post them to our wall at facebook.com/booktv or e-mail us at booktv@c-span.org. >> one of the things that i actually don't mention in the book that always grabbed me was a report in the, a paragraph in the hope consulting report of one of their focus groups where they interviewed a guy, i think his name was mark kay. that sort of sticks with me. and i think mark kay actually encapsulated the donor mentality where he said, look, i don't do research because i know that charities are going to do some good. where i put my time in research is things like products, like around buying a microwave. i'll do research. i don't need to do the research for charities. and i think that actually captures the prevailing ethic among donors. part of my book is really, i would say, a plea to the donor community to rethink it.

all charities are not alike. there are good ones, there are bad ones, there's a lot in the middle. we've got to get money to the best and breed so they survive and the others don't. >> with little accountability or measure of effectiveness, with charity for all author i can't think stern looks at the world of nonprofits on "after words," tonight at 9 this weekend on c-span2. >> and now from politics & prose bookstore here in washington, d.c., women's health activist sarah erdreich presents her thoughts on the pro-choice movement 40 years after the supreme court's decision on roe v. wade. this is about 50 minutes. >> thank you so much again for coming. my name is sarah, i'm the events coordinator here, and really on behalf of the entire of staff, i'm so pleased to welcome you. and i'm so pleased to welcome sarah erdreich to discuss her book, "generation roe." in the book sarah presents some

of the voices of the women who choose abortion and why. her writings on abortion have been noted by jezebel and the national partnership for women and families and has been published in many publications including on the issues and lil' it. she's also worked editorially with the magazine's teen voices. thank you again so much for coming. we really look forward to welcoming your civil questions, and we're looking forward to a great discourse tonight. thank you so much and please join me in welcoming sarah erdreich to politics and prose. [applause] >> well, thank you so much, and thank you all for coming. and thank you to politics & prose for having me. i've always been a fan of your bookstore even before i moved to d.c., so this is a real honor. so i've always been interested in controversial topics. anything that you're not supposed to discuss in polite

society, anything that makes people lower their voices, from a young age i was interested in anything like that. so reproductive rights, abortion really kind of fell right along those lines. and i grew up in the '80s and '90s in a very liberal tone in a very liberal family, but particularly in the late '80s, really '90s, those were the years where abortion was under siege. occasionally literally, as in wichita, kansas, in the early '90s with the summer of mercy protest. is so paying attention to all these stories on the news, hearing how much people, how the links of people -- the lengths people would go to to make their views heard, i was curious about that, about why abortion was such a difficult topic, one that people felt so strongly about. because, as i said, for me growing up where i did, it was a nonissue. women had the right to do with their bodies what they felt was best. so that's what got me interested in reproductive rights in the

first place. in 2008 after i'd moved to d.c., i began working at the national abortion federation under hotline, helping women who had called and had questions about abortion, how much it would cost, where they could get the procedure done, any number of questions around the topic. and before i started working there, i thought i knew a lot about abortion. like i said, this was 2008. it was after gonzales very carhart, it was after i'd been in college and had a number of friends who had chosen apportion for one reason or another, and it was after i lived in areas of the country that were pretty politically diversion. so i thought going in i know what i'm signing up for. i was really wrong. i learned every day just how little i knew about reproductive rights in america in the 21st century. i would come home from work every day just ranting and raving about how far women had to travel, what they had to do to raise the money to come up with the procedures and what was

most heartbreaking to me personally would be the women who would call, and we would talk about their situation, and then they would say to me you're the first person i've told. i can't tell anyone that i know that i'm pregnant or that i'm having an abortion. and i was glad that i was that person for them, but i found it absolutely heartbreaking that they could not tell the people closest to them what was going on in their lives. and that, to me, really just said so much about how abortion is stigma atized and how the lengths that women have to go to to get a legal health service in this country. in early 2009 the new york times' style section ran an article titled "where to pass the torch," and it was about those providers and clinic directors and counselors who were starting to approach retirement age and who were no longer going to be working at the same rate in the pro-choice movement. and the focus of the article was who's going to be coming up to

