Reproductive Freedom for All through Partnerism with Heidi Sieck

Learn how Heidi Sieck, founder of Vote Pro-Choice, and Kamala Harris, have successfully used Partnerism and Caring Economics to support reproductive freedom in communities across the nation.

SHOWNOTES:
Center for Partnership Systems (https://centerforpartnership.org/)

The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future, Riane Eisler (https://centerforpartnership.org/resources/books/the-chalice-and-the-blade-our-history-our-future/)

The Power of Partnership: Seven Relationships that will Change Your Life, Riane Eisler (https://centerforpartnership.org/resources/books/the-power-of-partnership/)

Vote Pro-Choice (https://www.voteprochoice.us/)

Sister Song Collective (https://www.sistersong.net/)

Emerge America (https://emergeamerica.org/)

Vote, Run, Lead (https://voterunlead.org/)

Emily's List (https://emilyslist.org/)

Men4Choice (https://www.men4choice.org/)

National Democratic Training Committee (https://traindemocrats.org/)

Run For Something (https://runforsomething.net/)

center@partnershipway.org

Center for Partnership "Join Us" email link  

Resilience, Rising Appalachia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx17RvPMaQ8

Transcript

00;00;20;06 - 00;00;24;13
Welcome
to the Power of Partnership podcast.

00;00;24;45 - 00;00;28;15
I'm Riane Eisler, President of the Center

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for Partnership Systems.

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This podcast brings

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you voices from the Partnership movement.

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People using partnership practices,
to build a world

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that values caring nature
and shared prosperity.

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The Power of Partnership
podcast is hosted by Cherri Jacobs Pruitt,

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a Health Policy and Partnership
scholar.

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today, Cherri interviews Heidi

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Sieck, co-founder of the Vote

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Pro-Choice organization,

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on how

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we can use partnership based principles

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to build a world
with reproductive freedom for all.

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And now on to today's PoP podcast.

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Welcome
Heidi to the Power of Partnership podcast.

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I'm so excited
and honored to have you on our show today.

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So you're founder and board
president of Vote Pro-Choice.

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You're a political consultant
and fundraiser for San Francisco

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Mayor London Breed
And you're the campaign director

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for the San Francisco
Reproductive Freedom Ballot Initiative.

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I'm really excited to begin
this discussion and learn more today

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about your work

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specific to reproductive rights.

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Oh, I'm so happy to be here.

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Thank you.

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So let's start by you
sharing with our listeners

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how you first learned about Riane
Eisler's Partnership-Domination

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paradigm and her caring economy
framework. Well, 

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I really appreciate this conversation
because

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I originally started
working in politics

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and reproductive rights
in the early 90s in Nebraska.

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My grandfather was an elected state

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senator, and it was during the time when

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the infrastructure of the Republican Party
was starting to be developed,

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and with the intention of chipping away
at abortion rights in the country.

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So I was seeing it firsthand
in the state legislature at the time.

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There was an investment
in an infrastructure.

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There was a conversation
about the control of women's bodies

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that I knew
viscerally to be inaccurate, untrue.

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It ignited something in me
that really fueled my life

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and my activism up until this moment,
this day, this conversation.

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And, you know,
while I had been kind of fighting

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for reproductive freedom
and fighting politically

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and talking about it, working in Planned
Parenthood's in different states, what

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oriented me was a friend of mine

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had read The Chalice and the Blade,
and she recommended it to me.

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And what I really appreciated
was the orientation of the why,

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the social structure of domination
that gave me sort of

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gave me some calm around
that this wasn't necessarily

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an individual, personal,

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person to person situation
This was a systemic problem,

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and that it had to do
with the cultural implications

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of how people were growing
up, the access that they had to early

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childhood education, the types of families
that they were raised in.

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And it really allowed me to kind of reduce
the amount of frustration and anger

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I was feeling,

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to have a little bit of compassion
for the system we were dealing with.

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And so I am so grateful for that.

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And then and I think it was 2007, 
I discovered that Riane was teaching

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a class on transformative leadership,
and so I signed up for it.

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She was going to be doing
a graduate level class

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at the California Institute
for Integral Studies, and I signed up.

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And so it was a real honor
to be able to actually study with her,

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where we
we really worked through her model.

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And so a couple of the projects
that I worked on with Riane initially was

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I was working for the city and county
of San Francisco, and so I took her

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domination and partnership model
and did an analysis of how

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the city of San Francisco could become
a more partnership oriented city.

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That was a really fun project to do,
because you can look at where

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you can create investments in early
childhood development, in caregiving,

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in making the environment
a little more thriving and safe,

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where people can have an opportunity
to thrive and feel like they're held

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with respect and care in the city,

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through using the
the levers of city government.

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And I'm really proud to say
that that work had impact.

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you know in 2015

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the National Institute for Reproductive
Health named San Francisco

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the number one city in the country
as a place for reproductive freedom.

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So that was really great.

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And then, you know,

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Riane came out with her
caring economy book

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and it really oriented all of us,
I think, toward how our economic models

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are really destroying the environment
and the way that we look at our resources.

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And at the time, I was studying at Harvard
for a graduate degree,

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and my economics classes
suddenly had a new sheen on them,

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where these professors were teaching

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the economic model
as if it was true, like scarce

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resources, extraction, consumption,
the growth of the GDP.

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And the way that Riane's economic
model was

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oriented was taking into account
environmental resources,

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human investment and human capacity
through early childhood development,

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child care, making
sure we're taking care of each other,

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like the fact that every human being has
a caregiver has to.

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And if we're not investing in that,
why are caregivers not paid well?

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And so I realized we have a real problem

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with how the entire
economic system of the world

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views its
resources.

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And so for me it was like, okay,

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so what is the lever of transformation?

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What should we be doing
to transform our world?

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And I realized that,

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it's elected officials
that are making these decisions.

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Like, we went to Congress to try

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to introduce the social wealth indicators

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that was based on Riane's Caring
Economy initiative.

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Like, what are we measuring?

