 Cooper Union. What's happening with human rights around another world on Think Tech Live from our downtown studio on Honolulu Life and Moana, New York. I'm your host, Joshua Cooper. And today, we'll be looking at the state of health and reproductive rights in the United States. Women stand in solidarity around the world in response to the Supreme Court canceling our constitutional rights. Today, I'm joined by three amazing women who are living what they believe in and standing up against the current conditions that have been handed down. Most recently. Thank you so much for joining us from Hawaii. How are you doing today? Good. Excellent. Where were you, Shannon, when you first heard the ruling a week ago? And what was your immediate response and thoughts about what needs to be done? Well, actually, I heard when I first heard back in March about the leaked draft, that was actually sort of the big moment for me emotionally. To hear that really strongly impacted me. I'm a mother of two. I've had four miscarriages. I had three before my daughter, and then one between my daughter and son. And so for me, freedom of choice and control over my own reproductive health has been a very crucial thing in my own life. And something I fought for for years, in various different ways, and organized multiple different protests and rallies and other things here on the Big Island. So that initial hearing about the the leak was kind of what really affected me. So I was expecting it. It wasn't a surprise when I woke up in the morning and read the email that said, it's happened. This is what's happening. And so I immediately emailed the rest of our group of organizers from bans off our bodies on March 14. We collected a number of email addresses. And I told everybody today's the day, let's get out on the streets. And, and we were able to organize a large group in a very short amount of time, because everybody had had that advanced notice. Thank you. So I agreed with Shannon. It was more the leak of the of the Supreme Court decision that set that struck me as it's horrifying. Knowing that the that that was going to be the decision took a lot of the oomph out of when the Supreme Court actually did release the decision. So when they released the decision, we were all ready to start having a bunch of rallies and things all over the country. And it was just about a matter of triggering them. So in Kona, we we had something ready to go. And it was just a matter of putting putting on Facebook and getting everybody rallied up to go protest with their signs on the highway. But it was has been really unsettling and really upsetting. And I've I've seen women tourists in Hawaii just looking really on edge. I don't know if this is just coincidence, but I've seen a lot of edgy people lately, a lot of women looking really, really short fused. For me, I I've never had children. I've never wanted children, which is a big part of the reason why I think abortion should exist. Because I've never if I'd ever been pregnant, I would have aborted. I'm a lesbian. I never even had sex with a man. So I don't have this issue in that regard. For me, it's more the other side of it. I'm adopted. So I think that my I wish my birth mother had her choice in 1961 to to do what she wanted. And it being adoptees, we're going to have a lot more adoptees out there. And that's not a great thing because adoption is not as simple as people make it out to be. It's a very complicated issue. A lot of adoptees in prison, a lot of adoptees in the mental health institutions, a lot of adoptees, criminals, a lot of adoptees with addiction. There's a lot of problems with being adopted. It's not an easy thing. So I don't really like the idea of seeing a lot more adoptees out there. I was horrified by this decision. Yeah, adding to that what you said about, you know, more criminals are people who are adopted and things like that. I feel like it's really important that we understand that it affects it disproportionately affects people who are poorer and who, you know, suffer from addiction and things like that, because they don't have the access, they don't have the resources to get the help that they need. And then their kids don't have parents that can take care of them the way that they're supposed to or want to take care of them. And it can end in a lot of, you know, domestic violence. And no, I mean, those are some very important points. And when we look at, of course, this recent Supreme Court decision, what is also alarming, of course, where the states where it would then immediately be put into effect, those are also the states that spend the least amount of resources to actually provide assistance from early education, actually health care, and all other really economic, social and cultural rights. So saying one thing, but then not putting any resources or prioritizing those basic economic, social and cultural rights of right to health, housing, education, and it just shows really a hypocrisy of our democracy. Unfortunately, in many ways, with what this one small group of people in robes have ruled, that also went against stare decisis and precedence that it existed for half a century. Shannon, what do you think needs to be done first to look at this? Because I'll never forget a couple of the quotes of what came down from really our leaders. We had Joe Biden speaking at 1237, saying it's a very solid moment, a sad day for the court and for our country. The court has done what it's never done before, expressly taken away a constitutional right that's so fundamental to so many Americans that had already been recognized. What's your response to that, Shannon? Also, I think another one Jill Biden said, said, for nearly 50 years, women have had the right to make our own decisions about our bodies. Today, that right was stolen from us. And while we may be def saved by this injustice, we will not be silent. Yeah, I think it really goes back to what you were just saying about access and the trigger laws that are happening in other states. Lucky for us, we live in Hawaii, which has has been a leader for abortion rights and abortion, reproductive health. I