take their place. where are the younger activists and the younger providers and the younger clinic directors? and this article caused a lot of conversation where i worked and on the blogs and newspapers i read, and after thinking about this and hearing all this conversation for a few days, i realized i'm surrounded by this next generation of activists. i'm surrounded by these people that want to go to medical school and become providers, that want to go to law school and work in reproductive rights, that want to open their own clinics. and i decided this is -- their stories, why they're in this movement and what the future of this movement is should be told. so when i started writing this book, i did a number of interviews. there ended up being about 75 with clinic directors and physicians, providers, attorneys across the country. the focus was on those born in 1973 or later, is so those of us who had grown up with legal abortion, who had been able to take this right for granted yet

still want to go into this field and still feel it is important. i also did a lot of research, a lot of medical research, legal research looking at different aspects of reproductive rights and their importance. so i learned a lot from the this process, but i also was given reason to examine my own behavior in ways that i did not expect. in the summer of 2009, i did an interview with a doctor, wayne goldner. he is one of the last two abortion providers in the u.s. he's opinion the subject of pickets, he's been the subject of protests. he's also been the subject of a documentary about his work, so he's very knowledgeable and very passionate about this. and during our conversation he said to me does your doctor do abortionings. and i -- abortions. and i was completely embarrassed. i had no idea. i'd never thought about it before. even though i was spending all day, every day doing nothing except thinking about abortion. so i had to say to him, i don't

know. he said, well, you have to ask. because if doctors aren't doing abortions, why aren't women protesting that? why aren't women demanding that their doctors provide the full range of health care that they might need? so the next time i had to go to the doctor, i said to him, you know, i'm not pregnant, i don't know when i will be pregnant, but just in case do you do abortions? and he said, no, personally i don't because i was trained at georgetown. it's a jesuit school, doesn't teach these schools. but, he followed up, there are doctors in this clinic that are trained to do it, so if you ever do need abortion care, we can help you out x. i was so relieved to hear that. it was still not something i ever planned on needing, but i don't think anyone ever plans on needing an abortion. almost by definition, it's something that happens when you're not expecting it for reasons that you cannot predict. so knowing that if i was ever in that situation i had a doctor that i trusted and i had a clinic that i trusted was a huge relief.

on a wider scale, i learned that there are a number of serious threats that still exist to reproductive rights 40 years after roe was supposed to have settled the issue. but one thing that many of the activists i spoke with brought up is that a lot of the threats are on the state level, and we've seen this in this area with what's been going on with virginia this past year and a half or so. the trend, what virginia's doing is representative of a larger trend of trap laws, and that for targeted regulation of abortion providers. these are laws that target only abortion clinics, only those free-standing medical clinics x they seek to impose unique regulations that basically make it almost impossible or could make it almost impossible for clinics to continue to do their work. they impose certain pilling requirements -- billing requirement, they impose certain requirements about the number of parking spaces a clinic must have or the kinds of drinking

fountains, laws that have nothing to do with health and safety, but yet that's the reason that is given most times for these laws to be put in place. another recent trend that is gaining, that we've also seen in d.c. is bans for abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. i know trent franks attempted to put one over on d.c. last year. fortunately, that was shot down. but in franks' home state of arizona, like many other states across the country, abortions are illegal after the 20th week. the rationale is generally given for this, the concept of fetal pain which is controversial and very kind of proven, kind of not proven depending on which study you read. a subject that basically examines when in a pregnancy a fetus can feel pain. most people say, most scientists don't think it happens as early as 20 weeks, certainly not as

early as 18 weeks which is what franks is enforcing in arizona. yet this is still the rationale given to restrict a right that a lot of women do need to take advantage of if their health is threatened or if the health of the fetus is threatened and a later-term abortion is needed. so these state-by-state bans, they don't make abortion illegal, but they make parts, hay make certain aspects of getting an abortion illegal, and that is a troubling trend that is seeking to basically make roe legal in name only. as disappointing and depressing, quite frankly, as a lot of this information that i learned is, it's also nice to know there's a lot that can be done about these trends and other reproductive, other laws that seek to restrict reproductive rights. the younger activists i spoke to, most of -- you know, echoed a refrain throughout our interviews which is that roe