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You know, the thing that struck me about

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that was like, the best thing in the world
for the GDP to grow

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the GDP is a gigantic oil spill.

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That that is what really helps
the GDP grow.

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Meanwhile,
you've destroyed an entire ecosystem.

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So the social wealth indicators
would definitely be measuring other things

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like caregiving and the environment
and the resources in the environment

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having value before they are extracted.

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And we couldn't
get any traction for that legislation.

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And so I was, you know, a light

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bulb went off is like, okay,
we need to change the laws.

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And if we're going to change the laws,
we got to change the lawmakers.

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And that's
when I went on a really focused journey

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to try to get different
people elected to office.

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And so,

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that is where Vote Pro-Choice started.

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I continue to do the electoral work

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as you read in my biography,
I continue to support Vote Pro-Choice.

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I'm currently
working directly with a mayor, London

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Mayor London Breed in San Francisco,
who is running in a very difficult

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reelection, and this mayor
is so committed to the community.

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She is a black woman who grew up in public
housing

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who cares
deeply about reproductive freedom

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and is committed to getting resources
to communities,

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has developed
the biggest child care caregiving program

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in the history of the city, if
not the history of any urban environment.

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And her view is a partnership
oriented view.

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And so let's start

00;08;52;59 - 00;08;56;25
digging a little deeper
into Vote Pro-Choice,

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the organization, its mission
and how you accomplish it.

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So changing the laws
by changing the lawmakers,

00;09;06;06 - 00;09;06;31
was the

00;09;06;31 - 00;09;09;31
light bulb that went off for me
in grad school, which is like

00;09;09;38 - 00;09;12;43
we can be analyzing all of these systems,
but at the end of the day,

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it's elected officials who are making
the choices, its elected officials

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who are nominating
the International Monetary Fund

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representatives, you know, 
it's at the presidential level,

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but all the way down
the ballot, we're talking like 525,000

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elected offices in this country,

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not including the political party
positions.

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And we don't invest in many of them at all
on the side of partnership.

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what can we do
to get support down the ballot?

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And that's
what Vote Pro-Choice was all about.

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It was a national voter guide program.

00;09;49;17 - 00;09;52;01
Now the largest voter guide program
in the country,

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where we were helping people see through
the lens of reproductive freedom,

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who all of their elected officials

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were on their ballot
and who would be the best choice.

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and really giving people
the tools that they need to make choices

00;10;06;26 - 00;10;08;27
through their values based.

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And we then we realized we needed to be

00;10;11;25 - 00;10;14;25
directly helping candidates
because no one else was doing that.

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And we found that, you know,
the candidates that really understood a

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complex, well-being oriented, partnership

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oriented policy frame are often down

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ballot women of color
because the system impacts them the most.

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And also trans candidates,
transgender candidates,

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the system of oppression and domination
impacts them the most.

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So candidates that are willing to step up
and say, I will lead

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have a much better,

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understanding
of the allocation of the budget

00;10;47;41 - 00;10;51;27
policy options
through the lens of partnership

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than most like privileged white,

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older white male rich men will have.

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That's just life experience.

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Again
most of Congress are very wealthy people.

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Most of Congress is men,
most elected officials are men.

00;11;09;21 - 00;11;13;11
And therefore these policies
have been made through that lens.

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So by electing down ballot candidates
through the lens of partnership,

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often down ballot women of color,
black women, trans gender candidates,

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you actually get you support people
through their lifestyle,

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their early leadership pipeline

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to eventually become, in my case,
you know, having worked on

00;11;34;10 - 00;11;37;58
in San Francisco politics, Vice
President of the United States of America,

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which is Kamala Harris.

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So Vote Pro-Choice is really
the concept is like to find

00;11;44;12 - 00;11;47;44
all the Kamala’s in the world,
you know, who are going to be able

00;11;47;44 - 00;11;50;44
to start their careers going up against,

00;11;50;50 - 00;11;54;42
like the way she started was going up
against a white male incumbent,

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district attorney.

00;11;57;47 - 00;12;02;49
And she it was a longshot race,
but we all believed in her vision.

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And so we got involved
and we got her elected against all odds.

00;12;07;24 - 00;12;08;53
And we so Vote

00;12;08;53 - 00;12;11;11
Pro-Choice has been doing that since 2015

00;12;11;11 - 00;12;12;38
all across the country

00;12;12;38 - 00;12;16;05
in speaking about the issue
of reproductive justice,

00;12;16;05 - 00;12;20;37
you know, I think some people just think
it's access to contraception

00;12;20;37 - 00;12;25;19
or the ability for a person to
make their own choice around a pregnancy.

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I feel like it's more than that.

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Can you speak more about what the issue it

00;12;30;42 - 00;12;34;14
what reproductive
justice issues really encompass?

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Oh, I'm so glad you asked that question.

00;12;36;38 - 00;12;38;44
Okay.

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This again, is Riane's thinking of like,
how do you analyze the system?

00;12;42;51 - 00;12;44;56
What happened?

00;12;44;56 - 00;12;49;17
Why did we lose Roe v Wade
in a country that is like

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a majority
doesn't want Roe v Wade to go away

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I do want to explain some terminology.

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I think it's important.

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So we have the words reproductive rights.

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We have the words reproductive health.

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We have the words reproductive justice.

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We have the words reproductive freedom.

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And they all mean different things.

00;13;07;43 - 00;13;12;02
And they all they all impact
different people in different ways.

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So that's really key
because when we're we're saying

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reproductive rights, we're talking about
the laws, we're talking about

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the infrastructure of the anti-choice
minority, which I'll talk about

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in a minute of passing
thousands of pieces of legislation,

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unconstitutional pieces of legislation
to chip away at abortion rights.

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And it's the lawsuits at the Supreme Court,
and it's the strategy

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to try to reduce our access over decades

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That's the rights reproductive rights.

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Then there's reproductive health,
which is the care the the clinics,

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the actual doctors,
the nurse practitioners,

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the regulations that actually support
our well-being and care in that regard,

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the investment in access to birth control,

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like when we're talking about reproductive
health, that's what we're talking about.

