NARAL President: Were Prepping for End of Roe v. Wade
Trump did a lot to roll back women\u2019s healthcare\u2014from enacting a global gag rule, which prevents non-American health organizations from receiving monetary aid from the U.S., to stacking the courts with anti-choice judges all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. Add the threat of losing Roe to the mix and Biden will have his work cut out for him after he takes office in January. Should he appoint a \u201cwomen\u2019s health czar?\u201d Molly Jong-Fast asks Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, in this members-only bonus episode of The New Abnormal? She was half-joking, but also serious. Hogue is all for it. \u201cIt would send such a clear message that that terrible era that Trump ushered in is over,\u201d she says. But even so, it won\u2019t be over just yet. Hogue says reproductive rights \u201cabsolutely could\u201d be taken away and that the organization is even preparing for the possibility. \u201cA lot of our work over the last few years has been about making sure that we have what we call \u2018islands of access,\u2019 [like] Blue States that are caudifying the right to abortion, making sure that we have like practice in place where women can go,\u201d she says. In the meantime, Molly asks her what Biden should do as soon as possible when it comes to the anti-choice legislation in place from the Trump/Pence era (which, by the way, is not driven by morality, says Hogue, but by control). \u201cIt has always been about targeting women and women of color. And it's always been about forcing women to adhere to a very narrow period view of where they think our role in society is,\u201d she says. To combat it, Bden can start by rescinding the global and domestic gag rule, and appoint people who believe in science. Even then, the key is to not get complacent, lookin\u2019 at you white women: \u201cWe have to rebuild the muscle that any time we are not fighting for something, we are losing it any time.\u201d
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