[inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] >> good evening i of the total order of the bookstore on behalf of everybody thank you very much for coming in

with life's work. in including some of those other prominent voices. of course this is the subject that has access to legal abortion. so now all eyes are focused on the supreme court in the coming months i am sure that you called the that how you can tell how crowded the room is so the panel will be moderated i will say a couple of things but then you interview dr. parker. so holding a ph.d. in political science and with

the advocacy as a staff member in congress and has worked for several groups and currently a senior fellow for american progress. with those topics of reproductive health. so please join me to welcome her -- welcome our author. [applause] >> i love the fact this room is packed. and then delving deep into issues it is critically

important with the environment we find ourselves. so we will get right into the discussion. and the abortion provider x1 of the few to provide services and alabama and mississippi. and constantly by those extremist within the moral authority of god. with his new book he counters the narrative. and then to become a provider in a way next

president from choice america. and with those human rights and we the reforms and representation of reproductive freedoms. but one to be of fundamental human rights and have those doctors who are:pastors a united church of christ over 32 years they fled the ministry and the liberation of all god's people and to be holistic lee involved in ended january organizing a the ceremony to bless one of

the newest planned parenthood clinics in washington d.c. [applause] [cheers and applause] so it in the current political environment so those that are anti-choice anti-women are bent on stripping away women's rights and is dr. parker tells us we should recognize so woman's moral right. so with that what are the of threats against reproductive rights in this environ?.

>> thanks for coming and i hope you recognize the breadth of expertise at this table we have health and politics and religion and then to monitor that and i will let her give you the way of the land. >> it is an honor to be on this panel.

so i would be remiss with four women around this country and i of from the states of texas i'd like to say we are ground zero i cannot say anti-choice. so now there is day competition so now this is day nationwide recognition with those that is in our society that could be codified. while that could be frustrating to listen to

those voices up with an opportunity because of there is awareness there is power and energy and potential but i see a number of threats but the first is a the courts not legally elected but to be on the campaign trail and that is to overturn a row v wade we do believe that to be put on the of the justice to be put on the court will be a similar mindset it almost always to have the lgbt

meant and there is towards racism and oppression. so that is a big issue for us so those are codifying discrimination so that started with the executive with helping health and human services to assure contraception for what they are anticipating a in bad is the executive authority and then to happen under the of radar across the board

president chub is putting people in charge to dismantle and that is absolutely true with health and human services and we have day incredibly hostile senate but then to go into law but that is what happens to the new health care bill. even private insurance paying out of your own pocket. this is not republican or democratic we have our

challenge is cut out for us with that democratic caucus they believe that it should be happening. with that political expediency and then we can talk about that later as part of that political strategy. >> but in terms of the political climate to work on these issues i have heard some folks day have-nots' seen anything like this with the overreach at the executive branch level but tell us about those personalities. >> you can see the positive

and the negative side. but in terms of what is happening and that preemptively assures them that is the of moves as soon as that is positive happening and it is critically important to show the of pathway for word.

but to have the potential for real transformation seven with the other side and day clarified to crystallize what i have said that there really isn't about abortion and with contraception. and the fight is about control. sova with attached oklahoma and arkansas so if it was

her brother or father or her rapist over that woman seeking an abortion and is prolific and then the opportunity to cover real conversation with this is about. >> so then you make a key point that these are people to withhold several decades not only access to abortion but also contraception the bill congress is debating right now and they should be

access a comprehensive health care. with reproductive health services. said even dr. parker taking things to you what you say is a moral argument for choice, i used to live in hawaii with that arose jinnah of reproductive rights you don't know what you have got intel is gone but they are disappearing as we speak but unless you are older than 44 years old you don't know when abortion was illegal.