00;14;05;01 - 00;14;06;43
And I want to make the case here.

00;14;06;43 - 00;14;10;57
This is not a women's issue, just a
women's issue, not just a women's issue.

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This is an everyone issue
because there's absolutely

00;14;14;22 - 00;14;17;38
everyone needs access
to reproductive health care services.

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Respectful, comprehensive
reproductive health care services.

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We're talking as a woman.

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We're talking about our well-being,
our reproductive well-being,

00;14;27;28 - 00;14;31;39
our annual exams, our access
to birth control, our breast cancer

00;14;31;39 - 00;14;35;39
screenings, uterus screenings,
cervical cancer screenings.

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We're talking about if we decide to get
pregnant is our pregnancy very.

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Is our pregnancy healthy?
Do we have access to prenatal care?

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Do we have access
have access to good postnatal care?

00;14;45;23 - 00;14;49;49
If we choose to have an abortion
or we need an abortion in the event

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our pregnancies don't go well,
we have that decision.

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We can be working with our health care
provider.

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Who is involved with that?

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It's not just the woman,
it is our communities.

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It is our families.

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Two thirds of the people who choose to
have abortions also are already mothers.

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So we're talking about the kids
in the family, our partners.

00;15;10;34 - 00;15;13;34
You know, it's our everybody. You know.

00;15;13;43 - 00;15;16;16
So also, I just want to name that

00;15;16;16 - 00;15;20;08
people who identify
as male also need access to comprehensive

00;15;20;08 - 00;15;23;25
reproductive health care services,
STD screening.

00;15;23;25 - 00;15;27;08
There's going to be a new male
birth control pill or a birth control

00;15;27;26 - 00;15;29;04
shot or something.

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Men also can have a role to play

00;15;33;01 - 00;15;36;49
in nurturing children,
which is Riane's systemic perspective.

00;15;37;00 - 00;15;39;08
It's not just women's work.

00;15;39;08 - 00;15;42;47
We're talking about healthy families,
which leads to the frame

00;15;42;47 - 00;15;44;29
of reproductive justice.

00;15;44;29 - 00;15;49;06
Now, I love that frame of reproductive
justice, but we need to name what that is.

00;15;49;32 - 00;15;55;17
In the 90s, there was a group of black
women academics, a collective of black

00;15;55;17 - 00;15;59;07
women academics that were getting ready
to go to the UN conference for women,

00;15;59;41 - 00;16;02;18
and they were looking at all of these
white women

00;16;02;18 - 00;16;05;12
who were head of the reproductive
rights and health community,

00;16;05;12 - 00;16;08;12
who were talking about abortion and birth
control, abortion and birth control.

00;16;08;23 - 00;16;11;17
These black academic women
were saying like, hey,

00;16;11;17 - 00;16;14;17
ladies, we're not looking at this
in a holistic way.

00;16;14;51 - 00;16;17;15
We have to think about
reproductive justice

00;16;17;15 - 00;16;21;22
as all the things 
encompassing the health of our families.

00;16;21;49 - 00;16;25;05
So reproductive justice
not only includes health

00;16;25;08 - 00;16;28;30
care,
it includes our environmental justice.

00;16;28;30 - 00;16;33;28
It includes access to clean
water and education and food and,

00;16;33;39 - 00;16;37;47
living wage, a living minimum wage.

00;16;37;56 - 00;16;41;25
We're talking about a comprehensive
well-being frame.

00;16;41;57 - 00;16;46;41
And that's why I love it so much, because
it's so aligned with Riane's work.

00;16;47;17 - 00;16;50;53
And so these black women
academics have been consistently

00;16;50;53 - 00;16;56;04
they're gathered now in a collective
called Sister Song, out of Georgia.

00;16;56;05 - 00;17;00;18
Highly recommend that folks get to know
the frame because it's just so,

00;17;00;21 - 00;17;03;56
healthy and it's so partnership oriented

00;17;04;33 - 00;17;08;43
and it takes the conversation out of,
you know, white women saying abortion

00;17;08;43 - 00;17;10;20
and birth control all the time

00;17;10;20 - 00;17;13;51
to a how can we look at our communities
holistically?

00;17;14;21 - 00;17;16;33
And then, you know,
I choose to use the word

00;17;16;33 - 00;17;19;32
reproductive freedom
because it's a values based concept.

00;17;19;47 - 00;17;23;06
We know from Riane's work
that this is about domination and control.

00;17;23;06 - 00;17;27;22
And it is there is a frame like, you see,
we saw in the Republican

00;17;27;22 - 00;17;31;28
National Convention last night
and the Project 2025

00;17;31;28 - 00;17;36;27
900 page policy manifesto that I hope
all the listeners have already looked at.

00;17;36;46 - 00;17;39;19
It's a domination based policy.

00;17;39;19 - 00;17;42;16
It is women need to be

00;17;43;15 - 00;17;43;54
taking care of

00;17;43;54 - 00;17;46;54
children, having babies, at home,
not working.

00;17;46;54 - 00;17;51;04
It says it, you know,
it says it very explicitly that the man

00;17;51;04 - 00;17;55;57
is the head of the household,
you know, exactly domination mentality.

00;17;56;21 - 00;17;59;49
And so we have to be thinking
about alternative frames

00;18;00;06 - 00;18;03;24
and electing people
who understand that alternative frame.

00;18;03;52 - 00;18;06;36
And what's great
is that, you know, having been mentored

00;18;06;36 - 00;18;09;23
and having been colleagues
with Kamala Harris,

00;18;09;23 - 00;18;12;07
I know she understands
the reproductive justice frame

00;18;12;07 - 00;18;15;21
because she would always say,
oh, you want to talk about women's issues?

00;18;15;28 - 00;18;17;27
I'd love to talk about the economy.

00;18;17;27 - 00;18;18;28
And she would pivot

00;18;18;28 - 00;18;22;13
and talk about holistic well-being
and the allocation of resources.

00;18;22;33 - 00;18;24;04
And that's what we're talking about here.