itself, they don't think roe will be overturned. they think that's too much settled law at this point for the supreme court to overturn that. but besides those examples that i've already mentioned, the threats to reproductive rights that exist remain so difficult means that aworse is so -- abortion is so difficult for people to access, and that's where these activists see the real threats, on the state level. is so as we, as they realize this and as they work, as it seems like the focus is turning away from the courts to the statehouses, younger activists are fighting through pote traditional organizations like planned parenthood, national abortion federation but also through their own tactics, through their own activities; social media, grassroots activities. there's increasingly a sense that while these larger organizations can offer a great deal in terms of experience and that you're able to open some doors when you can say i work

for planned parenthood that they don't always respond as quickly or as straightforwardly as maybe needed because these organizations in many cases are beholden to donors and to political allies, so they're not able to be as straight forward and as nimble as younger activists and older activists as well may wish they could be. so dynamic and meaningful work is going on at the local level. as i said, there are blogs that serve a great purpose in making apportion more relatable, making the activities of those working in this field more personal and things that get away from the sound bite way that abortion is often represented in the news where you can really read people's thoughts and have conversations about what is going on and what it is like to work in a clinic. the kinds of people you experience and encounter, what it is hike to be -- it is like to be an escort making sure

women get access to service free from harassment. and this is a compelling direction to explore going forward because while these large organizations do have their role and it's an important role, they tend to focus on the federal level. they're not engaged in what's going on in the communities that they serve just because of their very structure. and we with, the young orer generation who are born after 1973, we've grown up with knowledge both that abortion is legal, but we've also seen time and time again with casey, with dozenless, with carhart that laws alone without context will not change people's behavior. no offense to the attorneys in the room. but laws themselves do not change people's minds. nothing -- probably nothing that harry plaqueman -- blackman or samuel alito has written is enough to make someone say, oh, okay, i'll do what they say. it's having these ways to change

minds is through learned experience, through lived experience, through empathy and through being able to go deeper into conversation and getting beyond the assumptions and beyond the stereotypes about why people access this health service. i had a, i did a radio interview earlier today where the host,-very libertarian and very progressive, asked me what do you think of the people who say, oh, women just use abortion for birth control. i said, well, i think anyone who says that demonstrates how little they know about abortion, how little they know about birth control for that matter too. but these are common assumptions. people do still think this. people who do not flat out disapprove of the right to choose, but these are the kinds of easy assumptions that are made about abortion in our culture. and it's through having intimate, deeper considerations about why abortion is necessary. even if you're a man, even if you've never had an abortion,

even if you've never been pregnant. but why abortion is necessary as a right that our society should respect and should protect. the best social media, like the best media in general, can help achieve this. but also individuals that don't consider themselves activists, that don't want to get engaged in reproductive rights as clinic escorts or working at naf can do. one of the most important things and something that i as a resident of the district am jealous of is people that can vote, people that can elect their representative, that can make a real difference on the community level and on the local level, because that matters. who is representing you on your statehouse is just as important as who is representing you in the house and the senate. it's -- that is where laws are coming from, and it's also where you have the ability to say you're my elected representative, but you're doing everything except by what we elected you to do. there are so many representatives across this

country that appear to only care about restricting women's rights no matter what else they said they were going to do when they got elected. on the flip side, there are also representatives that do wonderful work for reproductive rights and should be commended for that by their constituents. is voting is incredibly important. donating time or money if you have the ability to clinics, to local access funds that help women afford abortion. all these things matter, and all these things help keep this right is accessible and legal. but the most important thing and the simplest thing to do is to talk about apportion and about reproductive rights and contraception and their role in our lives and in our society. because the silence surrounding abortion, surrounding all of these things allow these subjects to continue to be stigmatized, to continue -- to create an environment where women are more comfortable talking to a complete stranger

than they are talking to their loved ones. silence allows roe to die a death of a thousand cuts. silence allows providers to be harassed, to be stalked, to, in eight cases, to be killed for their work. and silence allows clinics to be vandalized and people who work at clinics and who who work in this field to be harassed and threatened. and silence allows all of us who take these rights for granted, rights that benefit men and women, silence allows us to not appreciate them for what they really mean for our lives and for our society. talking about abortion is not always easy, especially when you're not sure what the other person is thinking. several years ago i was on a flight from baltimore to detroit, and the man sitting next to me santorum up a conversation. -- struck up a conversation. and eventually we got around to talking about what we did, and i said, well, i'm writing this book about abortion. and i could tell by the language