mean, they legalized abortion, which is silly that we should even have to have it legalized. It's just a basic fundamental human right. But that they they were proactive in doing so even a couple years before that row versus way decision was made at the federal level. But so while we don't have to deal with the trigger law, which is wonderful here, at the same time, what what we're dealing with is is a lot of lack of access. And our islands, because of the way they're they're separated, we have rural islands and we have urban islands. And for all of us living on a rural island, we know how challenging it is for us to get health care in general, across the board and to get reproductive health care in particular is especially challenging. I have a friend who just actually had to travel to Colorado to be able to access her abortion rights. And this was a late term abortion, and the fetus was not viable. And yet she could not get the care that she needed here, even by traveling to Oahu. So she had to travel by plane, which is horrifically expensive and traumatic emotionally, physically, again, financially. And even while there are some funds available through various national organizations, it's still just a horrible thing that she had to do this on top of the trauma of losing her baby that she was really looking forward to meeting in a few short weeks. So for her, that's that's really, really tragic. And I think that that's something that Hawaii needs to continue to work on is accessibility, clarity in the law, figuring out ways to make sure that our laws truly are serving all of us equally, and that there's equity across the board in accessing reproductive health care. It's we're not at all, we're not at all as accessible as we think in regards to abortion here, regardless of what the laws may currently state. Thank you, Yvette. Kamala Harris said, means of women America will go to bed tonight without access to the health care and reproductive care they had this morning, without access to the same reproductive health care that their mothers and grandmothers had for 50 years. And she described that ruling as really a health care crisis. It is a health care crisis. I was born in 1961, when I was adopted and Ro became law in 1973, when I was in sixth grade. So for my, you know, I had my adoption experience. And then once I became older, abortion has always been legal in my lifetime to think that this is now illegal. And I don't remember how many states it is now, but it's, it's, it's just shot. It's a shocking fact. I don't need honestly, I don't even really know how to wrap my, my mind around it. When we were making signs for our last rally, I had to double check with some lawyers, because it's no longer proper language to say to say save row, because that's they've thrown it out, they've overturned it. Just even the way that we talk about it, it's all changed now to the way that to think that it so many times over the years, it was on the verge of being overturned. And every time it got saved, none of the previous justices wanted to put women through this. When all was said and done, they realized what an emergency this was going to be put on the country. It is too big to fail. It really is. We can't, we can't have have this happen to women. We, I don't even know how to think about it. Honestly, I'm really truly still tongue tied about it. It's so emotional for me. Very true. And Kiyokina. I mean, I'm really young. I'm only 16. If I were to get pregnant at this age, I'd probably have an abortion just because I'm not ready to have a child. I'm, I want to go to college, you know what I mean? There's not, even though we do live in Hawaii where there's it's legal, there aren't as many resources. It's not free. It's expensive to get an abortion. And I'm looking up that I have access to contraceptives if I need them or anything like that. But it's so scary because my mother had the right to get an abortion if she wanted to. My sister did, my grandmother did for most of her life. And to have it taken away from me at such a, at such a young age, it's scary. All throughout this week, women here in Geneva have been actually protesting at the Palais de Nation, which is the, or the UN is located. They've been putting up posters on signs all over. And it is hard to believe it happened in our lifetime. And it's amazing that the court shouldn't even reconsider all the substantive due process precedents. I mean, if I'm with the vet a little bit, I knew and I, as well with you, Shannon, I know the leak document. But on when I was here in Geneva, and it hit me, I was at a conference looking at human rights around the world. You just sat there for a while trying to comprehend that it really happened. You knew that it said it could. But then what he then shared, even now you're like, surely, it couldn't be that fundamentalist in the United States, it's almost Taliban-esque. Think of it, but there is a patriarchy, global patriarchy around the world, that still would want to do something like this. As you said, Kiyokina, that has been around for grandmother, mother, and now you, it is hard to believe. And one thing I think that I, it reminds me of is, it's just this saying that we want to pass such a law, but that we don't put any resources than to assist people. It shows that it's just one ideology and not really caring, because we know that limiting abortion legally does not stop abortions from happening, and only risk more life. So that's a situation. And we also know that access to safe abortions is a public health issue. And the World Health Organization, which is just right up the road, added comprehensive abortion care to its list of essential health care services. So not unsafe abortions not only cost us life, they also cost our health care systems, millions of dollars, and forced abortion treatment. So it is just insane to think that that could be done. What are you doing? And what can women around the world do to change that devastation into determination, and the despair into dedication, Shannon? So I'm actually running for state house. I ran two years ago, but I'm even more motivated to run