00;18;24;04 - 00;18;27;04
You are listening
to the Power of Partnership podcast.

00;18;27;15 - 00;18;30;50
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00;18;56;13 - 00;18;59;08
And now back to today's episode.

00;18;59;25 - 00;19;04;13
So, you know, I want to go back
to the concept that 80% of the country

00;19;04;13 - 00;19;09;19
does not want their elected officials
making decisions about their pregnancies

00;19;09;42 - 00;19;13;04
and their their bodies
and their health care decisions.

00;19;13;34 - 00;19;16;25
So why did we get here?

00;19;16;25 - 00;19;19;25
And I just want to roll back to the 80s,

00;19;19;32 - 00;19;23;37
where Ronald Reagan,
who was governor of California,

00;19;24;02 - 00;19;27;01
a pro-choice governor
who signed into legislation

00;19;27;10 - 00;19;30;16
some expansion of abortion access
and expansion of birth control.

00;19;30;35 - 00;19;34;14
And don't forget Richard Nixon
was in charge of title ten that allocated

00;19;34;14 - 00;19;38;57
a bunch of money to birth control for,
socioeconomically impacted people.

00;19;39;38 - 00;19;42;12
These are like pro-choice Republican men

00;19;43;15 - 00;19;44;41
realized

00;19;44;41 - 00;19;46;52
Ronald Reagan realized
he could not get elected

00;19;46;52 - 00;19;49;45
without the evangelical anti-choice
minority.

00;19;49;45 - 00;19;52;45
And we're talking
like 18% of the electorate.

00;19;52;52 - 00;19;57;58
So it was a strategy, an invested strategy
in the 80s that we saw manifested over

00;19;57;58 - 00;20;02;51
time of investment in this
mobilizing this anti-choice minority,

00;20;03;18 - 00;20;06;48
extremely religious, anti-choice
people that were in dominator

00;20;06;48 - 00;20;11;20
oriented churches
that said, you know,

00;20;11;20 - 00;20;14;20
God first, man second, women
having babies.

00;20;14;46 - 00;20;17;44
who are truly anti-choice,

00;20;17;44 - 00;20;20;44
who truly subscribe
to this dominator model.

00;20;21;32 - 00;20;24;54
But the Republican Party
could not get elected.

00;20;24;54 - 00;20;29;22
They could not elect their leaders
without mobilizing this group of people.

00;20;29;54 - 00;20;33;57
And so, therefore,
an outside investment of infrastructure

00;20;33;57 - 00;20;38;12
had to be in place,
which was started in the 80s

00;20;39;03 - 00;20;42;05
doubled down in the 90s,
that included things

00;20;42;05 - 00;20;47;25
like the Federalist Society
that that was in every law school

00;20;47;43 - 00;20;50;43
that started to kind of support and mentor

00;20;50;54 - 00;20;53;41
law students, to be very conservative.

00;20;53;41 - 00;20;55;56
That would eventually be the place where,

00;20;57;08 - 00;20;58;16
Republican presidents would

00;20;58;16 - 00;21;01;20
pick their Supreme Court
justices and federal judges.

00;21;01;42 - 00;21;07;02
So the extremely conservative, a lot of
investment in state legislatures and,

00;21;07;52 - 00;21;12;00
and so many good tools for state
legislatures, anti-choice, conservative

00;21;12;00 - 00;21;15;34
state legislatures to be able
to pass legislation to chip away

00;21;15;34 - 00;21;18;59
at abortion rights that would continue
to mobilize their voters.

00;21;19;26 - 00;21;23;45
So this and as well as protest
infrastructure, I don't know if you,

00;21;24;10 - 00;21;27;28
many of your listeners
have probably been to women's

00;21;27;28 - 00;21;32;03
marches or protest marches where
they've seen like the same kind of awful

00;21;32;03 - 00;21;35;45
signs
that are all propaganda, about abortion.

00;21;35;45 - 00;21;37;07
And it's only a few people,

00;21;37;07 - 00;21;40;32
but it's like their stuff is big
and really gory and really scary.

00;21;40;56 - 00;21;44;20
And this is all, it’s the
same across the entire country.

00;21;44;46 - 00;21;49;10
And so therefore we see this overly
funded, what I call the overly funded

00;21;49;10 - 00;21;52;17
anti-choice minority over the past
20 years

00;21;52;44 - 00;21;57;25
really did
mobilize in the local and state offices.

00;21;57;43 - 00;22;01;04
And I will say the pro-choice group

00;22;02;00 - 00;22;04;58
didn't do any answering to this at all.

00;22;05;59 - 00;22;08;59
Which
we can start to see the dominator culture

00;22;09;13 - 00;22;13;40
of the Democratic Party,
which was, oh, that's a women's issue.

00;22;14;30 - 00;22;16;12
We're going to put put it over here.

00;22;16;12 - 00;22;18;07
We're going to call it a women's issue.

00;22;18;07 - 00;22;22;05
We're not going to say the word abortion,
and we're going to just keep it over here

00;22;22;17 - 00;22;25;30
with these pink colored women,

00;22;25;55 - 00;22;28;52
you know, like with their pink logos.

00;22;28;52 - 00;22;32;13
And I'm saying the Democratic Party
actually abdicated

00;22;32;13 - 00;22;35;13
the entire conversation
to these organizations.

00;22;35;13 - 00;22;37;05
They did a great job
like Planned Parenthood,

00;22;37;05 - 00;22;41;07
and NARAL, now Reproductive Freedom
for All, the Feminist Majority.

00;22;41;07 - 00;22;44;38
They did a great job with their resources,
mobilizing their people

00;22;44;58 - 00;22;47;57
that was what they had to do
with limited resources.

00;22;48;01 - 00;22;51;44
But it left this entire group
of humans,

00;22;52;31 - 00;22;56;14
men, people, you know, the Catholics
that believe in,

00;22;56;14 - 00;22;59;44
that believe in abortion,
you know, people that didn't

00;22;59;44 - 00;23;03;04
want their elected officials involved
in making their decisions.