that he used that he was not exactly pro-choice. he wasn't with anti-choice exactly, but he used the term pro-life, and he asked me the abortion/birth control question, and i was a little bit taken aback, but i was also really glad to talk to him. i don't, i don't flatter myself that i changed his mind on that flight, but i think i was able to present things that he had not thought about just as to me he was able to bring up things that i hadn't thought about and asked questions in a way that i wasn't really sure how to answer. to service incredibly valuable to be able to have these considerations and try to come to a greater understanding where even if he doesn't believe in abortion, and that's fine, maybe he wouldn't, he at least won't try and restrict other people from being able to make their choices that they feel are best. and on the flipside, it's also important to talk to those of us in our lives who are what i call choice-neutral. these are people who, if asked

do you think women should have the right to choose, would say yes. but they know so little about the reality of accessing abortion in in this country that they just don't -- by knowing, by being able toen lighten them and have conversations about the reality of getting an abortion, you help them see how important it is that we all continue to take this right not for granted, but continue to work for it and to make it safer and make it more -- sorry, make it more enshrined. my best friend, she grew up in the same liberal town i did. she's lived in the new york and california, so she's very pro-choice. if i asked her, she wouldn't even think twice about it. but until i started talking her ear off about this book, she had no idea how much it cost to get an abortion. she had no idea how long women would have to wait. and she's one of the people that i would think about when i was writing this book, the people that i was writing to.

because it doesn't matter if personally you're okay with the right to choose. it does matter, but it doesn't matter enough. it matters that you know this, and you also can get involved and can help protect the right for other people. and these conversations are important to learn and to grow, to protect these rights not just for ourselves, but for our daughters and for our sons, for our nieces and nephews nephews d grandchildren so that might be in 40 years they will live in a society that can honestly and safely proclaim that there's nothing wrong with being pro-choice, there's nothing wrong with trusting women, and there's nothing wrong with having an abortion. thank you. [applause] >> thank you so sarah -- to sarah. if there are questions, please

use our audience microphone. >> yes. um, i just wanted to ask if there's anything that can be done about the states like mississippi and north dakota whose latest tactic to stop abortions -- and other states are following their example because the courts have not done anything about it -- is to require that the doctors have admitting privileges at the hospital, and, of course, the hospitals won't give them that privilege. and i don't know if this is something that can be taken to court, because essentially what they're doing is making a federal law null and void. and i don't know if there's attorneys over here that know the answer to that, maybe you know the answer to that. [laughter] but i'm interested in knowing. >> it's a good question, because those are, both of those are

incredibly disturbing examples of what's going on. the clinic in mississippi, i believe, has a bit of a stay of execution. but it still could close at any time, is my understanding. north dakota i don't think is quite as far awe long, but they're -- along, but they're getting there. i think, i know the center for reproductive right in mississippi has been mounting the legal challenge that i believe -- >> [inaudible] >> on the state level. i know they've been going to, working within the state to try and keep the clinic open. my suspicion is that this is an anti-choice tactic to try and bring an abortion case before the supreme court, so even if mississippi ruling goes one way, it'll be appealed and so on and so forth. which is good news, i suppose, for the clinic, because i believe that as long as the law is not -- is tied up in the courts, it can't be enforced. it's a bit sketchier when you think about if it comes to the court what the ruling could be

right now with the justices that are currently seated. in terms of what individuals can do, i know -- i think probably one of the best things is being aware. i know the center for reproductive rights, they have their draw the line campaignment campaignment -- campaign. everyone has their own opinion about how much online petitions work and letterer-writing campaigns, but it is important to be able to use these channels to let those making these laws know that they're going against what a lot of people want. and another important thing for those who live in maryland, virginia or other states is to pay attention to what your legislatures are doing. and if they're -- because i'm sure that these are strategy that is if they prove successful in mississippi and north dakota will be copied throughout the country. so i would say in this case prevention could be the best approach. >> thank you. >> thank you.

