CHOICE/LESS artwork

CHOICE/LESS

44 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 5 years ago - ★★★★★ - 111 ratings

CHOICE/LESS delivers powerful, personal stories of reproductive injustice and the laws, politics and people beyond the headlines. Part of the Rewire News Group podcast network.

Personal Journals Society & Culture abortion reproductive rights reproductive justice women's rights supreme court serial storytelling pro-choice pro-life contraception
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Episodes

Massachusetts Activist Takes the Wheel for Civil Rights

October 23, 2018 10:20 - 18 minutes - 17.3 MB

Retired engineer and Lyft driver Rachel Brown came out as transgender at age 68. She's been using her time as a driver to educate her passengers in Massachusetts about an alarming referendum on the ballot this fall that could repeal transgender legal protections in the state. This is her story.

Their Bodies, Their Boats, Their Play

September 14, 2018 10:10 - 28 minutes - 25.9 MB

Season 4 of CHOICE/LESS is all about teens, sex, abortion, and the law. In the season finale, host Jenn Stanley talks to youth activists, artists, and their allies about putting abortion on center stage to fight stigma and change policy.

Sally vs. Sex Education

September 13, 2018 10:10 - 31 minutes - 29.3 MB

Season 4 of CHOICE/LESS is all about teens, sex, abortion, and the law. So far this series has posed the question, if adults and children have a hard time talking about even the most basic sex stuff, then why do 38 states force minors to tell their parents if they're seeking an abortion? This episode explores what role schools should play in educating young people about sex.

The Talk

September 12, 2018 10:10 - 27 minutes - 24.9 MB

Season 4 of CHOICE/LESS is all about teens, sex, abortion, and the law. In this episode, host Jenn Stanley explores what it takes to have open and healthy family communication, especially around polarizing topics like abortion. Sometimes those conversations go better than others. 

Welcome to Abortion Court

September 11, 2018 10:10 - 30 minutes - 27.8 MB

Season 4 of CHOICE/LESS is all about teens, sex, abortion, and the law. In this episode, host Jenn Stanley talks to legal experts, including a former Cook County judge, about how teenagers in Illinois (and 37 other states) end up in court trying to prove they're mature enough to have an abortion.

How Did You Keep That a Secret?

September 10, 2018 10:10 - 24 minutes - 22.9 MB

Season 4 of CHOICE/LESS is all about teens, sex, abortion, and the law. In episode 1, Jenn Stanley takes you back to her own adolescence and talks with a former classmate about their experiences attending a small, all-girls Catholic high school.

Season 4 debuts 9/10! This episode from Season 1 will help you get ready.

September 06, 2018 15:20 - 17 minutes - 16.2 MB

From the archives: Before Season 4 premieres next week, we’re taking you back to a related episode from 2016 that explores what happens to teens who can’t involve a parent in their abortion decision but are forced to by the state.

On Kennedy, Roe, and Season 4

June 28, 2018 17:58 - 4 minutes - 4.41 MB

Jenn shares some thoughts on the news and where we're headed.

Teens, Sex, and the Law: S4 Arrives Later This Year

April 30, 2018 15:00 - 1 minute - 1.67 MB

Niky was called “the slut” in high school for her reproductive rights activism. Jane had to cross state lines to get an abortion at 15 without involving her parents. Veronica thought her grandparents would make her continue an unwanted pregnancy as punishment for having unprotected sex. Thirty-eight states require minors to involve a parent in their abortion decision. In some cases, parental consent is required with no exceptions, essentially banning abortion for many teens. Yet mo...

PART II - Marching Toward Gilead: The Rise of American Theocracy

December 13, 2017 11:06 - 57 minutes - 52.5 MB

Part 2 of 2: If you haven't listened to Part 1, please check your podcast feed or visit https://rewire.news/gilead. Roy Moore lost, but barely. And his theocratic vision for the country lives on through Operation Save America (OSA), an organization committed to a United States in which abortion, homosexuality, Islam, and anything else its leadership considers "ungodly" is a criminal offense. In this two-part audio documentary, CHOICE/LESS host Jenn Stanley and Rewire investigative ...

PART I - Marching Toward Gilead: The Rise of American Theocracy

December 13, 2017 11:05 - 1 hour - 68.2 MB

Part 1 of 2: Roy Moore lost, but barely. And his theocratic vision for the country lives on through Operation Save America (OSA), an organization committed to a United States in which abortion, homosexuality, Islam, and anything else its leadership considers "ungodly" is a criminal offense. In this two-part audio documentary, CHOICE/LESS host Jenn Stanley and Rewire investigative reporter Sofia Resnick team up to reveal the alarming ways OSA’s far-right ideology is worming its way i...