00;23;03;35 - 00;23;06;35
It left all that conversation
on the table.

00;23;06;45 - 00;23;11;13
So you've got a minority of people
on one side that are being mobilized

00;23;11;13 - 00;23;14;52
to elect anti-choice
leaders, and you've got another side

00;23;14;52 - 00;23;17;52
that are abdicating the conversation
to a women's issue

00;23;18;17 - 00;23;22;49
and not owning it
as actually an integrative, healthy,

00;23;22;56 - 00;23;26;34
well being, partnership oriented policy

00;23;26;41 - 00;23;28;47
to have freedom
to make your own decisions,

00;23;28;47 - 00;23;30;06
to take care of the children

00;23;30;06 - 00;23;34;14
that you have to decide
what your family should look like.

00;23;34;54 - 00;23;37;35
And it's where we're at now.

00;23;37;35 - 00;23;41;09
So what do you think, Heidi,
are the most important

00;23;41;09 - 00;23;46;51
next steps for all of us
to take in our work to regain

00;23;46;51 - 00;23;51;04
and strengthen
reproductive freedom for all Americans.

00;23;51;36 - 00;23;53;46
Well, it's all up, in my opinion.

00;23;55;00 - 00;23;58;28
And again, with Riane's guidance
and mentorship

00;23;58;28 - 00;24;01;55
and frame, I'm always looking for
those foundational solutions.

00;24;02;49 - 00;24;05;35
And it's change the laws
by changing the lawmakers.

00;24;05;35 - 00;24;07;59
So let's get in there and vote.

00;24;08;03 - 00;24;09;13
This is real.

00;24;09;13 - 00;24;11;31
It's real,
and it requires political action

00;24;11;31 - 00;24;14;31
now, because we didn't answer 30 years

00;24;14;38 - 00;24;17;38
of this overly funded anti-choice
minority.

00;24;17;45 - 00;24;19;21
But we can fix it now.

00;24;19;21 - 00;24;23;25
It's going to be I think it'll take
about ten years for it to get better.

00;24;23;25 - 00;24;26;32
There's going to be a lot of suffering,
a ton of suffering.

00;24;27;42 - 00;24;29;00
It's already happening

00;24;29;00 - 00;24;31;58
but it is so absurd and goes

00;24;31;58 - 00;24;37;00
totally against our feeling
of being independent human entities in the

00;24;37;07 - 00;24;42;36
in the United States of America,
with all its complexity, that now

00;24;42;36 - 00;24;46;35
we realize it’s impacting us directly
and we're going to fight against it.

00;24;46;55 - 00;24;50;30
So it is a political
it is a it is a political strategy

00;24;50;31 - 00;24;51;59
it really is.

00;24;51;59 - 00;24;55;13
So electing candidates
who support the value

00;24;55;28 - 00;24;59;27
of reproductive freedom,
and give to your city council members

00;24;59;45 - 00;25;04;06
who are going to pass,
like state or city oriented Grace Act laws

00;25;04;06 - 00;25;08;56
that are going to protect your city
and wherever you are from, anti-choice

00;25;09;44 - 00;25;12;51
pressure coming from like,
whatever happens at the national election.

00;25;13;16 - 00;25;17;35
So, you know, focus on state legislatures,
get to know your state,

00;25;17;44 - 00;25;21;29
like your state representatives,
these are people that are elected by

00;25;21;29 - 00;25;25;21
like very low numbers of votes,
and they're very accessible to you.

00;25;25;21 - 00;25;26;31
They're in your community.

00;25;26;31 - 00;25;29;43
So go to your state capitol,
knock on the door and be like,

00;25;29;43 - 00;25;34;13
I want to talk to you about what I think
because they will actually engage with you.

00;25;34;38 - 00;25;37;06
They really will.
That's what's very important.

00;25;37;06 - 00;25;39;55
So it's like a tiny,
tiny little bit of research.

00;25;39;55 - 00;25;40;25
Now, of course

00;25;40;25 - 00;25;42;04
we've done that all for you
at Vote Pro-Choice

00;25;42;04 - 00;25;45;35
so you can figure out who your elected
officials are or who's on the ballot.

00;25;45;35 - 00;25;48;26
And we'll tell you, like, who's good
and who's not good.

00;25;48;26 - 00;25;50;45
But, Call them up, write a note.

00;25;50;45 - 00;25;55;08
You know, that is absolutely important
and it's worth every single bit of energy

00;25;55;27 - 00;25;56;03
right now.

00;25;57;03 - 00;26;00;26
To let our elected
officials know that we are watching.

00;26;00;26 - 00;26;03;26
We're engaged,
and they better be voting for our freedom.

00;26;03;58 - 00;26;07;16
But like, engaging at that level
will transform everything.

00;26;07;27 - 00;26;11;24
And also, you know, side note,
if you feel like it, run for office.

00;26;11;33 - 00;26;14;33
It's not like at the state
and local level, not that hard.

00;26;14;53 - 00;26;17;55
You know, you can get elected
to your state legislature with like a

00;26;18;06 - 00;26;21;11
in some states for like a $2,500,

00;26;21;43 - 00;26;24;37
budget and,
you know, a couple thousand votes.

00;26;24;37 - 00;26;26;21
So we'll help you.

00;26;26;21 - 00;26;29;18
So let me just make sure I got that.

00;26;29;18 - 00;26;35;21
Folks who are interested
in running for a local seat of any type,

00;26;35;34 - 00;26;39;44
they can come to Vote Pro-Choice and
get guidance on how to start that journey.

00;26;40;09 - 00;26;43;07
Vote Pro-Choice is very much it's
more oriented toward

00;26;43;07 - 00;26;44;39
if you've already decided to run.

00;26;44;39 - 00;26;48;15
So if you've decided to run
we’ll help you in that process.

00;26;48;33 - 00;26;51;29
But I do recommend now this is for women.

00;26;51;29 - 00;26;52;42
It's Emerge.

00;26;52;42 - 00;26;57;05
Emerge America focuses on democratic women.

