A Word | A Mother of a Crisis

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3.8 • 546 Ratings

🗓️ 22 November 2024

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A sizable number of pregnancies end in a loss, whether to miscarriage, still-birth or abortion. But until very recently, discussions of these losses were kept out of public—and policy—conversations. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Colleen Long and Rebecca Little, co-authors of the book, “I’m Sorry for My Loss: An Urgent Examination of Reproductive Care in America.” They share their own stories of pregnancy loss, and what they learned about the range of experience from dozens of interviews for their book. They also offer their insights about why reproductive rights remain popular, even when the politicians who champion them aren’t. Guest: Colleen Long and Rebecca Little, co-authors of “I’m Sorry for My Loss: An Urgent Examination of Reproductive Care in America.” Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola Want more A Word? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/awordplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a word, a podcast from Slate. I'm your host, Jason Johnson. One of the most profound times when the personal becomes political is pregnancy loss. And the recent election threatens to make the consequences even more devastating. So what can we do now to protect reproductive rights?
0:18.1	If you're talking about sober, you have to talk about how abortion rights affects
0:22.5	miscarriage care.
0:23.8	Just bring all of that together in a more unified way, we'd make a huge difference in how
0:28.9	we have these discussions.
0:30.3	The authors of, I'm Sorry for My Loss, An Urgent Examination of Reproductive Care
0:35.5	in America.
0:36.5	Coming up on a Word with me, Jason Johnson.
0:39.5	Stay with us.
0:44.3	Welcome to a Word, a podcast about race and politics and everything else.
0:47.7	I'm your host, Jason Johnson.
0:49.3	We're going to take a different turn in this episode and talk about an issue that's centered largely around
0:55.5	gender instead of race. Pregnancy loss is at once very common and very hidden. While exact numbers
1:03.4	are hard to pin down, it's estimated that more than a third of pregnancies end with a loss,
1:08.8	miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion.
1:12.0	And now with the re-election of Donald Trump, millions of American women are more fearful than
1:16.1	ever that these most intimate and often heartbreaking moments of their lives will be further
1:21.1	politicized, and that the emotional complexity of pregnancy loss will continue to be
1:26.4	willfully misunderstood.
1:29.1	Fighting that was on the minds of childhood best friends Rebecca Little and Colleen Long,
1:33.7	who viewed their own experiences of pregnancy loss as an opportunity to open up a public
1:38.9	conversation about the issue. The result is the book, I'm sorry for my loss, an urgent examination of reproductive
	...

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