Running Out of Time: Kentucky’s 20-Week Abortion Ban

November 22, 2017 11:05 - 32 minutes - 30.1 MB

Last winter, Kentucky state lawmakers fast-tracked a bill to ban abortion at 20 weeks post-fertilization. Heather Hyden, 30, of Lexington, Kentucky, talks about how that bill directly affected her pregnancy and her life. Learn more at Rewire.news today.

Our Family Business Is Abortion Care

November 15, 2017 11:05 - 29 minutes - 27.5 MB

Calla Hales is the 27-year-old lead administrator of a regional chain of abortion clinics called A Preferred Women's Health Center, which she took over from her parents. She discusses her experience running a chain of clinics at such a young age, and what it's like growing up when the family business is abortion care.

Transgender, Latinx, Poly, and Pregnant: 'I'll Love my Child Without Conditions'

November 08, 2017 11:05 - 18 minutes - 17.2 MB

Patrisse Cullors joins CHOICE/LESS again this week, and this time she’s talking to Alex Alvarez, a Latinx transgender man, about his decision to get pregnant and how he plans to parent.

Delivering Hope: The Story of Two Black Midwives in Southern California

November 01, 2017 10:05 - 27 minutes - 25 MB

Jenn and Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors are joined by Black midwives Racha Tahani Lawler and Debbie Allen to discuss racism in health care and midwifery, and what it means to provide maternity care and support to communities who need it the most.

What It's Like to Argue in Front of the Supreme Court and Win

October 25, 2017 10:05 - 23 minutes - 21.2 MB

Stephanie Toti tells her story of arguing on behalf of Whole Woman's Health in the landmark Supreme Court case Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt. Go inside the mind of a reproductive rights attorney as she prepares for the biggest case of her career on the biggest stage in the country.

Wendy Davis: Three Minutes Past Midnight

October 18, 2017 10:05 - 31 minutes - 28.6 MB

CHOICE/LESS returns with a blockbuster episode as Jenn interviews former Texas State Senator Wendy Davis about the great lengths she took to kill the sweeping anti-abortion bill that later because the infamous Texas HB 2.

The Backstory, Episode 4: Tuskegee Was 'The Tip of the Iceberg'

June 21, 2017 09:30 - 22 minutes - 20.7 MB

When people hear about racism in medical testing and research, they often bring up the infamous "Tuskegee Study," a decades-long program in which the government pretended to treat 400 Black men with syphilis. In fact, the government withheld adequate treatment to observe the effects of the disease. "There was a whole history of racism in medicine and research, but this was the definitive study that was well-documented," said Bill Jenkins, a statistician with the the agency funding ...

The Backstory, Episode 3: 'Some People Say It Was Part of Eugenics. We Say It Was Genocide'

June 14, 2017 09:30 - 18 minutes - 16.8 MB

Sterilization abuse so far has played a role in every episode of CHOICE/LESS: The Backstory, but in our third installment, this abuse is front and center. Charon Asetoyer is a Comanche activist and women’s rights advocate. In this episode, she discusses the Indian Health Service’s extensive and deliberate campaign to sterilize thousands of Native American women in the 1960s and 1970s without their informed consent.

The Backstory, Episode 2: Loretta Ross on the Dalkon Shield Disaster

June 07, 2017 14:23 - 23 minutes - 21.5 MB

Long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) like intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants are becoming increasingly popular as birth control methods. Between 2011 and 2013, the number of women using an IUD increased 83 percent from the previous four years, according to a 2015 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. Though today LARCs are recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as very ...

The Backstory, Episode 1: The 1956 Puerto Rican Pill Trial

May 31, 2017 09:01 - 23 minutes - 21.2 MB

CHOICE/LESS is back with The Backstory, a four-part miniseries on historical injustices in reproductive and sexual health care advancement. Today, many people might be appalled to hear of a medical study being conducted on unwitting participants, but the concept of informed consent as we understand it today wasn’t always a standard practice in health care. The first episode of CHOICE/LESS: The Backstory explores what went wrong during the early contraceptive pill trial in Puerto Ri...

COMING May 31: A new CHOICE/LESS Miniseries!

