Because of the fall of Roe v. Wade, we’re hearing a lot more about adoption as an alternative for women who find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy. Even before the momentous Supreme Court decision, media portrayals of adoption have always painted it as an easy ethical conclusion to a difficult circumstance. But the real, lived experiences of birth parents who give up their children for adoption have never been part of the conversation.

Do birth parents really see adoption as an alternative to abortion? Are they happy with their decision to relinquish their children? It turns out that for the most part, they’re not.

We talk to Samantha Gonzalez, a birth mother, and Gretchen Sisson, author of the book Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood.

GUESTS:

Samantha Gonzalez, a birth mother, and co-founder of Reproductive Justice in Adoption.

Gretchen Sisson, author of “Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood.”

The post Birth Parents on Adoption appeared first on KPFA.

We’re in the homestretch to Election Day 2024. On today’s show, we dig into election mis- and disinformation and why so much of it is targeting immigrants this year.

GUESTS:

Amber Boydstun, professor and co-chair of the political science department at University of California, Davis.

Jaime Longoria, manager of research and training for the Disinfo Defense League.

Shiu-Ming Cheer, deputy director of immigrant and racial justice at the California Immigrant Policy Center.

The post Media, Disinfo, and Lies About Immigrants in the Race to Election Day appeared first on KPFA.

On the eve of a Presidential election being decided by a handful of swing states, we sit down with two women in Indiana to talk about what it takes to make progress in a place that is largely neglected by the national Democratic Party Machine. Dayna Colbert, Executive Director of the Hoosier Democratic Party, talks about their growing foothold, led by women. And, political podcaster Dana Black talks about how to maintain an authentic voice while working alongside the official Democratic Party.

GUESTS:

Dayna Colbert, Executive Director of Indiana Democratic Party
Dana Black, Political podcaster and public speaker

The post Progressive Women Are Shaping Indiana’s Political Future appeared first on KPFA.

Almost half of Puerto Rico’s doctors have fled the island over the past decade, leading to a lack of specialists and treatment and incredibly long wait times. And this isn’t just an inconvenience. People are dying from lack of care. Why is Puerto Rico’s health care system collapsing, and why are doctors fleeing the island?

We take a look at its deeply dysfunctional private medical system and why attempts to fix it and create a universal health care plan on the island are being hindered by Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. colony. Its massive unpayable debt, held by investors in the U.S., means that it cannot make its own economic decisions, even when it affects the livelihood of poor Puerto Ricans living there. But there might be a fix: getting rid of Puerto Rico’s debt and rethinking its colonial relationship to the U.S.

GUESTS:

• Carolina (pseudonym used for privacy).
• Coral del Mar Murphy Marcos: journalist and author of an article on PR’s health care crisis.
• Paola (pseudonym used for privacy).
• Alberto Medina: Boricuas Unidos en la Diáspora.

The post How the Legacy of Colonialism Keeps Puerto Rico’s Healthcare System in Shambles appeared first on KPFA.

On this week’s episode, we speak with Dr. Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar about his latest book, America’s Black Capital: How African Americans Remade Atlanta in the Shadow of the Confederacy. The book chronicles how a center of Black excellence emerged amid virulent expressions of white nationalism, as African Americans pushed back against Confederate ideology to create an extraordinary locus of achievement.

The post America’s Black Capital: How African Americans Remade Atlanta in the Shadow of the Confederacy (encore) appeared first on KPFA.

It’s been one year since October 7, 2023 and the start of Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza. On today’s show, we hear from journalist Rami Almeghari and other Palestinians about their experiences living through the war. Then, we dive into a conversation with author Norman Solomon about what mainstream coverage of the war is leaving out.

GUESTS:

• Rami Almeghari: Palestinian journalist in Gaza
• Norman Solomon: activist and author of War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of its Military Machine
• Tarneem, Ahmad, and Hamza Jaber: Palestinian siblings from Gaza

The post Gaza, one year later appeared first on KPFA.

Please donate online at kpfa.org or by calling 1800-439-5732

The post Special Fund Drive Programming – September 27, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.

Today’s episode of Making Contact is preempted by fall 2024 special fund drive programming.

The post Special Fund Drive Programming appeared first on KPFA.

Today’s episode of Making Contact is preempted by a 2024 fall fund drive special.

The post Special Fall Fund Drive Programming appeared first on KPFA.

The attacks on Imane Khelif’s gender at this year’s 2024 Paris Olympics is not new. In fact, the focus on women’s appearance and gender expression goes back to the founding of the Olympics, the minute women entered elite sports.

We talk to Rose Eveleth, host and producer of the podcast Tested, about the history of sex testing in the Olympics; why it existed in the first place; why there’s no easy way to classify the natural, biological variation that exists in human beings; and why we might want to consider new ways of organizing athletes that is less sexist, racist, and more accepting of genders outside of a simple binary.

The post The Problematic History of Gender Testing at the Olympics appeared first on KPFA.

The last few years have seen a wave of labor organizing, as it becomes more and more clear to workers that what they do is not expendable but actually the heart of every business. From walkouts to unionization, workers from Starbucks to Amazon to your local coffee shop have come together to build and exercise their power. In this episode, we explore the issues that led people to organize their workplaces, the ins and outs and ups and downs of the process, and the backlash.

On the forefront of the next labor revolution, we visit a coffee shop in Maine called Little Dog, whose staff starts a union. Then we talk to Robert Chlala from the UCLA Labor Center about the rise in unionization efforts among service workers and the social and cultural ethos in a post lockdown country that have led to this new wave of the labor movement.

GUESTS:

Robert Chlala – Assistant Professor, CSU Long Beach & Visiting Researcher at UCLA Labor Center
Jessica Czarnecki, Sydney, Sophie, Kira – Workers at Little Dog Cafe

The post The Rise of the New Labor Movement (encore) appeared first on KPFA.