The Battle for Abortion and Reproductive Autonomy with Bay Ostrach

This week on the show, we sat down with Bayla Ostrach, an activist, anarchist, longtime defender, provider of and researcher around issues of reproductive healthcare. We speak about experiences researching and working on the issue in Catalunya, the battle for abortion and reproductive autonomy in the so-called US, the challenges faced by independent clinics against the business model of clinic chains like Planned Parenthood, legal and material pressure and attacks by anti-abortion extremists as well as the cultural and political struggle to defend and expand the ability for people to get safe, affordable, full spectrum and stigma-free abortion and reproductive care more broadly.

**Content warning, because we are discussing a stigmatized series of medical procedures adjacent to sexual, social and political violence, listeners should be advised and we’ll put warnings in a few places during the episode. If you are hearing the radio version and want to hear a longer version of this show, and to listen at your own pace, check out our full podcast at our website, to be followed in about a week by a transcript for easy reading & a zine for printing.**

• Transcript
• PDF (Unimposed)
• Zine (Imposed PDF)

Illustration by Marne Grahlman

A list of people, works, and resources mentioned by our guest:

• Loretta Ross work on reproductive justice.
• Into Our Own Hands - Sandra Morgen (book)
• Carol Downer
• Abortion Care Network : national network of independent clinics
• Abortion Stigma Syndemics

Good sites:

• https://abortioncarenetwork.org
• https://abortionfunds.org/
• https://www.sistersong.net/
• https://www.carolinaabortionfund.org
• https://arc-southeast.org/
• https://www.icah.org/blog/
• https://www.guttmacher.org/
• (Guttmacher generally has good abortion research summaries but beware their employment practices are garbage https://prismreports.org/2021/)
• https://www.icah.org/blog/ (for RJ quotes)
• Into Our Own Hands (good history of the self-health movement)

Citations for two shared documents co/authored by Bay:

• Ostrach, Bayla. “Social Movements, Policy Change, and Abortion Access in Catalunya.” Anthropology Now 10, no. 2 (2018): 1–11. https://www.tandfonline.
• Ostrach, Bayla, and Roula AbiSamra. “Abortion Complication Syndemics: Pathways of Interaction between Structural Stigma, Pathologized Pregnancies, and Health Consequences of Constrained Care.” In Stigma Syndemics: New Directions in Biosocial Health. Lexington Books (Rowman & Littlefield), 2017. https://rowman.com/ISBN/.

Another document we can't easily share:

• Singer, E., (Elyse Ona), and Bayla Ostrach. “The End of Feminist Abortion Counseling? Examining Threats to Women’s Health.” In Transcending Borders, 255–70. Palgrave-MacMillan (Springer imprint), 2017. http://link.springer.com/.

Announcements Anti-Abortion & Fascist Over in DC

Fascism must be opposed, Reproductive Autonomy must be defeneded and there are many ways to do this. As the interview mentions, the neo-fascist masculinist dance troupe known as Patriot Front (or the Blue & Khaki Man Group) joined the anti-abortion “March For Life” in Chicago on January 8th and were heckled from within the march and surrounding Chicagoans. According to leaked audio, they may appear in Washington DC at the “March For Life” on January 22nd. A little info is available at PatriotFrontMarchForLife.NoBlogs.Org or by checking out sites for local anti-racist, anti-fascist & pro-choice and feminist groups in the DC area.

Sean Swain Support

So far as we know, Sean still isn’t out of the woods on an inter-state transfer despite the hearing board recommending him not be transferred out of state. 2 years ago he was transferred to Virginia with no hearing or warning and lots a bunch of his property in the shuffle. Now he’s back in Ohio and wants to stay near his spouse, his lawyer and many supporters. You can contact Interstate Compact Coordinator Earlena Shepherd at earlena.shepherd@odrc.state.oh.us or

Earlena ShepherdInterstate Compact CoordinatorODRC 4545 Fisher Road, Suite DColumbus, OH 43228

More contacts at SeanSwain.Org

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