This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] The Sparks File podcast may contain profanity and other adult content.

[0:04] Please use your discretion.

[0:10] Laura Camien: When I bump into something that inspires me, I jump into my spark files.

[0:14] I jump into my spark files to be something that I wanna make or how I wanna be.

[0:23] I pump it in my spark spa.

[0:26] Spark!

[0:28] I jump into my spark slide.

[0:32] Let's open up the spark files.

[0:37] Welcome to The Spark File, where we believe that everyone is creative, but smart creative people don't go it alone.

[0:43] I'm Laura Camien.

[0:44] And I'm Susan Blackwell, and we are creativity coaches who help people fear less, create more, and bring their creative visions to life.

[0:52] If you are an OG member of The Spark File community, welcome back, Sparkler.

[0:57] If you're joining us for the first time, waha ha hell.

[1:00] Welcome, friends.

[1:02] Welcome.

[1:03] Know that just by listening to this podcast, you are joining a warm and wonderful clan of creatives.

[1:09] Yes, but you may be asking yourself, what exactly is a spark file?

[1:12] A spark file is a place where you consistently collect all your inspirations and fascinations.

[1:18] If you're like us and you're making stuff all the time, or you want to be making stuff all the time, you know, if you're not careful, your campfire of creativity can flicker out.

[1:26] But don't despair, we're collecting kindling in the form of fresh ideas, images, and inspiration that spark creativity and pique curiosity to light a fire under our collective asses to make things.

[1:40] Woo like this podcast.

[1:42] Or a creative way to ensure that people get the reproductive care they need.

[1:48] Ooh!

[1:49] Every episode, we're gonna reach into our spark files and exchange some sparks.

[1:54] And from time to time, we're gonna talk to some folks who spark us too.

[1:57] That means, friends, we have more sparks than we can possibly use in this lifetime.

[2:02] So if something lights you up, we encourage you to take that thing and make something of it.

[2:07] Without further ado, Laura Camien, let's open up the spark.

[2:16] Susan Blackwell: I like your witchy.

[2:19] How are you doing over there, baby K Yelms?

[2:22] Laura Camien: I'm doing good. You know, I just I feel I just got I have nothing to complain about.

[2:27] I feel that life is good.

[2:30] Susan Blackwell: That's good.

[2:32] Yeah, everything's good.

[2:33] I'm grateful in the life hood.

[2:35] Laura Camien: Well, Cam's, I've got a big spark for you today.

[2:38] So I feel like I should dig right into it.

[2:40] Susan Blackwell: Okay, okay.

[2:41] I'm ready for it.

[2:42] I'm excited.

[2:43] I will tell you, I have a few preambles on this spark.

[2:47] Laura Camien: Okay.

[2:47] Susan Blackwell: This spark is so vast that it could have gone in so many different directions.

[2:53] And I had there's things that I will brush that are giant sparks that could be standalone episodes of this podcast.

[3:03] But in order to right-size it for this, I just so there's lots of stuff we're not going to cover.

[3:10] Laura Camien: Yeah, I hear that.

[3:11] It's tough sometimes when you're like we could have a whole podcast season or multiple seasons about just one part of it.

[3:19] Susan Blackwell: I hear it.

[3:19] Okay.

[3:20] I think I'm really feeling it because this also feels super important.

[3:23] Laura Camien: Yes.

[3:24] Susan Blackwell: It feels important to me, and so I want to honor it.

[3:27] And at the same time, I cannot cover it all within a single spark.

[3:32] So I'll I'm gonna do my best.

[3:34] Laura Camien: Do our best.

[3:34] Susan Blackwell: And just take a little piece of the spark pie.

[3:37] And maybe just spark us enough to go do our own homework.

[3:42] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[3:42] Susan Blackwell: Research more.

[3:44] Listen, I'm not here to spoon feed you.

[3:46] You have to do some work too.

[3:48] So we're gonna get into it today, listeners.

[3:51] And I want you to know you should do what you need to do to take care of yourself.