now. I received the Patsy team mink pack endorsement, which is an organization founded primarily their their sole focus actually is to elect pro choice democratic women in Hawaii. And based on Patsy minks legacy of fighting for these kind of equality and health care rights. And so I'm really grateful for that endorsement. And I'm continuing to do my work of educating our communities on the kind of inconsistencies that already exist in our laws, the language that we could use to strengthen our laws. And it's really beholden on our next group of legislators to step up. And hopefully our communities will hold them accountable. I love seeing people like Keokina involved. I think it's so important for the next generation to really step up. I appreciate all of your work, that but it's it's time to pass the torch and really motivate the next generation to get them involved, because most of them are the ones who could actually become pregnant and be directly affected by by these sort of laws that are getting passed now across the country. And people talk about maybe Hawaii being a safe haven, a place where people can come and get this these sort of procedures performed if they need them. And my concern with that is that we already have such a lack of medical care here, we have a lack of physician, your lack of funding that we really need to step up and make sure that we have properly funding these clinics, especially on our neighbor islands. So that's something that I'm directly fighting for is that I will be lobbying our legislators and make sure that we get some funding for reproductive health, education, and services on our neighbor islands. And if I'm if I'm able to be successful in my election, I'll be able to do that on a larger scale. But either way, I'm going to keep organizing in our community. We've done a bunch of signwavings and we're planning on continuing to do those to keep the momentum going and keep people engaged and informed about what steps they can take next. Thank you, Yvette. Well, what I'm really hoping is this is going to motivate voting. So we we have to the only way I guess we're going to be able to codify row is to get enough senators in there that will vote for it. And we also need to get rid of the filibuster and we need to pack the court. So all of these things have to happen. The court has gone so far to the right that the pendulum has swung so far to the right. I do think I do have a personal belief that it will swing back to some degree and we will get these things back. But if these things take time, in the meantime, I am assuming the rage that women are feeling is going to be the main motivating factor for voting, especially young women who for the for first time voters, and also the other other decisions that the Supreme Court is making that have to do with global warming and other things that really affect young people, I'm really, really hoping that young people are going to be the big push factor to keep Democrats in office to get more Senator Democratic senators. I do think the only way we're going to change this is by voting. I had been harboring the possibility of a general strike. I really support this idea, but being a retired financially secure woman, I know that and white woman too, I know that that I have an elite status that I can say, yes, let's all go on strike. But I don't know if we're going to get there. Now, if they had made abortion illegal country wide, maybe then there would be more gigantic motivation for something like that. But since it's like half the country, it's a little harder to do something like that, I think. But but I'm all for a general strike. I think we need to do something radical. Aside from that, if we can't really actually make that happen, then it's going to be all down to voting. And the way that in Kona, it's the side I do a lot of signwaving and the signwaving is really mostly for the community to see that that this issue matters to people here within the community. It's also a way for the people in the community to feel a little bit better. Because just even the act of going and doing a sign waving feels productive. It feels good. It feels happier amongst people who you agree with. And it's healing. So part of what we're going to need is a lot of healing so that we have the the energy. Sorry, I've got some birds over here in the cage. We we need the energy to be to be able to push ourselves forward because you know, everything is incremental. It takes time and they're not just going to give this right back to us. They fought for it. And I'm hoping that they're going to be some moderate Republicans who decide this is a bridge too far. And they're going to just get off that train and switch over to our party. I don't know if this is likely at all. I don't have any evidence of this, but something has to switch. It's gone way, way, way too far to the right. And it's going to the pendulum does have to shift back and it will. So I am hopeful. I'm always hopeful. That's good. I thought we're going to list the strata moment there or that we're looking at how to counter the handmade and pale. Right. Exactly. Kyokina, your perspective. Well, I can't vote yet, but I think that we should also focus on not only voting for people who are Democrats, people that say that they're going to protect our rights, but people that we can see that they'll take action, that they'll actually do what they say that we're that they're going to do because I feel like that's the problem that we've had, especially lately with some of our leaders that are higher up that say that they're going to that say that they're pro-choice that say that they're going to protect our right to abortion and they're not, you know, Biden had a lot of opportunities to codify Roe and he didn't. So I think that it's important that we remember that actions speak louder than words when we're voting. Thank you so much. And it seems so carintuitive that the sates and sexting on the strictest abortion ban also the least commitment to investing in maternal and child health care, economic and social supports, preventive services for at-risk families, child care and early