>> suns you raised -- since you raised the question, what does it cost to have an abortion, and how far do people have to travel? i do know that in north dakota there was one clinic that i think is closed now, but there's a doctor who comes every so often. >> that's correct. >> and that in texas it's very hard to get an abortion. >> yes. um, i believe the north dakota clinic is, actually, still open. and that clinic -- you're going to correct me if i'm wrong here, sarah -- i believe that clinic also serves south dakota. so it's just the one clinic for both states. um, that said, there may be private physicians that provide abortions, don't advertise it. the north dakota clinic is still open. for those women that that is their option, it's not up common in states that are geographically large and where the providers are few and far between to have to drive up to ten hours one way to get an abortion.

and when you consider that most of these states, there are also waiting periods in effect, so you're doing that ten-hour drive four times over the course of several days. cost wise, a first trimester abortion which is up to the 12th week of pregnancy generally runs between about $350 and $500. some, most private insurance companies still cover that, although not a lot of women use insurance. after the 12th week, the price can go up very quickly because the procedure is still very safe into the second and third trimesters, but it's a more involved procedure the later the pregnancy goes. so one of the women that i interviewed for my book, she had to have an abortion done at the 32nd week of pregnancy because of fetal anomalies. she had to fly from the east coast to colorado to have the procedure done because there are only a few clinics in the country that would see her at that stage. and that abortion cost $17,000.

so $350-$17,000. >> i just wanted to make two quick comments. one, as to your point about people not knowing or whatever, i find when i tell people i'm a clinic escort, the first question i get at least half the time is they seem really surprised that they need anybody do that anymore. they might have seen operation rescue 20 years ark but i they -- but they think that's all over and there's nothing going on anymore. the second thing is in terms of what we can do. sometimes one of the most important discussions you can have with people is they don't really understand what pro-choice means. i'll bring up the issue, and they'll go through about how they're personally against it for themselves and it's wrong for them, and then at the end they'll say but i think everyone should decide for themselves, and they almost seem surprised when i say, well, that's what pro-choice means. [laughter]

so it's sort of a discussion that's good to have with people. >> i could not agree more. and i think to that point that, also, as i said, when i talked with people who are one way i can tell if they're not exactly perhaps as pro-choice as i am is if they use the term pro-life. because i think equating those two, it doesn't make any sense. if you're pro-choice, you're for choices. if you're for life, you're for life. the two do not necessarily rule each oh out. -- other out. so i think the language used when talking about abortion and reproductive rights is very important. >> as you travel around the country and you meet with tate legislators -- state legislators, do you find that women are much more supportive of the issue and that men tend to be opposing? be or is there -- or you can't make any generalization at all? >> i actually don't think you can make a generalization.

i think i've found equal numbers of men who are in favor of reproductive rights as i've found women who are anti-choice. so i think it's, if anything, it seems to be just more about what someone's personal experience is. um, you know, a lot of the older providers that i interviewed for the book are men. wayne goldner, leroy carhart, willie parker who's currently working in mississippi, and they're all very dedicated. and i didn't find as many older female providers, so that could be reflective of a lot of other issues as well, but i think it's more about someone's personal experiences as to whether or not they'll be in favor of reproductive rights. ..

kind of reset event that. >> what i found, and this is just born of doing interviews is the best thing is to let someone talk. i gave them enough information. he wanted to know why it is interested in abortion rates in the first place. i said i work at disorganization and i believe reproductive rights are important. but really, it's interesting to see that someone else direct the conversation, especially he was more nervous than i was.

he asked a lot of questions that made a lot of comments that i found easy to tack onto. he was particularly curious about the counseling option -- the counseling piece of it that meant that everyone in the four they have an abortion will meet with the doctor or clinic staff in disguise what to expect. i said to him, i think that's great. you can talk about these questions. he said really, only a half-hour? that seems so sure. i can see if you're confused or need more time, but i said that six operations for various health problems. no doctor has ever sat with me for half an hour before my surgery to tell me here's the, benefit, here's how you feel afterwards. being able to draw an analogy between something people

consider so common you don't take the time to talk about kind of helped him to see that an abortion -- and a medical procedure something you should know the risk and benefits us. but to myself for 21st of their decision they don't do that with anything else. your question reminded me of another typical conversation i've had about version with my mother-in-law, who is very catholic about not. she also asked me the question about earth control that led to an interesting discussion. one thing that i kept in mind both of those conversations and other ones if they really do want to have these conversations. say remaining patient and not getting defensive and trying to meet people where they are, not where they should be can't make a huge difference.