and for them to be self-determination as a christian but with that position of morality. and as a christian in that it is our job to prove that christians can be moral. when it comes to morality and with regard to operating in the world so that morality within a profession with medical and legal

ethics my personal moral ethics to govern by personal behavior and as a physician practicing medicine that dictates how i should be a practicing my craft and providing care to the people who have cared for me. where legally they are able to say to have health care that they need that requires me to ethically breach my duties to respect the autonomy of patients as well as my duty to do good. if morality is personal is personal for people so women's bodies of their lives that you cannot have

laws that would govern how women or anyone makes a personal decision so without moral case for choice is the one stowe that is left unturned is that abortion is safe to protect the lives and no question that abortion represents safety. so when people make the argument so we pushed back on the morbidity with that claim it was dangerous and those that make decisions of reproduction it is within

their agency as human beings to make those decisions. and avoiding questions of morality because we complete that with religion so that leaves the big vacuum of those reproductive rights and climate control and as a woman taking care of herself to neutralize that but they don't care what day think and if there is the encroachment to read morality with faith and understanding and two critically dissect and that

is the work that passes in that case. and with that moral argument how does that work with the work you have done?. >> with so many of the women because they don't have access to care or even as spiritual environment

because of the oppression so that cultural context that would redis fabulous so even if they are given a choice they have no choice. because of the oppression. and with reproductive justice with that christianity. and in terms of dealing with issues. because one of those statements that keeps us

from a christian perspective to have those abundantly. so if they claim they are pro-life because some of the same people that like planned parenthood conducted that. but the next sunday at church and those of a talked-about the we had people protesting outside the church.

and that was the baptist church. i think there were. and with mayor richard quality. and with that current administration there is the increasing lack of consistency with that lack of honesty or integrity were those in positions of power and what they're doing. not only women as it relates to this issue so what ec is

the increased individual rolling back of the hands of time of all the gains civilize it rates soar women's rights or a lgbt with taking away some of the gains we have made and those that claim the moral high ground and they're not interested in dialogue so in the house of representatives and with bad administration and now we have the three branches of government who

claims to love america so much. and those that have made america great again. >>. >> vat do so much for that. here is the role for all activist and advocates from different backgrounds whether policy or riding on these issues or as well as an activist for reproductive rights.

what are some of those strategies in the fight for reproductive rights?. >> one of the things i have done is touche decide that i am more living the sermon than preaching one. there are more elegant features but in terms do engage my colleagues and to a acknowledge that the care is necessary and to encourage them but there is no clandestine way to do justice. the advocacy and the push back that denies access for

those who are sympathetic they decided they can do that in the clandestine way they don't want to take the rest. the only way to push back is to be open about the work so my goal with my colleagues is to empower the women whose see me to radicalize them in context of the care not to be registered as a democrat or republican but what you had to both her to get this care with your activity or inactivity if you fail to vote for the person that is sensitive to your needs and allow that

situation to occur if you can link how hard it was ted helping them to understand even due to the political activities. >> as a lot of the things i have taught as couples in seminary is that i remember that they were assigned and

there were seven women in her group so she laid the groundwork so one woman invited issues to have four children and really wanted her to have an abortion is so she did. then she did not know why god thought about her but then finding out five other women had abortions and could never talk about it and so what does god think about them? so being able to do some reflection and include this guy is -- god

is going to a place of a sense of peace so i left the room they gave me a standing ovation. i didn't do anything. so politically in our community and in the faith community to talk about it. [applause] >> we have three ways although i feel i am paling in comparison to my colleagues but in terms of expanding the course those

who were on these issues are charged with shedding those old ways of thinking and starting new and the problem over the last five years i have taken over the organization is recognizing it is real emotional and cognitive shift its of the traditional way is so controversial to divide the country in half and we literally shifted the way the pollsters ask the question because if you ask pro-life or pro-choice it is 50/50 but that is not useful labeling. right now it is self identity but if you ask how they personally identify

because people can feel safe than what they feel like and what the government should provide we're actually creeping up eight out of 10 who support legal accessible and compassionate abortion in their committee and that is staggering. in some say you should not even talk about it fifth but embracing that reality is very different to organize in the world so that is crucial to recognize people come from different places is why the work of my friends is so important because a lot of those people self identified as people of faith in those that means i would never

make that choice. but you never know what you will do but you might be that you do. you don't like to sit in judgment of your neighbor so increase the vast majority to recognize that different pathway is step number one hobby diversified as step number two for us is to engage deeply in conversation and ask tough questions to the allies who are silent is interesting to do reproductive freedom work house violent my colleagues are. and they are coming around the that is a lot of contention through the work

asking them to take steps sarah uncomfortable for them because the progressive movement hizbollah of misogyny and the stigma we have to get rid of those progressives and make that part of the work and not in the shaming calling outweigh but we are inviting people to join us and to call out the justice gore said each nomination and all those talking about it as a fundamental right with the supreme court the organization will be 50 next year that they're just isn't

that much enthusiasm. we talked to people who are fired up about issues of gender equality and realize there is no way without their reproductive treatment or justice so movements are fueled not by the backward looking visions so we have sought to engage those young activists what is the of future vision?. >> so with that now we have to shift to the q&a so let's get started.