00;26;57;21 - 00;27;00;16
It's a very powerful training program.

00;27;00;16 - 00;27;03;21
I think they're in 23 states now.

00;27;03;59 - 00;27;08;00
So probably in a state close to you, 
they also have online training

00;27;08;00 - 00;27;11;00
and an incredible network
that really will, be huh

00;27;11;01 - 00;27;12;40
maybe I want to run someday.

00;27;12;40 - 00;27;14;01
And it starts from there.

00;27;14;01 - 00;27;16;20
So really, really great.

00;27;16;20 - 00;27;22;46
Also Vote, Run, Lead, an excellent
national platform that is focused

00;27;22;46 - 00;27;26;24
on state and local offices, will train you
wherever you are.

00;27;26;45 - 00;27;30;30
And they have an incredible resource,
incredible resources.

00;27;30;46 - 00;27;33;59
And, of course, Emily's List
also has a local

00;27;33;59 - 00;27;38;27
and state network, but they also are
similar to Vote Pro-Choice is they’ll

00;27;38;27 - 00;27;41;03
help you after you've decided
you already want to run.

00;27;41;03 - 00;27;43;27
So those are great. They're all for women.

00;27;43;27 - 00;27;49;00
We love our pro-choice boys and we love,
men who understand the partnership model.

00;27;49;00 - 00;27;52;00
So Vote Pro-Choice
does support men for sure.

00;27;52;12 - 00;27;56;45
And some of our resources
we can help refer you to places

00;27;56;45 - 00;28;00;50
like Men4Choice and,
the National Democratic Training

00;28;02;17 - 00;28;04;23
Committee, that has a lot of

00;28;04;23 - 00;28;08;23
resources for non male
identifying candidates.

00;28;08;42 - 00;28;13;12
Vote Pro-Choice also has a very strong
transgender candidate program.

00;28;13;50 - 00;28;18;30
So we can also help help get resources
to help direct you to resources

00;28;18;30 - 00;28;22;06
if you identify, as non-binary,
transgender.

00;28;22;28 - 00;28;25;40
There are it's not there's not enough

00;28;26;03 - 00;28;28;40
for the state and local down ballot work.

00;28;28;40 - 00;28;31;19
But we can we can do what we can.

00;28;31;19 - 00;28;34;54
I also will put a shout out
to our colleagues

00;28;34;54 - 00;28;37;59
at Run For Something,
which is focused on young people.

00;28;38;10 - 00;28;38;48
They do.

00;28;38;48 - 00;28;42;50
They have a great infrastructure
for running for office as well.

00;28;43;23 - 00;28;46;36
Again, Vote Pro-Choice is going to give
you comprehensive voter support

00;28;47;19 - 00;28;50;19
and really help
you do values based voting.

00;28;50;37 - 00;28;54;02
those resources are there for you
in the form of the National Voter Guide.

00;28;54;29 - 00;29;00;06
So when it's time for you to go to the
polls, starting early voting in September.

00;29;00;13 - 00;29;03;13
So I assume when this podcast comes out,
you're all going to be voting

00;29;03;13 - 00;29;04;16
early voting already.

00;29;06;07 - 00;29;08;38
We'll
have resources up until Election Day.

00;29;08;38 - 00;29;14;09
So, you can get your national voter
guide by going to voteprochoice.us

00;29;14;09 - 00;29;14;59
Great.

00;29;14;59 - 00;29;17;52
So, Heidi,
I'm not familiar with that term

00;29;17;52 - 00;29;19;38
Grace Act laws.

00;29;19;38 - 00;29;22;11
Can you give some examples of what
Grace Act Laws are?

00;29;22;11 - 00;29;22;47
Oh, yeah.

00;29;22;47 - 00;29;27;05
Yes. So

00;29;28;19 - 00;29;31;35
some bold local elected pro-choice

00;29;31;35 - 00;29;36;12
champions in Texas, South Carolina,

00;29;37;15 - 00;29;40;13
Idaho, I think, developed a

00;29;40;13 - 00;29;45;06
something called the Grace Act,
and it's a city council based legislation.

00;29;46;47 - 00;29;49;47
And I think San Antonio did a ballot
initiative for this, too,

00;29;50;15 - 00;29;54;18
which actually creates a little bubble
over your city and says,

00;29;54;38 - 00;29;59;00
okay, fine,
state legislature with a abortion ban.

00;29;59;38 - 00;30;02;38
So we are going to create,

00;30;02;39 - 00;30;07;35
a policy frame around our city that says
we don't believe in the abortion ban,

00;30;07;58 - 00;30;12;22
and we are going to divert all resources
away from any kind of

00;30;12;22 - 00;30;17;35
criminal investigation or charging
of anyone seeking abortion care.

00;30;18;02 - 00;30;21;21
So it makes sure that
the police departments are not funded

00;30;21;21 - 00;30;24;50
for investigation of miscarriages.

00;30;25;19 - 00;30;27;35
It is no incarceration

00;30;27;35 - 00;30;33;12
money goes into like sheriffs and jails
to be able to incarcerate anyone for,

00;30;33;15 - 00;30;36;26
any kind of pregnancy related decisions.

00;30;36;58 - 00;30;40;18
It deviates the budget
from district attorney's offices

00;30;40;18 - 00;30;45;38
from charging and also, creates
like abortion fund access.

00;30;45;58 - 00;30;50;49
So, some city money can go into helping
folks travel if necessary.

00;30;51;23 - 00;30;56;20
So it's like a, it's kind of a stopgap
for doing what you can where you are.

00;30;56;40 - 00;30;57;05
Of course,

00;30;57;05 - 00;31;01;08
states are suing cities
that are doing this, but it's worth it.

00;31;01;28 - 00;31;03;23
You know, we have to put up the walls.

00;31;03;23 - 00;31;05;16
And that's what we're doing in
San Francisco.

