How to Stay Hopeful (and Powerful) When Rights Are Under Threat — with Planned Parenthood’s Alexis McGill Johnson

Getting Better with Jonathan Van Ness

Sony Music

Science, Self-improvement, Comedy, Education, Society & Culture

4.9 • 21.5K Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Planned Parenthood President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson is here and we are fired up! Alexis is leading the fight to protect reproductive freedom at a time when access to healthcare is under attack across the U.S.—and she’s breaking it all down for us. JVN sat down with Alexis to talk about the real-world impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, how rural communities are being left behind, and why Planned Parenthood remains an essential lifeline for millions. Plus: what we can all do to stay informed, get involved, and fight back for equitable care. BIO: Alexis McGill Johnson is the President and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, a leading advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights. She is also the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), a national nonprofit organization that is the country's most trusted name in sexual and reproductive health. Alexis McGill Johnson is a renowned social justice leader, lifelong political organizer, and a tireless advocate for reproductive rights and access to quality, affordable health care. Alexis has served in both organizations’ leadership for more than 15 years: as a former PPFA board chair, former Planned Parenthood Action Fund board member, and former Planned Parenthood Federal PAC chair. In those roles Alexis helped expand Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s advocacy power, and since taking leadership has led the organization through challenges — from its exclusion from Title X to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. Full Getting Better Video Episodes now available on YouTube. Follow Alexis McGill Johnson on Instagram @alexismjpp Planned Parenthood on Instagram @plannedparenthood Follow us on Instagram @gettingbetterwithjvn Follow Jonathan on Instagram @jvn Visit ⁠www.imforpp.org⁠ for more info. Check out the JVN Patreon for exclusive BTS content, extra interviews, and much much more - check it out here: www.patreon.com/jvn Senior Producer, Chris McClure Producer, Editor & Engineer is Nathanael McClure Production support: Chad Hall Our theme music is also composed by Nathanael McClure. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey Better Babes. I'm Jonathan Van Ness and welcome to Getting Better. Riddle me this.
0:04.9	What do you do when your health care is no longer available? Quite literally, you need an abortion,
0:11.3	or a pap smear, or STI testing, and your local clinic is no longer funded. I found out that I had
0:16.9	HIV at a local Planned Parenthood, and without Planned Parenthood, I don't know where I would be.
0:21.7	They directed me towards resources and knowledge that has impacted my life positively to this day.
0:29.4	Planned Parenthood does so much more than abortions. They do SDI screenings, cancer screenings.
0:34.7	They also improve community health. Today, we're diving into what Planned
0:38.8	Parenthood really does for us as a country and for a community and what we can all do to come
0:43.7	together to make sure that Planned Parenthood can continue to do its life-saving work.
0:49.2	To do that, we have someone who I admire and respect so much, none other than Alexis McGill Johnson,
0:56.5	the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood.
0:59.7	And not to name drop, but this is actually Alexis's second time joining us on the pod.
1:04.5	And our first conversation, we went deep on Title X, abortion stigma, and why reproductive care is a human right.
1:10.7	It was from 2019,
1:11.8	and it's when I very first wrote my book, Over the Top. So take a moment and listen to that episode,
1:17.2	because that episode and this episode, whoa, the time travel. Very interesting. But without any
1:22.5	further ado, let's get to our conversation with Alexis McGill-Johnson.
1:44.0	Thank you so much for taking your time to be here today. I miss you. I'm so happy to be here. Oh, my God. Reunited. I know. It feels so good. It really feels so good. We were saying earlier that it's been since like 2019 since we got to come together. That's right. I mean, I literally didn't even know where the bathrooms were at Planned Parenthood. and I've somehow stumbled into your pod,
1:45.8	and I was like, oh my God, I feel so at home. So this is really, when I say it like, before we started recording, I was like, oh, I'm a married woman since I saw you joking. Don't come for me. Okay. I'm a married person since I saw you last. But literally Dobbs happened since I saw you last.
2:03.4	Well, actually, COVID happened first.
2:04.1	COVID first. Right?
2:04.5	So I was like, you know, newly installed, going through a leadership transition, turn the
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