May 26, 2017 16:18 - 1 minute - 1.14 MB

On Wednesday, May 31, CHOICE/LESS is back with a four part miniseries. CHOICE/LESS: The Backstory unravels historical instances of health care injustices, and the medical advancements they helped make possible.

Angelique Saavedra: Will My Daughter Understand Me?

March 07, 2017 08:01 - 39 minutes - 36.2 MB

Adoption is often painted as the the more ethical alternative to abortion. But both adoption and abortion are reproductive choices that are deeply personal and aren't made lightly. Placing moral superiority on one choice over another is bad for all people involved, as it erases their lived experiences and unique narratives. And society can't make adoption better if it can be taboo to speak about it honestly. Today's storyteller, Angelique Saavedra, knows this all to well. She's a b...

Dominick Evans: How Can You Treat Me if You Won't Recognize Me?

February 28, 2017 08:01 - 22 minutes - 20.5 MB

Dominick Evans is a filmmaker and activist currently living in Ohio. He has a progressive, neuromuscular disability called spinal muscular atrophy, and needs the help of a wheelchair and other people to complete most physical tasks. He's also transgender. These intersecting identities have made it difficult for him to access the most basic and necessary reproductive health care — even in the emergency room.

Dr. Nicola Moore: If Not Me, Who?

February 21, 2017 08:01 - 28 minutes - 26 MB

Dr. Nicola Moore travels across the country to provide abortions at clinics where laws have made it nearly impossible to find providers in those areas. She has faced harassment and intimidation, but anti-choice threats haven't stopped her from helping to make abortion accessible.

Cherisse Scott: So Why Am I Here?

February 14, 2017 08:01 - 26 minutes - 23.9 MB

Fourteen years ago, Cherisse Scott was a singer finishing a national tour. The career she'd worked so hard for all her life was about to blossom. Then an unplanned pregnancy and a trip to what she thought was an abortion clinic changed all of that. Today, she's a nationally recognized reproductive justice activist. She's taken on anti-choice billboards and works with faith groups to bring comprehensive sex education to Tennessee schools in place of the currently mandated abstinenc...

Tasha Fierce: Do They Care About You Outside This Moment?

February 07, 2017 08:01 - 11 minutes - 11 MB

Tasha Fierce is a feminist writer and student of sociology. She's always been pro-choice, and when she chose to terminate an unwanted pregnancy she says she felt no shame — until she came face-to-face with anti-choice protesters outside the clinic.

Jessica Mason Pieklo: Can Someone Else's Religion Legally Dictate Your Healthcare?

January 31, 2017 08:01 - 21 minutes - 20.1 MB

The previous two episodes of CHOICE/LESS featured stories of people denied care at Catholic hospitals because the hospitals claimed their treatment would violate the church's ethical and religious directives. Evan and Mindy's stories are not particularly uncommon. One in six hospital beds in the United States are controlled by the Catholic Church, and that number is growing. For many Americans, Catholic hospitals are their only reasonable options for care, and because many Catholic...

Mindy Swank: How Could You Treat Women So Poorly in the Name of God?

January 24, 2017 08:01 - 16 minutes - 14.8 MB

Mindy Swank grew up staunchly pro-life in a conservative Baptist family in Illinois. Then at age 24, already a wife and mother, Mindy developed life-threatening complications during a pregnancy. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just her church and family that felt she should risk death rather than terminate her pregnancy – the Catholic hospital she was being treated at seemed to share that same sentiment.

Evan Minton: Why Did They Cancel My Surgery?

January 17, 2017 08:30 - 15 minutes - 14.6 MB

Evan Minton is a transgender man, and the day before his hysterectomy was scheduled, his doctor called him with bad news: the surgery was cancelled. Dignity Health was a Catholic hospital, and claimed that Evan’s hysterectomy would conflict with the church's ethical and religious directives. But Evan chose his name for a reason; one of its meanings is fierce warrior, and he was ready to fight.

Jack RR Evans: So, What Do You Want to Do?

January 10, 2017 08:01 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MB

Jack RR Evans tells the stories of their abortion and of coming out. Jack, who is a nonbinary transgender person, experienced dysphoria during their pregnancy. Jack understood why years later, when they realized they were transgender.

Amelia Bonow: What Kind of Person Shouts About Abortion?

January 04, 2017 08:01 - 17 minutes - 15.7 MB

CHOICE/LESS is back, and for the first episode of season 2, host and producer Jenn Stanley speaks to Shout Your Abortion's Amelia Bonow about abortion storytelling and "taking back the moral high ground" from members of the religious right who've laid claim to powerful buzzwords like life, love, and patriotism.