[laughter] >> going off of what you were discussing about reproductive justice do you have any advise how we can expand the conversation to include those groups that are not always included? so that nature of reproductive justice steps away from the notion of that single issue

analysis with al whole notion of the intersection malady -- the place is that on the of continue of rather than categorically to say adoption or abortion or birth so there are other aspects of reproductive outcomes in technology that reproductive justice looks at the interplay of the stratification in terms of the stratified value were some women are valued over others. one of the ways to build a movement is you have a framework that allows people to see the interrelationship

so i think for me as someone who came into this around reproductive justice in with the reproductive rights framework, abortion is just one aspect of reproductive justice. . .

it's an oppression of women in that all of these pieces intersect with one another, you know, your physical intersects with what's going on politically with what's going on spiritually and what's going on economically so if there's a way that people can see it, it's not just one thing, it's all of it together so that things start work people are. you start where people are, what their issues are and what they are concerns are and white knit to let them see how it intersects with all of these other things. >> i agree with all of that and i want to also say there is a

danger in forgetting abortion is central to all of this and that danger we have seen as a reproductive rights movement focus a lot more on contraception because it was a lot more palatable that abortion rights in the country and the women most harmed by that read a most marginalized women and so i just want to emphasize that as we talk about all of these things and even my organization which was founded as specifically and abortion rights organization has recognized that we are an organization that needs to be there for women at all points in the reproduction and kids who haven't -- women who have an abortion and go on to have kids but also we need to be the people, we never want to have a woman to seek to terminate a pregnancy because

she has no other options but that's against everything we believe in but at the same time being fair for fighting for abortion so women don't get her. has to be continue on. >> i just wanted to add to what the lease just said we lose when we try to take abortion out of the issue. i definitely think all of us up here understand that there are some folks that may not necessarily want to come over to this movement or to this effort to affirm reproductive rights but we have to talk about these issues and then continue them. when we take abortion rights out of that we lose. >> hi. first of all thank you all so much for everything. i want to follow up on something

a couple of you were talking about about the opposition and you mentioned there's an increasing integrity and antichoice activism and he pointed out it's really not about abortion, it's about much more. i'm wondering how many people politically and personally how many people who get an abortion are opposed to abortion in their religious beliefs or something but it's not a broader anti-woman agenda and what is the possibility of building coalitions with them? >> i don't want to attempt to quantify that. what i will say is when we talk about opposition we are talking about the organizing resource and choice movement to have a very concrete and political agenda that the most outward

statement is limiting orienting abortion but when you do the research error opposing contraception and opposing marriage equality and they oppose stem cell research. it's an extreme and radical ideology. we have mapped the groups. these are the ones that are writing the policy that gets introduced to the statehouses so i want to be really clear when i use the word opposition that's who i'm talking about. there are many many many individuals who i speak with and i certainly would love to on my ride my left here their perspective who are personally morally conflicted about abortion and there are politicians who we have heard quite well from about that and i

think that there are places where many of them of good faith work on anti-pregnancy discrimination and contraception and there is cooperation on the young woman who is denied the ability to walk in her high school graduation because she was pregnant which we all agreed was morally bankrupt and when we engage with them we can find agreement that they are also not comfortable imposing their own moral view through the government, through the legislature on other people so that's been my experience. >> i think that, i think you are right, the issue can sometimes be reduced or it can seem sometimes to those of us who have a broader perspective of reproductive justice and

reproductive rights, that we are perhaps not giving due credence to the beliefs of certain people who morally say for instance abortion is a sin or something like that. certainly it's okay for people to hone their own positions but it's not okay for them to try to force their way of thinking on people who don't agree with that particular position. if that's the position that they want to hold, then there's no problem but i go back to after we visit blessing ceremonies these people not only protest outside the church, they came into the church, into his sunday school class was taking place

and they told everybody in the sunday school class you are going to hell because you did a blessing ceremony and you don't see things the way we do. my wife and i come as soon as we leave here we are catching a train to new york. we are going to albany. we have been invited to participate in a workshop tomorrow, an all-day workshop. it's called courageous conversation and we are looking forward to exactly what that's going to be about. but i think it has to do a lot with trying to communicate with people who are totally on the opposite side in a way that is constructive and productive. now i have got to admit i have very little patience sometimes with people who are so adamant on the other side.