00;31;05;16 - 00;31;09;09
We're doing a charter amendment, a ballot
initiative to make to really like,

00;31;09;10 - 00;31;13;02
make sure that we are clear
that we have infrastructure in place, that

00;31;13;02 - 00;31;17;33
even if there's a national abortion ban,
even if the project 2025

00;31;17;48 - 00;31;21;16
policies are implemented,
which include things like banning birth

00;31;21;16 - 00;31;25;05
control, reigniting the Comstock Act,
which does ban birth control,

00;31;27;14 - 00;31;29;11
a national abortion ban, a pregnancy

00;31;29;11 - 00;31;33;43
tracking database, which is the creepiest of
all, that we are not sharing data.

00;31;33;43 - 00;31;35;29
We will not be investigating any of it.

00;31;35;29 - 00;31;38;07
We will not be allowing anybody to come
get

00;31;38;07 - 00;31;42;22
come get anyone inside of San
Francisco city limits,

00;31;43;11 - 00;31;45;35
who wants to exercise
their reproductive freedom.

00;31;45;35 - 00;31;49;18
We also did a really cool thing,
which we rezoned the entire city

00;31;49;18 - 00;31;52;12
to allow for health
care clinics and abortion access.

00;31;52;12 - 00;31;56;42
So across the country, in different 
cities, there's been situations

00;31;56;42 - 00;32;01;51
like in Framingham, Massachusetts,
they used water ordinances to prevent

00;32;01;51 - 00;32;06;46
health care clinic and abortion clinic
from being built using water ordinances.

00;32;06;46 - 00;32;09;46
And these elected commissioners
were anti-choice commissioners.

00;32;10;02 - 00;32;14;57
And so it's like just making sure
that the zoning laws are also, allowing

00;32;14;57 - 00;32;20;16
for distribution of birth control and help
health care and abortion services

00;32;20;16 - 00;32;23;46
if, like a Planned Parenthood
or independent clinic has to expand

00;32;24;32 - 00;32;28;37
and that's really important.  I would refer
anyone who's interested in these policy

00;32;28;37 - 00;32;31;37
frames to go to the National Institute
for Reproductive Health

00;32;31;53 - 00;32;35;48
Local Repro Index, it's all partnership
based.

00;32;35;48 - 00;32;39;51
It's like Riane’s stuff,
Riane’s frame operationalized,

00;32;40;25 - 00;32;43;59
where it looks at it's
exactly the work that we did together

00;32;43;59 - 00;32;45;38
to what we did in San Francisco,

00;32;45;38 - 00;32;49;15
all of the policies
that need to be in place to make a city

00;32;49;24 - 00;32;53;23
a thriving place to support reproductive
justice and reproductive freedom.

00;32;53;23 - 00;32;57;55
And it's a great it's a great list
of things that your city council can do.

00;32;58;11 - 00;33;00;28
Your county government can do.

00;33;00;28 - 00;33;02;29
And to some extent,
your state legislatures.

00;33;03;32 - 00;33;03;57
Beautiful.

00;33;03;57 - 00;33;05;27
Thank you so much.

00;33;05;27 - 00;33;08;49
I know, Heidi, that you've worked closely
with Kamala Harris.

00;33;09;10 - 00;33;13;22
Can you share more about Vice
President Harris's,

00;33;13;44 - 00;33;17;09
how her work reflects partnerism?

00;33;19;08 - 00;33;21;55
I'm so glad you asked that.

00;33;21;55 - 00;33;24;55
Kamala's Kamala, our vice president.

00;33;25;38 - 00;33;29;23
Is definitely a partnership leader.

00;33;29;34 - 00;33;31;27
No doubt about it.

00;33;31;27 - 00;33;35;28
I started working with her in 2004 when
she was running for district attorney.

00;33;35;28 - 00;33;38;28
It was an impossible race,
and all the women got involved,

00;33;38;48 - 00;33;42;45
and she was always looking for community
well-being

00;33;43;13 - 00;33;48;29
opportunities and policies
in her role as a prosecutor.

00;33;48;41 - 00;33;53;22
And it was so innovative, like, hey,
there's recidivism issue.

00;33;53;24 - 00;33;54;35
What do we need to be doing?

00;33;54;35 - 00;33;57;35
We need to get these kids jobs,
you know, like

00;33;57;37 - 00;34;00;18
like we need to get these kids in school.

00;34;00;18 - 00;34;03;44
It was all a partnership oriented frame.

00;34;03;44 - 00;34;06;43
She really was focused
on the well-being of people.

00;34;06;54 - 00;34;08;33
You know, she was like, why

00;34;08;33 - 00;34;13;51
she decided to go into her job
in a district attorney's office

00;34;13;51 - 00;34;18;23
as a prosecutor, her family,
which I hope you all know her story.

00;34;18;23 - 00;34;22;35
She's the daughter of immigrants
an Indian, a scientist from India

00;34;23;03 - 00;34;25;42
and a economist from Jamaica.

00;34;25;42 - 00;34;28;50
Brilliant academic people,

00;34;28;50 - 00;34;33;02
who she was raised in Oakland
with a single mother and her sister,

00;34;33;26 - 00;34;36;36
and her mother was a cancer researcher
and a scientist.

00;34;36;51 - 00;34;38;51
So constantly looking at,

00;34;40;17 - 00;34;42;41
her lived experience was like

00;34;42;41 - 00;34;47;00
a partnership
idea of like a strong mother scientist

00;34;47;00 - 00;34;50;40
constantly looking for solutions
to society's problems.

00;34;50;56 - 00;34;53;18
And she focused her daughters
into service.

00;34;53;18 - 00;34;56;18
And her sister went to go run the ACLU.

00;34;56;18 - 00;34;59;50
And Kamala became a prosecutor,
which was an issue with the family.

00;34;59;59 - 00;35;01;08
But she realized that

00;35;01;08 - 00;35;04;38
she wanted to be inside the system,
making decisions about care.

00;35;05;08 - 00;35;09;26
And I will say
her impact on me was profound

00;35;09;27 - 00;35;15;29
because I saw that I was like,
okay, this is a oh, a woman of color, a

00;35;15;29 - 00;35;21;23
black, and East Asian woman of color
who was raised by a strong mother.

