July 2022
COLOR OF CHANGE: REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE
We learned about the intersectional issues surrounding the fight for reproductive justice, including the video below from Color of Change.
It’s easy to think of the Dobbs decision as the restart of a fight that was won with Roe, yet for many people in marginalized communities the fight for reproductive justice and bodily autonomy has never stopped.
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August 2022
SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective published an essay What is Reproductive Justice? which discusses “the complete physical, mental, spiritual, political, social, and economic well-being of women and girls”. In this lesson we discussed this essay and the accompanying study guide by Radical in Progress.
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RADICAL IN PROGRESS: REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE
September 2022
HBO ORIGINAL: THE JANES
“THE JANES profiles seven women in Chicago who were part of a clandestine network formed in 1968. Using code names, blindfolds, and safe houses, and calling
themselves JANE, they built an underground service for women seeking safe, affordable, illegal abortions.” We discussed the abortion debate pre-Roe and how it is different and similar to the post-Roe fight. The important work of coalitions was highlighted and how much harder the whole system must have been pre-internet.
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October 2022
PARABLE OF THE SOWER BY OCTAVIA E. BUTLER
After reading post-apocalyptic novel, Parable of the Sower by acclaimed author Octavia E. Butler, we discussed marginalized communities and how the disparages in today’s society might look in a future after profit trumped humanity to the demise of humans and religion dictates norms.
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December 2022
HOW TO ORGANIZE A MOVEMENT WITH MIE INOUYE: FACTUALLY WITH ADAM CONOVER
Adam Conover and Mie Inouye discuss practical tips for organizing today based on what we learned from the successes and failures of past civil rights movements. We discussed how we can contribute something in our daily lives toward keeping the rights we have gained and expanding our rights to more and more marginalized people, including building coalitions, staying informed, and using small opportunities to create big impacts.
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January 2023
With a local election looming, we thought this was a good time to learn about local politics, how to affect change at the lowest levels of political power, and where our energy can yield the best results.
We reviewed how bills become laws and where and how to track bills that might concern us. We discussed what individuals can do to help in the democratic process including letter writing, door knocking, postcard writing, signing up to be a VDR, and getting educated on candidates before voting day.
- Volunteer with Equality Texas
- Texas Legislature Online
- LegiScan – Bringing Power to the Process
- Tarrant County Voter Lookup
- Tarrant County Democrats Precinct Chairs
- YouTube: George Lakoff: How Progressives Will Win
- YouTube: George Lakoff: Why Don’t Facts Move People?
- YouTube: George Lakoff on The Political Mind
- TikTok: ErinInTheMorning
LOCAL POLITICS: VARIETY EDITION
February 2023
MY NAME IS PAULI MURRAY
We watched the film My Name Is Pauli Murray about the human rights activist, then discussed how their intersectionality affected their life in various ways including as a black person, as a perceived woman, as a trans person.
Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray’s accomplishments helped shape the movements of the time and the tactics and strategies are models for our ongoing fight for equal rights.
March 2023
RBG
This month we watched RBG, a documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the late Supreme Court Justice. Discussions about gender norms and discriminations and how she moved equal rights as a fierce advocate, student, a lawyer, a judge, and finally one of the nine supreme justices of the land.
May 2023
MIFEPRISTONE: HISTORY AND FUTURE OF THE ABORTION PILL WITH MALINDA SEYMORE
Texas A&M Professor of Law, Malinda L. Seymore, joined us to discuss the recent Mifepristone decision in Texas courts. She explained the uses and affects of the medication, the lawsuit surrounding it’s possible being removed from the market, and alternatives the whole nation may have to seek if the plaintiffs are able to reverse the 2 decade FDA approval that the medication currently enjoys.
JUNE 2023
The Turnaway Study is ANSIRH’s prospective longitudinal study examining the effects of unwanted pregnancy on women’s lives. The major aim of the study is to describe the mental health, physical health, and socioeconomic consequences of receiving an abortion compared to carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term. The main finding of The Turnaway Study is that receiving an abortion does not harm the health and wellbeing of women, but in fact, being denied an abortion results in worse financial, health and family outcomes.
TURNAWAY STUDY
AUGUST 2023
Aftershock: The Documentary
We had a pre-school watch party of Hulu’s Aftershock, a documentary highlighting the stories of black Americans directly affected by maternal mortality as they seek solutions to the problem that affects our country more than most other developed countries in the world.
Our guest speaker, Professor Barbara Bernier, a distinguished legal scholar, highlighted alarming maternal mortality rates in a post-Roe America.
