In this special episode of In Their Shoes, Dr. Jenn and Executive Producer, Beth Bonilla, interview Fidji Sumo, Vice President and Head of Facebook App, as she talks about building a stronger kind of leadership through chronic, often stigmatized health conditions.

It's a long awaited episode: COVID vaccines in pregnancy & lactation, and why Dr. Jenn & Dr. Erica 100% support you getting that vax! We'll dive deep into everything we know and don't know so far, and even bring in some patriarchy-infused history (like we do) about why pregnant and lactating people were actively excluded from the trials. Here. We. Go.

There are just DAYS left until the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election and we want to be 100% crystal clear that there is only one correct way to vote if you care about reproductive health, which is connected to literally EVERYTHING. Listen in as we re-cap all the ways every single issue on the ballot comes back to reproductive health & reproductive justice. 

IF YOU HAVE NOT YET VOTED: send us your cell number and email so we can bug you daily to do it! And also check out these helpful links:

• VOTE SAVE AMERICA - BE A VOTER: Register to vote, find out where your nearest polling location is, figure out how to safely mail in your ballot, and more.
• VOLUNTEER! Figure out how to phone bank, send texts, & help with polling places near you.

In this episode, Dr. Jenn & Executive Producer, Beth Bonilla, talk with NARAL Pro-Choice America President, Ilyse Hogue, about anti-choice politicians’ ongoing efforts to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic in order to restrict reproductive healthcare and ban abortion.

Ilyse’s perspective on this topic is especially salient right now - she also has a new book coming out in partnership with NARAL Opposition Research Director Ellie Langford. The forthcoming book, The Lie that Binds, connects the dots between a decades-long effort to mobilize the Radical Right around the issue of abortion and today’s all-out war on reproductive freedom that leaves the future of Roe hanging in the balance.

Her podcast by the same name, was also just released last week and is a MUST listen!

Francine Coeytaux is a GIANT in the field of reproductive health- there's no easier way to say that. Among other things, she's the Co-Creator and Co-Director of Plan C--an organization of veteran reproductive health advocates, researchers, and modern age digital strategists who are all working towards the common goal of making medication abortion available to the people who need it most.

Now more than ever, amidst a global pandemic, HERE is a plan to curtail limited access to Plan A (birth control), Plan B (emergency contraception), and in-office abortion care. As millions of women all over the world have shown through countless studies, self-managed abortion with the relatively newer technology of abortion medications, is incredibly safe and effective.

STUDY references in episode: 

Raymond E et al., TelAbortion: evaluation of a direct to patient telemedicine abortion service in the United States, Contraception, 2019, 100(3):173–177, https://www.contraceptionjournal.org/article/S0010-7824(19)30176-3/abstract.

In the midst of a global pandemic, we MUST support and uplift pregnant, postpartum, and parenting folks. Producer Aysha Choudhary sits down with Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, a board-certified psychiatrist and freelance writer specializing in women's mental health and perinatal psychiatry.

Dr. Lakshmin is a Clinical Assistant Professor of psychiatry at the George Washington University School of Medicine, where she is a clinical supervisor in the Five Trimesters perinatal psychiatry clinic. Dr. Lakshmin is most passionate about empowering women and sees her clinical work as a perinatal psychiatrist as an extension of this mission. She is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, and her advice has been featured in Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, Bustle and various other media outlets. 

The Supreme Court has likely already announced its decision re: June Medical Services v. Russo by the time you're listening to this, and the horrific implications of a loss are heart-stopping. To help you realize the real implications that laws like these have on women and families, here is Ariana telling her truth: what happened when, in the midst of receiving news of her baby's deadly condition, anti-abortion legislators obstructed medical care.

FIND OUT ABOUT ANTI-ABORTION LAWS IN YOUR STATE:

Guttmacher Institute: https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/state-facts-about-abortion

This week we talked with Dr. Anjali Malik who is a breast imaging radiologist in Washington DC about Covid's impact on screening and how to navigate moving forward. Dr. Malik serves a Medical Advisor for Bright Pink--an organization that educates and empowers young women on their breast and ovarian health. Executive Producer, Bethney Bonilla, has this interview. 

This week we want to talk about what's going on in the world and challenge you to think about it from a Reproductive Justice framework. Not sure what that is? Don't worry- Our friend, Dr. Jamila Perritt is here with us to share the central tenants and talk about how educating yourself about this movement and framework is crucial to understanding how every aspect of what is happening right now--including a global pandemic, racism, and police brutality--is all connected as part of a cohesive public health and human rights issue.

Dr. Perritt is is a fellowship trained, board-certified Obstetrician and Gynecologist with a comprehensive background in Family Planning and Reproductive Health. Dr. Perritt provides on the ground, community- based care focusing primarily on the intersection of sexual health, reproductive rights and social justice. You can follow her on Twitter at @reprorightsdoc, and you should absolutely do that right now.

It's that thing that goes in your vagina to do your pap smear, check for infections, put in your IUD, monitor bleeding, and everything else in gynecology: your friend, the speculum! Cold, metal (sometimes plastic), rachety, pinchy... you know the drill. In this episode Executive Producer, Beth Bonilla, talks to Fahti Khosrowshahi, CEO and Founder of Ceek Women's Health about specula in general and the company's mission to overhaul the speculum as we know it. Specula don't need to look or feel like medieval torture devices. Listen in to learn more about how this renovation is transpiring.