>> have you noticed us access to abortion becomes more research to do we fight this battle of the time, are you seen a resurgence of networks that taught other women how to provide safe abortions for each other? >> fuji collect two sacred payback to this chicago, primarily female who were treated between 1967 and 71 where they were working and they started off by p. underground network to help women find

providers and they themselves learned how to provide abortion care and became providers. i haven't seen anything that formalized. i can't say anecdotally from people i worked with. we would joke and seriously talk about how we all knew, here are the herbs you can use and i remember there is talk about getting in portion best together into a state to state to provide abortions, which would legally be a nightmare. but i think activists on a more individual level are thinking about that. as far as anything formal, nothing i've heard us. >> i haven't had about the subject to whole lot. i have three children and five

grandchildren. having any of my three children are poor today sent thing in retrospect i would be impossible to live without being. how do you deal with the morality? you make it sound as if you're going to have a tooth extracted or sent in. i googled this before i came. how many abortions since roe versus wade? >> 50 million. >> 55 million. and you're worried is not accessed. the life of the mother are two issues obviously, but i mean, don't you support any counseling of the woman? those are the people who want to adopt children. like i say, you just seem to not

accept that this is life were talking about here. 55 million as the population of the country that i came from. just to detach from what's really going on. >> i do support counseling. as i mentioned, the clinics to make sure women are confident in their decision comfortable with the decision. i also support social programs that provide education, contraception and resources for every family to be a healthy family and have the best opportunities they can. as far as morality, i think morale at a is nothing i should not be enforcing them a rally on on others then they shouldn't force their morality on me. i respect other opinions, but it's important everyone have the right to do what is best for

themselves and what makes the most sense for their life, for their family and for their health. i can totally understand you having a hard time imagining a fan of your children didn't exist. i expect that. i'm a child myself. and nobody was able to take advantage of living in a society that respects birth control and women's rights so i can decide when to have my child that was best for me and for my house and so we could give our child the best she deserves. every child deserves that and decided just because someone is pregnant automatically means it makes sense for them to have a child and is something they have to do i don't think -- that's an oversimplification. >> i come from and over privileged background. when i was a teenager, we all knew that if any of my friends got pregnant and needed an abortion, we would be able to

make that happen, that we build a come up with the money and some way to make it happen. so my question is about that sort of class difference and that even when i was in my 20s, which was sort of the start of some of the backlash of the march on washington, 20 years ago now, that no one worse case they could fly wherever is necessary, the fallback option. but as i've gotten older, i realized we were sorted that privileged class in that fashion. i'm not formulated my question very well here, but how does that class divide state here? the women who are going to have the hardest time driving that 10 hours each way twice, coming up with even $350, the low end you

are talking about, those are the women who can't even take an evening to come out here and listen to an author like you, much less barricades or anything like that. what can we do there other than write checks? >> i think that's an interesting question and there's, even when abortion was illegal, women who had the means could flee to england or japan or hawaii, all these places where they could access it safely. i think when you look at the role the socioeconomics plays and reproductive rights and reproductive health, there's definitely correlation. one of the attorneys i interview says looking at the decision harris v. mcrae said the hyde amendment could stand. but he would not see that again

any other class of women except those who are low income. i think one thing that can be done to try and help it that class of women, which is what you're asking -- >> just trying that out as an issue you have been in tiredly delineated. >> yes. i think that is an important issue that is one that's not always addressed as vigorously as it could be that the pro-choice movement. the economics do matter and been able to strengthen the access people have said they can afford this is important -- an important aspect. >> i know the pro-choice movement has been accused of being two of the middle-class,

to buy white, too educated and man, does that feed into broader health care choices sort of overhaul, broader access to health care that large? maybe i'm taking you away too much from that focus specifically on reproductive rights and more into the overall women's health and access to that that may be lacking. >> which is an important aspect of this. i think that women who live in lower income communities don't always have access to the most reliable forms of contraception on the cbc higher unplanned pregnancy rates and, other things that go along with not having safe reliable forms of birth control. so it is her by reproductive health stand point having more

health clinics and communities, more affordable contraception like ieds, birth control pills that are more expensive. having access to that is important as well. that is something mocker does a lot of group with an organization is working within pro-choice movements and does a lot of work with those communities to try and integrate with the specific needs of lower income communities in terms of access and affordability. >> the question as well not with regard to maternal mortality and morbidity that in those countries where abortion is legal it is 10 to 50 times higher than in countries where it is legal.

