Ilyse Hogue, on reclaiming the fight for reproductive rights (EP.06)
Release Date: 08/13/2020
Civic Rx
Today, we peer into long-term care in America — those services, both medical and non-medical, that patients in old age or with chronic illness need to perform activities of daily living. of older Americans will eventually require long-term care. And this number will only swell as we reach into the next decade when, for the first time in our nation’s history, there will be more elderly than children. Of these Americans, the vast majority would prefer to age at home and in their communities. But our long-term care system, such as it is, is ill-equipped to accommodate them. Nearly 1...
info_outlineCivic Rx
While COVID-19 continues to dominate news headlines, another crisis lurks unabated and largely unaddressed: climbing maternal deaths. Among industrialized nations across the globe, the United States stands out as the for pregnant women. Over 700 women die each year, 60% of them from preventable causes, during pregnancy or delivery. And Black women are 3 times to die than White women. Perhaps surprisingly, it didn’t used to be this way. For much of the 20th century, the US enjoyed an almost unmitigated in its maternal mortality rate, driven by scientific advances and...
info_outlineCivic Rx
Just last week, Dr. Rochelle Walensky became the CDC director in more than 20 years to call for federal action against gun violence. Meanwhile, President Biden both on the campaign trail and since has vowed his commitment to advancing meaningful gun reform, publishing six on the issue this April. And the NRA — long the swaggering villain in this saga — has been steadily losing , as it’s mired in bankruptcy and litigation. Is this a tipping point in the fight for gun safety? Today, we talk with and , two extraordinary mothers and...
info_outlineCivic Rx
We were just approaching the cusp of normalcy this summer when Delta, abetted by a silent revolt of the unvaccinated, pulled us back into a war against the coronavirus. Once again, now, COVID-19 cases are surging, hospitals are brimming, deaths are rising, and Americans across the country are being beseeched to don their masks. For even the most resilient among us, this relentless tug between progress and regress on the pandemic is exhausting. But for thousands of Americans, this stress has morphed into something even more pernicious: According to a by the US Census Bureau, more than 42% of...
info_outlineCivic Rx
Climate change is “the greatest global health … in the 21st century.” Even and especially in the wake of , climate change accelerates transmission of infectious disease, disrupts our health care supply chain, overwhelms our public infrastructure, and exacerbates chronic illness — from lung cancer to chronic kidney disease. Here to talk with us about what this means is , a pediatrician, assistant professor, and the interim director of The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment () at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Bernstein leads , a program that...
info_outlineCivic Rx
We’re back! Our first season featured the voices of everyone from Tony Fauci to former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, each of them grappling with the pandemic and with the daily crises it created. But the stories we unspooled are only the beginning. There are still countless threats to our public health, from climate change to structural racism, that during COVID, have been either exacerbated or ignored. Enter Season 2. This summer, I invite you to join me in cutting into these next big issues — beyond COVID — and talking to the scientists, the policymakers, the activists and...
info_outlineCivic Rx
The COVID-19 pandemic has unsparingly exposed the flaws of our fragmented and exorbitant healthcare system, but it has also highlighted opportunities to better deliver care. Chief among these are new models to bring care closer to patients, be it in the form of virtual medicine, mobile health clinics, community health workers, or home-based care. Indeed, now more than ever, brick-and-mortar hospitals are working hand in hand with community-based organizations, public health departments, and local and state governments to deliver services and reach people who otherwise might fall through the...
info_outlineCivic Rx
Have you been vaccinated? And if so, can you prove it — should you need to? These are the questions that countless Americans are asking themselves as the United States vaults past 200 million doses, or more than a quarter of its population now vaccinated, against COVID-19. These numbers will only continue to rise, and already, we’ve been thrust into a fierce debate over the utility, the equity, and the logistics of vaccine passports — proof for the holder of inoculation — that could afford a ticket to normalcy. Vaccine passports in various forms are even now being piloted in...
info_outlineCivic Rx
In order to get ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to understand where it’s going. And key to this is genomic surveillance, or the systematic collection and interpretation of viral genetic sequences to identify new variants and detect transmission patterns. Genomic surveillance is one of the most powerful tools officials can wield in crafting public health interventions, on everything from lockdowns to travel bans to vaccine policy. Unfortunately, the United States is not doing enough of it. Of the more than 30 million COVID-19 cases we've counted this past year, only 0.6%...
info_outlineCivic Rx
After more than 2.5 million deaths and widespread economic devastation, finally, the world has a shot of hope: multiple, effective COVID-19 vaccines. But as wealthy countries race to inoculate their populations, the majority of poor countries have yet to administer a single dose. Enter COVAX, the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access initiative. COVAX is a coalition of organizations — from the World Health Organization, to Gavi, to the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness and their key implementation partner UNICEF — that is working to ensure that vaccines are distributed equitably across...
info_outlineFor the past 7 years, Ilyse Hogue has served as the President of NARAL Pro-Choice America, the oldest organization dedicated to building political power around women's reproductive freedom and right to abortion. That time on the front lines has afforded her tremendous opportunity to reflect on the curious and complicated history of abortion rights advocacy — a history she's now distilled into a powerful new book, The Lie that Binds, which chronicles how the formerly non-partisan issue of abortion was reinvented as a political device, to advance a much broader agenda of social control. In this episode, Ilyse and I unpack the emergence and the evolution of the anti-choice movement, from its roots in school segregation to the administration of Donald Trump. We discuss the role that disinformation, then and now, has played in framing the debate. And we explore what those of us on the side of choice can do to re-engage and reclaim the narrative — at a time that reproductive rights seem perilously under threat.
To learn more about Ilyse's work and to purchase her book, The Lie that Binds, you can visit the book's website.
For more about Civic Rx, visit www.civic-rx.org.