New Episode of Ms.’s On The Issues With Michele Goodwin Podcast: Beyond Roe: The Fight for Our Future

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | MAY 26, 2022

On the Issues with Michele Goodwin is a popular, issues and policy-focused podcast featuring feminist analysis, insightful conversations and exciting guests. This is the first podcast from Ms. magazine, a legacy feminist publication. In each bi-weekly episode, host Dr. Michele Goodwin and special guests will tackle the most compelling issues of our times, centering feminist concerns about rebuilding our nation and advancing the promise of equality. 

A new episode—Beyond Roe: The Fight for Our Future—is available now on Apple PodcastsSpotify and MsMagazine.com.

In May, we learned in a leaked draft opinion obtained by Politico that the Supreme Court is expected to reverse itself on Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and a legacy of abortion jurisprudence upholding reproductive freedom — profoundly dismantling abortion rights in the U.S. If Roe and Casey are overturned in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, grave consequences are in store for our democracy and the rule of law. 

On today’s show, we share a live-recorded, in-depth exploration on why abortion is essential to the health of our democracy and society. Dr. Goodwin and her guests examine why reproductive health, rights, and justice matter to the healthy functioning of government and the rule of law, particularly given the alarming rates of maternal mortality and morbidity in the U.S. We recorded before a live studio audience at NPR’s WNYC Studios in New York City, co-hosted by the Brennan Center for Justice and NYU Law’s Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network.

Experts dug deep on questions such as: How should we consider parallel affronts to participation and representation—the wave of state voting restrictions and gerrymandering? Can we look to state courts to provide new avenues in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s ruling? What are the legal and societal impacts of criminalizing pregnancy and abortion on vulnerable communities, including among individuals with disabilities, LGBTQ people seeking reproductive healthcare, indigent Americans, and communit­ies of color?

A full transcript of the episode may be found here, as well as a few excerpts below:

“When the court decides in June to overrule Roe v. Wade, whether explicitly by saying the words, or implicit by simply upholding another patently unconstitutional abortion law in Mississippi, we are going to see the impact of not only gerrymandering, but voter suppression, because the court will have essentially through its rulings, blessing laws that suppress the vote blessing gerrymandering.” — Melissa Murray

“There have been Black and Brown women who for a very long time have been saying, ringing the bell and saying, this is coming. This is coming because this has been happening to us.” — Michele Goodwin

“I can say that my personal entry point into this work was about sterilization of Puerto Rican women. You know, one third of my mother’s generation was sterilized, often without their informed consent. Right. And a lot of that was very close to home for me, you know. I remember growing up, hearing people talking about la operación, and everybody knew what they were talking about.” — Lourdes Rivera

“Some of the things that we talk about in particular in the reproductive justice movement is that when we only think about having the right to an issue, but not having access, then do you really have the right?” — Monica Simpson

Meet the Host of On the Issues: Dr. Michele Goodwin is a frequent contributor to Ms. Magazine and on MsMagazine.com. She is a Chancellor’s Professor at the University of California, Irvine and also serves on the executive committee and national board of the ACLU. Dr. Goodwin is a prolific author and an elected member of the American Law Institute, as well as an elected Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Hastings Center. Her most recent book, Policing The Womb: Invisible Women and The Criminalization of Motherhood is described as a “must read.”

About Ms. Magazine: Co-founded by Gloria Steinem in 1972 and published by the Feminist Majority Foundation since 2001, Ms. magazine has been a trusted, popular source for feminist news and information in print and online for nearly 50 years. Ms.’s time-honored traditions of an emphasis on in-depth investigative reporting and feminist political analysis have never been more relevant, bringing a new generation of writers and readers together to share news, analysis, research and strategies for fighting back and moving forward, for shaping the future.

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If you would like more information on the On the Issues with Michele Goodwin podcast, or to schedule an interview with Host and Executive Producer Michele Goodwin or Executive Producer & Ms. Executive Editor Katherine Spillar, please email press@msmagazine.com.