has that issue been raised in your discussions with health care providers? >> not directly. i think in the u.s. it's not as much of a concern as in developing countries. but what has that raises the fact that abortion provision does have a very good safety record and maternal health in the u.s. also does have a strong safety record and when abortion was legal up until 73, a lot of providers i spoke with who are practicing in those years would tell me stories about seeing women brought in who tried to self abort would have all sorts of infections and horrible complications as a result. so that was always brought up in the context of this is why legal abortion is so necessary because of the stories and women who suffered.

that is a fear of some providers now but if it becomes harder to access, more women will turn to unsafe providers who are nearby and cheaper and also to self reporting. there has been a lot of cases of that over the past few years. the >> is maybe a little bit out of your jurisdiction of research, but i know it's really, really hard for minors and students to get the morning-after pill in a lot of states. do you know an equal organizations are raised to change that? >> organizations directly working for easy i'm not familiar with. i know guttmacher, which became my bible researching this, has a lot of information. more from the policy side, but with different state laws are

and policies. it's a really great website that have information about how it works and where it can be accessed. i feel like i am forgetting -- a friend of mine whose work done this with me as well, for organizations specifically for emergency contraception, probably the best bet, but in states that have other restrictive laws regulating the health care minors can receive, jane's due process has a lot of good information and planned parenthood and national abortion federation also has some resources. >> also, i was wondering if you could talk more about the research about the stigmatizing abortion and education and choice in the public eye and pop culture because that's really important. >> that's one of my favorite topics.

i did examine one of the chapters of the book, the role abortion has played in pop culture because it's interesting, usually when abortion is represented in mainstream comic tv shows or movies, it isn't one of of two ways. if the pregnancy is not intended, is either a common conveniently timed miscarriage, where the women that she might have an abortion but instead she miscarries, so it's not a decision she has to make anymore. or the one on the hub and abortion, be in the waiting room and change her mind and continue with the pregnancy, but they're both equally accessible ways except that it's always presented a respect good at what else is going on the women's side. whether or not having a pregnancy at that time at the expense financially, age wise, relationship wise, any number of issues. so i think that overall, media,

pop culture still presents abortion as something that is rare. abortionists are trained that may be a woman would have been these cases, but never the main character, which is so at odds with the fact that one in three women in this country have had abortions. you would think he would never be that common and the only time women have abortions are these tragic situations and it destroys their lives and it's a very heavy point. that said, there are about a tv and films that he started to take a more nuanced approach. i grew up near the canadian border, simon big fan of the grassy, canadian teen soap opera which is addressed the topic many times and had a variety of outcomes and they've always done

a very nuanced view of it. gray's anatomy and private this can be incredibly unrealistic in a lot of ways, but they are notable because they've addressed abortion and the fact that women can have this for many reasons and teenagers can choose to parent and that's okay. so they do take a wide-ranging viewpoint. private patras is the only mainstream network tv showing of where the main character identified as a proportion provider which is significant given how many medical shows there are television. so there's a film called obvious child, which takes a very relaxed nuance real estate you have a woman who has an abortion. it's out there come you just have to look for it. >> high. this is in a very well formulated question, more kind of how you thought of it and

would present to somebody. but the 55 million number is shocking and it is kind of an elephant in the room. to me that's very disturbing about it is that it speaks to the tremendous inequalities we have. we don't have these access -- he may parents that are poor and for whatever reason you didn't get resources to make decisions for the money to do it unless you say you haven't set a perfect world, where you have none of these problems and every single person who gets pregnant has had every possible equal playing field to be fully developed to make decisions, not have health problems, to have none of these things. is that the only way you can really answer this question when someone says yes, but this is way to many children. would you force women to have the baby to give it to someone who really wants a child.