00;35;21;54 - 00;35;24;48
Not in a dominator culture.

00;35;24;48 - 00;35;29;39
Grew up in Oakland, California, knew
the allocation of resources was not right.

00;35;30;06 - 00;35;32;46
Knew that the incerceral

00;35;32;46 - 00;35;35;46
network was like not serving people.

00;35;35;52 - 00;35;39;45
So she went in where she could make
decisions that were different.

00;35;40;21 - 00;35;43;49
And as district attorney,
she did that and reduced recidivism.

00;35;43;49 - 00;35;48;09
Brought in services,
developed apprenticeship programs

00;35;48;23 - 00;35;52;57
like incredibly brilliant frame,
and it was very innovative at the time.

00;35;52;57 - 00;35;55;49
If you think about it,
she was 35 years old.

00;35;55;49 - 00;35;57;12
It was 2004.

00;35;57;12 - 00;35;59;14
There were nobody that looked at her

00;35;59;14 - 00;36;02;29
look like her
in district attorney's offices anywhere.

00;36;02;59 - 00;36;06;26
And then she really opened the door
for that perspective.

00;36;06;48 - 00;36;10;45
Her book, Smart on Crime, is a partnership
book for sure.

00;36;11;04 - 00;36;15;54
But then she became attorney general
and then senator and then.

00;36;15;54 - 00;36;17;07
Oh, my gosh, she's the vice president.

00;36;17;07 - 00;36;19;28
United States and our number one,

00;36;21;03 - 00;36;23;14
advocate around reproductive freedom

00;36;23;14 - 00;36;27;21
and she's talking about reproductive
freedom and justice, exactly

00;36;27;21 - 00;36;30;06
like all of this
through a partnership lens.

00;36;30;20 - 00;36;34;23
So I do want to let our listeners know
that I will be including links

00;36;34;23 - 00;36;37;34
to all of the resources
that we've talked about today.

00;36;38;20 - 00;36;42;11
In the show notes
for the episode, along with, of course,

00;36;42;11 - 00;36;46;13
the link to the center for Partnership
Systems, where you can always access

00;36;46;20 - 00;36;52;23
resources related to Riane Eisler’s
Domination-Partnership continuum and,

00;36;52;26 - 00;36;56;42
where you can also join the Center
for Partnership Systems

00;36;56;42 - 00;37;01;05
email list
to stay up to date on our current events.

00;37;01;58 - 00;37;05;25
Heidi,
I wonder if you have some closing words

00;37;05;25 - 00;37;08;25
that you would like to share
with our listeners and viewers.

00;37;09;03 - 00;37;11;44
I appreciate all of Riane's frames.

00;37;11;44 - 00;37;14;44
They're very important
for us to understand

00;37;15;22 - 00;37;17;50
where we live, how we live,
and the choices that we're making.

00;37;17;50 - 00;37;20;19
No matter where you are in the world.

00;37;21;52 - 00;37;23;37
There is a better way.

00;37;23;37 - 00;37;26;17
And I really appreciate her

00;37;26;17 - 00;37;29;06

giving us a future that we can look into,

00;37;29;06 - 00;37;32;40
that we can see into one
that's around

00;37;32;40 - 00;37;36;44
healthy allocation
of resources, reverence for our planet.

00;37;38;02 - 00;37;42;01
For all the despair we might feel around
climate change and politics

00;37;42;01 - 00;37;45;38
and our own personal interaction

00;37;45;54 - 00;37;48;54
with the systems of power.

00;37;50;22 - 00;37;53;11
What the what
the domination and partnership

00;37;53;11 - 00;37;58;37
model says
is that we can create significant change

00;37;59;36 - 00;38;02;40
by doing what we can
where we are in our communities.

00;38;03;18 - 00;38;07;01
And I do think that that local engagement

00;38;07;35 - 00;38;10;06
is what will change everything.

00;38;10;06 - 00;38;12;35
You don't have to embrace

00;38;12;35 - 00;38;16;04
every single nuance of everything
and like, fix it all at one time.

00;38;16;36 - 00;38;20;53
But understanding that our power comes
from our ability to make free choices,

00;38;21;24 - 00;38;25;07
our ability to orient ourselves
in dominator cultures or situations

00;38;25;34 - 00;38;28;34
and to choose to go for well-being

00;38;28;34 - 00;38;33;43
or choose to go for, more,
more allocation,

00;38;33;52 - 00;38;38;25
to share our resources,
to be take little steps

00;38;38;43 - 00;38;43;58
that will be helpful in, you know, our own
like recycling and climate work.

00;38;44;07 - 00;38;46;07
Like do it, do that.

00;38;46;07 - 00;38;49;23
Every little bit helps.
Now, again I'm going to make a plug

00;38;50;26 - 00;38;51;01
for at this

00;38;51;01 - 00;38;54;47
time we have to be very involved
in the practice of democracy.

00;38;55;05 - 00;38;56;39
It's ugly business.

00;38;56;39 - 00;38;59;11
It's like really ugly business right now.

00;38;59;11 - 00;39;03;02
But we must not let it keep us down.

00;39;03;15 - 00;39;04;23
We can't.

00;39;04;23 - 00;39;08;40
We have to realize like a dominator
culture is at play,

00;39;09;07 - 00;39;11;36
power is being reallocated.

00;39;11;36 - 00;39;13;53
It's not going to go down without a fight.

00;39;13;53 - 00;39;15;07
But we must engage.

00;39;15;07 - 00;39;17;22
We cannot be disempowered by this.

00;39;17;22 - 00;39;20;14
So that is what I hope that people

00;39;20;14 - 00;39;24;42
will take away from this and that there,
that we can be all grateful

00;39;24;42 - 00;39;27;42
for the orienting nature
of Riane’s systems.

00;39;28;45 - 00;39;31;38
Thank you so much again, Heidi,
for joining us today.

00;39;31;38 - 00;39;33;52
It's been really a pleasure
to talk with you.

00;39;33;52 - 00;39;35;25
Thank you.