Reproductive Freedom for All through Partnerism with Heidi Sieck

 In a time when reproductive rights are being rolled back across the U.S., how can we move from fear, division, and control toward freedom, justice, and care for all? In this episode of The Power of Partnership Podcast, Vote Pro Choice co-founder Heidi Sieck shares how applying Riane Eisler’s partnership model can transform both the political and cultural landscape. She traces the systemic roots of today’s reproductive injustices, reveals why decades of underinvestment have left the majority unrepresented, and explains why local engagement is the key to long-term change. From changing laws to changing lawmakers, Heidi offers a hopeful vision for a future where every person can make decisions about their own body and life with dignity, equity, and compassion—and where reproductive justice is a reality for all. 

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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 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/)

center@partnershipway.org

Center for Partnership "Join Us" email link  

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

Transcript

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Welcome
to the Power of Partnership podcast.

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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

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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,

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was the

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light bulb that went off for me
in grad school, which is like

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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.

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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

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through their values based.

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And we then we realized we needed to be

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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all the Kamala’s in the world,
you know, who are going to be able

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to start their careers going up against,

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like the way she started was going up
against a white male incumbent,

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district attorney.

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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.

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And we so Vote

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Pro-Choice has been doing that since 2015

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all across the country

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in speaking about the issue
of reproductive justice,

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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

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what reproductive
justice issues really encompass?

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

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Okay.

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

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What happened?

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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.

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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.

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And I want to make the case here.

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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,

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our annual exams, our access
to birth control, our breast cancer

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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?

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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.

00;15;29;04 - 00;15;33;01
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;30;50 - 00;18;33;18
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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.