child development. So this, of course, will unfortunately continue the situation where we see these states are actually the ones that lead the nation in the highest rate of child poverty and consistently break near the bottom for overall well-being of children. So if you love children and you're saying all these things, it doesn't even measure out when you look at the statistic of what's going on. And the other shocking part that sort of builds on what all three of you have shared, there isn't a single state where support for a federal ban on abortion has more than 30% support among the entire public. So that's why I think your different responses are exactly what everyone else is feeling. Shannon, you know, saying she's taking action, be that wondering a bit, but then getting out there with matriarchy rising, and Keohokina also going, you know, what's the next step? We've got to do almost everything. What do you think we should look at, especially when we look at what's happening? Because there's also an aspect of the ruling that's taking aim at the fundamental right to privacy, which is served as a legal foundation for advances in LGBTQI equality reproductive freedom. Because just yesterday we closed out Pride Month, and there was a giant gathering, not only outside over the weekend for Roe, but inside at the UN Human Rights Council, where all of the UN diplomats gathered to really protect, in this case, a independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity. And here it was great to see the US, actually the US mission upon the hill is actually decked out with rainbow flags and the LGBTQIA flag is flying right below the US flag. And it's great to see the US back leading. But what do we need to do besides those symbolic Pride Month, which had the sunset yesterday? What do we need to look at going forward, and how can other people get involved to make a difference? Well, I think, Josh, what you just touched on a minute ago about the hypocrisy that exists is one of the biggest things that I continue to notice. Within those who are saying that they feel like this is something that they must do is protect the unborn, and yet they won't make any of the choices or decisions to protect those of us who are currently living. And so that, to me, is one of my biggest frustrations. And as far as what we can do, I don't know right now, sometimes it feels like an insurmountable gap. But I think continuing to have the conversations, continuing to try to call to light some of the hypocrisy, and continuing to stand up together and do the best we can to stay connected and motivated with each other, networking with each other and being willing to vote up and down the ballot for pro-choice leaders, I think is crucial. And I really like what Yvette said. I think we need to expand the court. I think that that's where rat the Supreme Court is taking away rights of the environment, rights of people, women, and I think they're coming for all the LGBTQ plus rights next. So I really think that it's important for us to stay vigilant and continue to fight back however we can. Yvette? Again, it's about voting. It's about motivation and voting. We need to find a way to make sure that people who want to vote are able to vote. I don't know what's going to happen with all the voting rights things that are going on about preventing people from vote, disenfranchising people, but people have to vote. And I mean, I think it's like a third of this country still doesn't vote. I mean, of legal age. So if we just could get people out there, as we say in every election, we could win, right? So we just that we expanding the court is so important and and and also ending the filibuster. I mean, we have that's only where we're going to be able to do any of these things is by ending the filibuster so that we don't have to get to 60 votes. It's ridiculous because it is minority rule right now. You're exactly right that it is about 30 percent of the country has these outrageous far right beliefs and they're ruling the country. They've managed to stack the court with these people. They've managed to gerrymander in areas and get all these crazy lunatics elected. And this is not a representation of the country. 70 something percent of the country is in favor of row, a codifying row. Nobody 70 70 something percent does not want to illegalize abortion or make it illegal or send people to jail doctors and and mothers and so forth. They don't want that. So it's just that these crazy people who just are completely sure of their own God and their own beliefs and all of this and forcing us to live this way. I still just don't understand why how they can get away with with the a religious issue and forcing everybody else to believe go have it. We can't have a have a country like this. But we are now this is where we're at. We are actually here. And I think we're going to see a lot more of it. So you know we're probably going to have to start praying in school any minute. Well that was another ruling this week. I know. I think that we need a lot more representation especially for people of color LGBTQ people women especially because right now we have all these old white men who they don't. They've never had kids. They can't get pregnant. And they are very privileged. A lot of them have a lot of money. So I think that we need to have people who understand. And who are affected by the laws that they're making. Thank you so much. And it is true. I mean globally only three countries Poland El Salvador and Uruguay have reversed course and remove rights. Where it's fifty nine countries have expanded abortion rights for citizens. So we have to get in line with what's going on for women around the world. And we thank all three of you for being involved. And we look forward to continue this conversation and making a difference in our democracy. Mahalo. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much for watching. Thank you so much for becoming a think tech Hawaii. If you like what we do please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook Instagram twitter and linked in and donate to us at thinktech Hawaii dot com Mahalo.