Repro.

Everybody who is of voting age has the right to register to vote, vote in an election, and have their votes accurately tallied. It might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about it, but voting rights are an important part of reproductive health, rights, and justice. Marcela Howell, President and CEO of In Our Own Voice, the National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, sits down with us to discuss why exercising your right to vote is critical in achieving reproductive justice for all.

Criminalization drives stigma, harms public health, and violates human rights. The imposition of criminal penalties exist across the U.S. and around the world, and it creates barriers to adequate and comprehensive health care for many populations. Beirne Roose-Snyder from the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) and Preston Mitchum from Advocates for Youth sit down with us to discuss how criminalization negatively impacts access to multiple types of care for the most vulnerable in our society.

We have previously talked about how the Trump administration is working to reshape the federal judiciary by implementing anti-choice and anti-science judges throughout the judiciary system in the U.S. Today, Brigitte Amiri with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) talks to us about important abortion-related cases that are currently working their way through the court system, and how these cases may have the ability to impact abortion access around the country.

Last year, the Trump-Pence administration removed information on reproductive health and rights from the State Department’s annual Human Rights Reports, effectively communicating that reproductive rights are not human rights. Stephanie Schmid with the Center for Reproductive Rights talks to us about the removal of reproductive health and rights information from the annual Human Rights Reports and what that means for SRHR around the world.

It’s no secret that abortion access and reproductive healthcare have been under attack in the U.S. recently. Elizabeth Nash and Megan Donovan from the Guttmacher Institute sit down with us to discuss what abortion access currently looks like in the United States, and how some states are standing up and fighting back.

Sexual and reproductive health and rights discussions, especially in today’s world, can often be depressing, bleak, or just a bit of a downer. But on January 22nd, the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, New York recently passed proactive legislation called the Reproductive Health Act (RHA), which modernizes a state law that previously limited when people could access legal abortion care.

Any conversation we have about reproductive health, reproductive freedom, bodily autonomy, or abortion should include detailed discussions of all of the available options on how abortion care can be accessed-- and that includes self-managed abortion. Self-managed abortion is not a new concept, but it has been historically accessed in unsafe and secretive ways. With the current administration’s constant attacks on reproductive health and rights, as well as the shifting of the Supreme Court with the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, abortion rights are being undermined and many fear the return of unsafe, self-managed abortion methods. Megan Donovan with the Guttmacher Institute talks to us about the evolving ways in which self-managed abortion is becoming a more easily accessible, safe, and effective option.

It is critical that young people around the world are engaged and informed on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world, with over 75 percent of the population under the age of 35. Maureen Andinda with Reach a Hand Uganda chats with us about the importance of young people’s knowledge of sexual and reproductive health and young people’s role in combating SRHR challenges.

Over the past year, sexual and reproductive health and rights have endured unending attacks from the administration, Congress, and state legislatures. This year, women and girls around the country have watched as access to vital reproductive health services and funding have hung in the balance. Jacqueline Ayers with Planned Parenthood reviews 2018 with us, and talks through the ups and downs of SRHR this past year.