[3:56] Listen to that content warning at the top of each episode, but especially today.

[4:01] I also want to be clear that we are not lawyers, we are not medical practitioners, and what we discussed today should not be construed as legal or medical advice.

[4:10] Laura Camien: What is this spark?

[4:12] Susan Blackwell: Wow.

[4:13] So I just want to just in case anyone's confusing us with medical doctors.

[4:18] Listen, listen, we're getting into it.

[4:21] And I just want to start off just right from the jump.

[4:24] I want to begin by telling you all.

[4:26] Hi, sparklers.

[4:27] Some of you were meeting for the first time.

[4:29] It's nice to meet you.

[4:30] Hi, welcome.

[4:31] About 25 years ago, I had an abortion.

[4:33] Laura Camien: I had let's get into it.

[4:36] Susan Blackwell: I had you went for it.

[4:38] Yeah, I'm going for it.

[4:39] It was a safe, healthy abortion, and I had an abortion because I got pregnant and I didn't want to be pregnant.

[4:48] Laura Camien: That's reason enough.

[4:49] Susan Blackwell: There you go.

[4:50] I was in a good relationship and I did discuss it with my partner, but I will be clear with you that the choice was mine and I made it.

[4:59] And then once I made that choice, I made an appointment at a clinic, and within two weeks of becoming pregnant, I terminated that pregnancy.

[5:07] Wow.

[5:08] And let me tell you this, and I mean this from the bottom of my bottom.

[5:13] There was no drama, there was no trauma.

[5:16] I personally do not believe that what I did was a sin.

[5:21] So I experienced zero guilt and there was no moral dilemma.

[5:26] I was awake for the procedure with a local anesthesia, which is a little bit unusual, but I hadn't registered the fact that you weren't supposed to eat before.

[5:38] And so I had like a light breakfast and I got there and like they were like, have you had anything to eat?

[5:42] And I was like, Yeah, it's some strawberries.

[5:43] They were like, We're going local.

[5:46] You're on the local train.

[5:48] So I was awake for all of it.

[5:50] So I was I heard it all.

[5:52] I talked with my, you know, talked with the doctor and the nurses throughout it.

[5:57] And it was very brief.

[6:01] And I while I was super crampy the day of the procedure, which was on a Saturday, I was like back on my feet by Monday in the mix.

[6:12] And I have to tell you, I am so grateful that I lived in a time and a place where all of that was available to me.

[6:19] And what a privilege for like 27 different reasons.

[6:23] Laura Camien: Oh my God.

[6:26] Yeah.

[6:26] Susan Blackwell: Thank you for sharing that story with all of us.

[6:31] And I just feel really grateful that you were able to get a safe and clean and affordable, uh, the health care that you needed.

[6:44] Yeah you got to make the decision that you were with a partner who was um understanding of that, that there was no drama.

[6:51] Susan Blackwell: Yep.

[6:51] Um, I mean no fear.

[6:53] There was no fear.

[6:54] Laura Camien: Wow.

[6:56] Susan Blackwell: Which is yeah, what a privilege, right?

[6:59] Laura Camien: So what a privilege.

[7:00] But I've got to tell you, Laura Camien, with the overturning of Roe versus Wade back in June of 2022, there are many people in the United States who do not have access to this type of health care.

[7:12] Laura Camien: That's right.

[7:12] Susan Blackwell: And I really do believe abortion is simply health care.

[7:16] Laura Camien: Word.

[7:17] Susan Blackwell: So when Roe was overturned, I became oh my God, upset, angry, fearful, discouraged, and I'm sure I wasn't alone.

[7:26] Laura Camien: No, you were not.

[7:28] Susan Blackwell: And those fears and feelings were not unfounded.

[7:31] According to a New Yorker article, great article by Stefania Taladrid, since late June, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade, Texas, and 13 other states effectively banned abortion, and more were sure to follow.

[7:47] In some of the states, laws that originated as far back as the 19th century.

[7:52] Laura Camien: You know when that was, Susan Blackwell?