see that you've got to get better. >> i've got to get better. i've got to grow. i'm working on that. getting back to what has been said on this panel earlier, we do need to learn how to talk to one another. we need to learn how to talk about sex and sexuality in religious and faith communities. so often we find whenever it's raised people want to sweep it away. it's like we have become so holy and so moral that we don't want to deal with the everyday issues of life. we don't want to do with the ramifications of certain decisions that are made where those who are marginalized really don't have much of a choice that those who are privileged to have many more choices and when we have these

kinds of debates some of those distinctions are not clearly made. i guess i will finally just say concerning that again and this has also been pointed to, everything that we are focusing on, reproductive justice, reproductive rights, abortion in this conversation, it is all related to all of the other issues of oppression that take place in this nation and this world. i often tell my wife that i am a recovering sexist, okay? >> you are not recovered. [laughter] >> i am not recovered. i am on my way. i wish that those who raised us to say i made recovering, heterosexuals, think that's the

first step to us having railed genuine honest conversations with one another because of martin luther king once said none of us are free until all of us are free. [applause] c we have time for a few more questions. you kind of answered my question a little bit already so feel free to expand upon it by but you talk a lot about reproductive justice and intersection à la the end recently there was a lot of controversy and what isn't controversial these days but in particular a black and brown stripe was recently added to the lgbtq flag and there was a lot of controversy centered around that on the flipside also a lot of patriarchy hypermasculinity

and among communities of color. kind of like we are so worried about having conversations with the other side and trying to reason with them where we haven't even gotten on the same page in the progressive movement how often do these conversations come up in your work and where do you think we are? where do we need to go from here that's kind of like where i am. i am horrible with closing statements. >> the only thing and i appreciate it, in our work we are constantly trying to help people see that all of us have a certain degree of power and privilege over somebody else. i don't care what our demographic is and so what we

really need to realize is that according to our understanding of faith that we are all created equal and we are not created that we might be dominant and control somebody else. and so this whole issue of reproductive justice and abortion rights etc. and reproductive rights the bottom line is it has to do with one group of people saying they are going to control another group of people and in this case it's mainly men saying they are going to control women's decisions and in large part it's usually white men who are making those decisions etc.. those who are at the top of that hierarchy are constantly trying, not only that but they are

trying to pitch those of us that are marginalized against each other so we spend time whether we are talking about poor white folk or poor black folk feel like we are enemies one to the other when really those who are having secret meetings in places of higher positions are the ones , and those who have most of the resources are trying to keep what they have and control those who don't have. the last thing on that i will say is that as an african-american i have come out of the tradition historically is not only an african past but when our ancestors were brought to this country we were brought not as immigrants but as slaves and so others in our history we are accustomed to this narrative where other folks are trying to

take away our freedoms, take away our agency and control us so that we will do what they want us to do. we are resistant to that and i think injustice anywhere is king would say is a threat to justice everywhere and until we realize the commonality of our different forms of marginalization and oppression and realize that if we come together, if we come together and organize intersection ali then we can make it big difference to tackle some of these powers that be that would seek to control us at all times. >> i believe he wants to say something about that particularly in terms of your experience as an organizer and how you've been able to see different backgrounds come together for a cause.

