that happened during a pregnancy, go to reprolegaldefensefund.org. 

Diala Shamas is a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. She joins host Rafa Kidvai to talk about the impact of state surveillance on Muslim communities and some of the unseen harms that come from the criminalization of a people based on their identity. The discussion highlights the intersection of surveillance with the reproductive justice movement and the broader implications for marginalized communities.

If you have questions about your legal rights or access to abortion, go to the 

Repro Legal Helpline

 or call 844-868-2812. If you are being criminalized for something that happened during a pregnancy, go to 

Repro Legal Defense Fund

 to learn more.

Harper Keenan, the Quartermain Professor of Gender & Sexuality in Education at the University of British Columbia, thinks a lot about how we support children to navigate their bodies. He talks to host Rafa Kidvai about how important educators are, since our kids spend so much time at school, and how instilling the values of bodily autonomy and self determination at a young age can impact the wider reproductive justice movement.

Visit Repro Legal Defense Fund to learn more. Follow Harper on Twitter at @HarperKeenan.

If you have questions about your legal rights or access to abortion, go to the Repro Legal Helpline or call 844-868-2812. If you are being criminalized for something that happened during a pregnancy, go to reprolegaldefensefund.org. 

Pilar Weiss, founder and director of the Community Justice Exchange, shares with host Rafa Kidvai how the bail process robs entire families and communities of freedom and safety–particularly in the immigration detention system. Also founder of the National Bail Fund Network, Pilar challenges listeners to imagine a world beyond reform–and towards abolition of the prison industrial complex.

Visit Repro Legal Defense Fund to learn more. Follow Pilar's work on Twitter @bailfundnetwork.

If you have questions about your legal rights or access to abortion, go to the Repro Legal Helpline or call 844-868-2812. If you are being criminalized for something that happened during a pregnancy, go to reprolegaldefensefund.org. 

Nora Carroll is a public defender at the Legal Aid Society, and cofounder of the Parole Preparation Project. When host Rafa Kidvai asks her to apply a reproductive justice lens to her experience in the criminal legal system, Nora explains how difficult it is for folks  in prisons or jails to exercise their right to exert control over their own bodies. And how even after getting out through parole, probation, or community supervision programs they are under constant surveillance, lack access to abortion care, and are unable to freely support their families and communities.   

Visit Repro Legal Defense Fund to learn more. 

If you have questions about your legal rights or access to abortion, go to the Repro Legal Helpline or call 844-868-2812. If you are being criminalized for something that happened during a pregnancy, go to reprolegaldefensefund.org.

In each episode of this series, Rafa Kidvai of the Repro Legal Defense Fund at If/When/How interviews experts about how policy in the U.S. is used to control and surveil the decisions people make about their own bodies. From the way parole limits someone’s access to their family, to the impact education has on how children learn about bodily autonomy … this podcast highlights stories and analysis from the intersection of the reproductive justice movement and the state’s targeting of marginalized communities in the U.S.

If you have questions about your legal rights or access to abortion, go to the Repro Legal Helpline or call 844-868-2812. If you are being criminalized for something that happened during a pregnancy, go to reprolegaldefensefund.org

Jared Trujillo, policy counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and a former sex worker, explains their campaign to decriminalize sex work. Jared shares how decriminalizing sex work would make it safer and why sex workers should be entitled to the same legal protections and workplace rights as any other worker. He discusses with host Rafa Kidvai the harm that comes from criminalizing sex work, including increased violence against sex workers and decreased access to healthcare and legal services.

Visit Repro Legal Defense Fund to learn more. Follow Jared on Twitter @JaredTruEsqueer.

If you have questions about your legal rights or access to abortion, go to the Repro Legal Helpline or call 844-868-2812. If you are being criminalized for something that happened during a pregnancy, go to reprolegaldefensefund.org.