issues very disturbing and i have a difficult time, but the perfect world doesn't exist, so we end up with this tragedy. that's a lot of children and a lot of people that have children that can't have been. >> there are. programs that encourage adoption and make it possible for people to adopt either domestically or internationally are important. in the u.s., trying to do a domestic adoption can be a nightmare. so even to say you should give the baby for adoption is easier said than done. even if you do have this perfect world wherever pregnancy is wanted in every woman is able to get the best health care, the best support for her pregnancy and the best work environment but she gets pregnant and after has a child come you can still have feel abnormalities, catastrophic health problems

that develop in pregnancy. [inaudible] >> in a perfect world you don't have to be there. the 55 million is a large number. where i see the problem and that is how many women are men are unable to get the education they need to prevent an unplanned pregnancy or have access to contraception. the numbers speaks to what we as a society should do to ensure every child is a wanted child and can be cared for. because you can want it and not have the resources to care for them. it speaks more to the social safety net perhaps than anything else. >> to think if they developed a male contraceptive pill that the number would be significantly reduced? >> that's a good question.

i think of both genders could be his contraception at the same time, yes. the more reliable health care -- more reliable contraception either gender can avail themselves up, the more you see the rate of an end pregnancies decrease. [inaudible] >> i think that also gets to the question of why there isn't a male pill developed yet. that might be a much bigger conversation. >> thank you, mr. chairman. [applause] >> for more information, visit the author's website, sarah erdreich.com.

it's a mac bob deans is associate deans at the defense counsel, the author of the new

pope "reckless: the political assault on the american environment." tell me a little bit about your book. >> in the last two years, we've seen a single worst legislative assault in our history. the common safeguards we depend not to protect air, water, wildlife, band have seen more than 300 votes in the house of representatives meant to water down, undermined, delay or block altogether needed protections and this has gone after the clean water act, clean air act, the endangered species act. the comic places like chesapeake , appalachian mountains, gulf of mexico, great legs and endangers the future of our children and health. we collect the american people needed to know about this. the american people did not ask for this reckless assault. the corporate polluters who spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year pumping up the campaign of anyone who will take a agenda on capitol hill.

we collect the story had to be told because the american people care about their future. when people want to understand why we haven't made progress on climate change and safeguarding people, ranches, farms, why are we doing something about these threats to our future. this book tells the story of why it's happening. importantly, republicans have led the assault, but not how it's been historically may make the point of the book going back to teddy roosevelt, richard nixon and the environmental protection agency. george h.w. bush went after acid rain. republicans have a history of responsible stewardship of our environment. the hard right turn to the party away from its own path and conservatives. so they make a point about. >> in your book you talk about

the 2010th house of representatives and focus on republicans. but elected democrats in regard to enter legislation? >> there's a handful who sided with republicans and they tended to be from fossil fuels states reliant upon fields of the past. were trying to continue to invest in the country and renewables, energy efficiency, solar, wind and we make that case that while we continue to scold this country, we need to be moving towards cleaner, safer more sustainable fuel. not overnight, but over time. >> as president obama done enough in regards to environmental regulation and legislation? >> president obama has worked hard to make progress, but there's more left to be done. president obama worked hard with automakers to double fuel efficiency of our cars by 2025. that will save consumers

$100 million the year at the pump and cut our carbon emissions from automobiles in half. that's good progress. but an opportunity for a second term is to go ahead and reduce carbon from our single largest source which is coal fire power plants. epa will issue new standards that can make a lot of progress about me to support it. >> has another 2012 house of representatives doesn't look very different. what do you think? >> and fundamentally change the complexion. we hope republicans and democrats alike will reach across the aisle and find common ground around ways to go after climate change. we just finished the hottest summer on record. we had a big droughts, 60% of our last. ranchers liquidating cattle herds from rocky mountains to the ohio river valley. we hope people of good will come, leaders from both parties of reach across the aisle and

say goodbye to do do something about climate change, something to make fracturing safe, communities, farms and reaches we got to make progress on issues that affect health of our children. >> tagamet bob deans come associate director of communications for the defense counsel and author of new book, "reckless." thank you so much. >> thank you. >> way that a human rights nightmare to occur on our watch. and the years since dr. king's death, a new system of racial and social control has emerged from the ashes of slavery and jim crowe. a system of mass incarceration that no doubt has dr. king turning in his grave today. the mass incarceration of people of color in the united states can amount to a new caste like system, when the shuttle's young people decrepit schools to bring a high-tech