>> this comes up at work probably every 10 minutes. [laughter] and we think about it in a few different ways. we get asked by folks every time they come out and challenge democrats to be better. why are you focusing on us and the other guys are really out to get you and the answer is because if your friends aren't standing with you how can you ever expect your opponents to? i think that's really important. the work that we do is merging organizing with political accountability. when we think about organizing we start with meeting people where they are at and think about how to ring them closer. we tried to do a lot more calling and then calling out. i think there can be a tendency

to say you don't know all the jargon and you don't know why this is the right position so you are dead to me. our lifeblood is organizing and that means we are trying to bring more people in and be look for opportunities and engagement , and they are different in different situations. we knock on doors. if we knock on the door and say i'm here to talk to you about abortion all k. thanks i'm not buying any today but when we knock on doors and talk people about family security everybody wants their family to be secure in what is that mean? that means a lot of different things. i think about the traditional community where historically a disproportionate number of our members are white and they are older. we use our social media channel to provoke conversation. we did a post a couple of summers ago and you might

remember was a young black girl in texas who was attacked at a pool party and we did a social media post on that knowing we were going to get a lot of thing coming. how is this related and wide wife with naral post this and we took the opportunity to engage and talk about bodily safety and bodily sovereignty and we weren't able to use our position with the audience we had to try and educate people about the intersection, racism, misogyny, police presence in your community as the issues that they are the most focused on what is having control over your own body. >> i think we probably have time for one more question. we have time for one more question and that we are going to hit hand it over to dr. parker for the last word.

>> i saw you last week and mr. parker i have seen twice but he made a comment that was really really powerful to me and i would love for you to expand on it. he talked about apportioning being linked maternal mortality so if you wouldn't mind i would love to hear your comment. >> sure, so is someone trained in helping for years that delivered babies to women who -- and i also did research looking at the occurrence of death in the context of pregnancy. everyone would acknowledge the loss of the life of a woman

during pregnancy represents a loss of a mother's children, the loss of a partner. in the way that we always look at productivity we look at the loss of someone's contribution to their general well-being. the reality is i know cause and effect is difficult to prove. >> thankfully maternal mortality is a rare outcome. it occurs to me while cause and effect are hard to prove i can't help but wonder with the loss of access to abortion services is the number one criteria for maternal death is being pregnant. so it's stating the obvious. i began to think about what is it mean to force women to continue pregnancies that they

didn't plan or that they don't want or if they tried to keep them it means a health crisis for them. if we deny women access to abortion cause and effect is hard to prove. i can't help but wonder if there's not a strong correlation between the disappearance of abortion activism and the rise of maternal mortality in the country. and ilyse's home state of texas when they have been making clinics disappear the texas has the highest maternal mortality rate in the country. if abortion is about making sure every pregnancy or every planned birth we have to look at where the risks and it bears looking into to see what the relationship is between rising maternal mortality in the disappearance of access

important health service of abortion care. >> i think that's all the time you for questions but dr. parker will be doing a book signing after the panel closes out. i would just say one thing, thank you all for being here. i'm hoping that you all are energized and motivated to continue the fight for reproductive rights along with those of us on this panel today. there are so many opportunities for you all to be involved, opportunities to resist and to engage so i hope you will seek those out and we will see you out there in the front lines fighting for these issues. >> let me just say thank you to my co-panelists, people that work with individually and it's a privilege to have you here sharing your expertise and your interest in making our country

better place by having this conversation. thank you for your interest in coming this evening and particular he your interest in life work is just to give you a sense of why i wrote this book i wrote it from the standpoint of an argument for choice because i think my point of departure as a man no one questions my reproductive health. either t-shirt that says my god, my body, my decision. it was made for reproductive weekend and someone said that's really a t-shirt for a woman and you should have one that says her god, her body, her choice. i said no, that's part of the problem. we separate this issue. it's absurd for you to question me making that declaration that it's my god and my belief in my choice. i want to make it a question a

woman's declaration that it's her god, her body and her choice, right? [applause] this book was about making a moral argument for choice because i want for women what i want for myself. we fight wars, what was that give me liberty or give me death? what does that say for a woman when she has an unplanned unwanted pregnancy? what i hope people understand is a woman will choose illegal abortion of her pregnancy that she doesn't want over a safe legal birth. that's how determined women are to control their reproduction. we should also understand that we are not giving women a choice. women make the choice whether it's legal or not. what we are answering is a question of will he make that decision a pregnancy is safe one?

[applause] real love and compassion as you when you want further people what you want for yourself so i hope on this whole issue reproduction and control of reproduction you will make the decision that if you have agency around controlling your life to reproduction that you want that for others and you will work hard to make sure that others have the same access to you do so thank you for being here. you want to buy a look, i will sign it. [applause] [applause]