How to Survive a Post-Roe America
The Waves: Gender, Relationships, Feminism
Slate Podcasts
4.2 • 903 Ratings
🗓️ 27 May 2021
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior writer and Outward podcast co-host Christina Cauterucci talks to Robin Marty about the Supreme Court’s plans with Roe v. Wade, and what women can do to prepare for the worst.
Robin Marty is the author of The New Handbook for a Post-Roe America. She’s also the communications director of the West Alabama Women’s Center and the Yellowhammer Fund, which provides funding and logistical support to women in need of abortions. They discuss what abortion access might look like if the justices further erode Roe. They also talk about why Robin once said she was ready for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe, and why national exhaustion has caused her to change her mind.
In the second half of the show, it’s all about survival. Christina and Robin focus on the ways women will (hopefully) still be able to get access to reproductive health care, why self-managed abortions could become crucial, how privacy will take on increasing importance, and how people can help. Plus, they’ll tell you how you should decide when it’s time to “break some laws and do some bad stuff.”
Recommendations:
Christina recommends Tevas, specifically the Hurricane Drift sandals. “It literally feels like you’re wearing clouds on your feet.”
Robin recommends Meg Elison’s “The Road to Nowhere” series, which starts with The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, then The Book of Etta, and finally the The Book of Flora. The books focus on a post-apocalyptic landscape after a fever has swept the earth, killing women and children and making childbirth very dangerous. In the series, women try to survive while helping others prevent pregnancies and births. Robin calls it a “breathtaking series that I absolutely love.”
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Susan Matthews and June Thomas. Additional production help by Rosemary Belson.
Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening ad-free on Amazon Music. |
| 0:03.1 | On September 1st, Texas banned nearly all abortions, and the Supreme Court let the ban |
| 0:09.7 | take effect. The law prohibits abortions performed after fetal cardiac activity can be detected |
| 0:15.8 | around the sixth week of pregnancy. That's before many people know they're pregnant. So it's now nearly impossible |
| 0:22.9 | to get a legal abortion in Texas. The Supreme Court's choice to allow the law to stand |
| 0:29.7 | opens the door for other states with Republican majority legislatures to enact their own |
| 0:34.6 | versions of the Texas law. Without explicitly saying so, the five conservative |
| 0:39.7 | justices on the court have effectively toppled Roe v. Wade. Just a couple months ago, I spoke to |
| 0:46.0 | Robin Marty, who works at an abortion provider in Alabama, about what a post-Roe America would |
| 0:51.2 | look like. Now, as we're about to find out firsthand, I'm turning back to our |
| 0:56.8 | conversation, especially the part where we talked about what people committed to abortion access |
| 1:01.4 | must do. It's more relevant than ever. Here it is. This is the waves. This is the waves. This is |
| 1:08.5 | the waves. This is the waves. This is the waves. This is the waves. This is the waves. |
| 1:11.5 | This is the waves. Hello and welcome to the waves, Slate's podcast about gender, feminism, |
| 1:22.6 | and why I can't stop pronouncing Wooder like mayor of Easttown. Every episode, you'll get a new pair of |
| 1:29.8 | women to talk about the thing we can't get off our minds. And today, you've got me, Christina |
| 1:34.6 | Cotterucci. I'm a senior writer at Slate and a host of Outward Slate's podcast about queer |
| 1:39.8 | culture and politics. And joining me this week is Robin Marty. Robin is the author of Handbook for |
| 1:46.4 | a Post Row America and the end of Roe v. Wade. She's also the communications director of the West |
| 1:52.1 | Alabama Women's Center and the Yellowhammer Fund. Robin, welcome to the waves. Thanks so much for |
| 1:57.0 | having me on, Christina. It's great to have you. So this week, we are talking about the end of the |
| 2:02.3 | Roe v. Wade era. Perhaps one of the most enduring legacies of Donald Trump's presidency will be |
... |
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