Jenn: How Will CHOICE/LESS Season 2 Challenge a “Post-Truth” Culture?

December 14, 2016 17:01 - 9 minutes - 8.33 MB

In this preview episode, Rewire turns the mic on the CHOICE/LESS producer and host, Jenn Stanley. We'll hear why she created CHOICE/LESS, what she learned from season 1, and what to expect for season 2, which premieres January 4th.

Announcing our new podcast Get It Right, and looking ahead to CHOICE/LESS Season 2

October 11, 2016 13:58 - 1 minute - 1.75 MB

Rewire has a new podcast series exploring the intersection of pop culture and justice called Get It Right. Here's a look at that (please subscribe and rate/review if you can), plus a sneak peek of what's ahead for CHOICE/LESS later this year.

Dr. Debra Stulberg: Did you hear we're going to be working for the Pope?

July 11, 2016 20:37 - 28 minutes - 25.9 MB

Catholic hospitals and health-care networks are thriving while other non-profit and community hospitals are struggling. As many hospitals try to stay afloat amidst continued turmoil in the health care industry, some merge with Catholic health-care networks, which follow the ethical and religious directives of the Church.  As a result, about 20 percent of the hospital beds in the United States are owned by the Catholic Church, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America. Patients at Catho...

Jessica Mason Pieklo: What does the Supreme Court decision really mean?

July 01, 2016 00:07 - 19 minutes - 18.2 MB

In this bonus episode of CHOICE/LESS, Rewire's Jessica Mason Pieklo discusses this week's landmark Supreme Court decision, Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt. While the legal impact is already being felt around the country, a variety of other laws and provisions still impede abortion access in Texas and elsewhere. Read more of Jessica's analysis at https://rewire.news.

Brittany: Why wouldn't someone help me?

June 28, 2016 01:29 - 27 minutes - 25.2 MB

A 2014 amendment to Tennessee's fetal homicide bill allowed the state to charge pregnant women with aggravated assault, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, if they have pregnancy complications after illegal narcotic use. The first law of its kind, it opened the door for the state to charge women for drug use, and at least in one case, for not wearing a seatbelt while pregnant. In theory, the law gave addicted pregnant women two options: get treatment or go to jai...

Jessica Valenti: How have I changed?

June 14, 2016 04:47 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MB

Jessica Valenti is a feminist author, co-founder of Feministing.com, and columnist at The Guardian US. Her new book, Sex Object, explores what it's like to come of age as a female in a misogynist, patriarchal society. Her experiences with abortion and motherhood have reinforced her feminist, pro-choice beliefs. Valenti has had two abortions. The first was the result of an unwanted pregnancy, and the second ended a very wanted pregnancy that could have been fatal. The first wasn't a...

Kelsey: Who can we talk to?

May 31, 2016 00:44 - 24 minutes - 22.2 MB

Kelsey discusses South Dakota's distressing obstacles to seeking and providing abortion services, including regular protestors, agonizing waits and the looming disapproval of family and community.

Tina: What will the judge say?

May 16, 2016 21:53 - 16 minutes - 14.7 MB

Texas is one of 38 states that require some form of parental involvement when a minor seeks an abortion. In the 5th episode of CHOICE/LESS, we hear from Tina Hester, the executive director of Jane's Due Process. She helps Texas minors who, for whatever reason, can't involve a parent in their abortion decisions.

Kelly: How do I take back my story?

May 02, 2016 23:20 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MB

Kelly describes going public with her abortion story--and the shock she felt after it was poached and misrepresented by anti-choice websites without her consent.

Valerie: Why do we hide?

April 15, 2016 20:03 - 22 minutes - 20.6 MB

In the third episode of CHOICE/LESS, Valerie discusses her family’s joy for her third pregnancy, the news that changed everything, and the cruel legal obstacles that left her stranded in her own state.

Regina: Is it a life?

April 14, 2016 20:00 - 26 minutes - 24 MB

In the second episode of CHOICE/LESS, Regina shares the story of the heartbreaking pregnancy complications that tested her physical, emotional and spiritual limits, and the hospital board vote that would determine her future.

Candice: When is it okay?

April 13, 2016 14:10 - 20 minutes - 19.2 MB

In this first episode of CHOICE/LESS, Candice talks about the ways her childhood informed her decisions about her own reproduction, and how her choices were hindered by HB 2, the sprawling anti-abortion law at the heart of the Supreme Court case, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.