[7:55] The 1800s.

[7:56] Susan Blackwell: Laws as far back as the 1800s were restored.

[8:00] Providing the tools for an abortion in Texas has become a felony that could lead you to years in prison, and a fellow citizen could sue and collect upwards of $10,000 for every abortion prosecuted.

[8:13] So Stefania Taladrid is focused on Texas in that passage for reasons I'll explain in a moment.

[8:19] But as we know, this is much more widespread.

[8:22] More and more U.S. states are introducing laws that severely restrict abortions.

[8:26] Mississippi, Ohio, Georgia have already passed bills banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat has been detected.

[8:33] Alabama became the first state in decades to make abortion a crime in almost every case, and doctors who perform an abortion could face 99 years in prison.

[8:44] This is a serious time.

[8:46] That not only people will be deprived of access to safe reproductive health care, but you could be prosecuted and incarcerated and fined if you seek an abortion, have an abortion, provide an abortion, or a bet an abortion.

[9:02] And in some states, your fellow citizens are incentivized to turn you in.

[9:07] Laura Camien: That is that's unfucking believable to me.

[9:12] Susan Blackwell: It's that shit.

[9:14] So all of this was getting very overwhelmingly scary.

[9:18] And then I bumped into stories about people, mostly women from the past and the present who are using their creativity to provide safe abortions.

[9:28] So that's my spark for today, friends.

[9:31] Creativity and abortion rights activism.

[9:34] And if you ever wondered what it sounds like when Susan gets angry, this is what it sounds like.

[9:40] Laura Camien: This is what her voice sounds like when she's angry.

[9:44] Susan Blackwell: You're gonna hear it today.

[9:45] So the first story that I bumped into was on a podcast called Science versus.

[10:30] Carol Downer.

[10:32] So a couple years later, after remarrying, Carol discovered the feminist movement.

[10:37] She was sort of like, wait, what's that meeting?

[10:39] What's happening?

[10:40] And she went and she attended this meeting, and it's like her world changed.

[10:44] And as an extension of that, she began observing a doctor who was providing safe, illegal abortions to women during that time.

[10:55] And slowly, it almost was like she was um first an observer.

[10:59] Uh-huh.

[11:00] She was an intern.

[11:02] And she and then she started to learn how to provide safe abortions.

[11:06] Wow.

[11:06] And then she started doing a few abortions herself.

[11:10] And she wanted to recruit other women to do them too.

[11:14] So in the early 70s, she placed a sort of a vague ad in a local feminist newspaper in California.

[11:20] And she invited women to come to this local bookstore in Los Angeles for a meeting on women's issues.

[11:28] And about 30 women showed up, and Carol starts describing to them how safe abortions work and how she is interested in finding a way to provide safe abortions to other women.

[11:41] And Carol said the women were aghast.

[11:45] They were upset, like you could hear a pin drop, white as a sheet.

[11:49] Now you have to remember abortion was illegal at the time, and these women probably associated abortion with sort of shady, dangerous back alley situations.

[11:59] Laura Camien: Right, right.

[12:00] Susan Blackwell: So if that's your only reference for abortion, I think it could it might be hard to imagine that abortion could be safe and it could be easy.

[12:08] Right.

[12:08] And also they had never lived in a time when it was not illegal.

[12:12] Laura Camien: Correct.

[12:13] Susan Blackwell: So Carol gets this idea spontaneously at this meeting.

[12:17] You have to hear her voice.

[12:18] She, this is the voice, the voice telling the story is this very, it's this like very sweet but strong 80-year old woman.

[12:25] So Carol in the 70s gets this idea in the middle of this meeting, and she said, even though she was absolutely petrified, she was going to show them the female anatomy.

[12:35] And so she jumps up on this desk in this bookstore, she lays back, pulls up her dress, pulls down her panties, inserts a speculum into her own vagina and shows these women who are gathered something that most of them had never seen before the inner workings of the female reproductive system.

[12:54] Susan Blackwell: They must have flipped out.

[12:57] Laura Camien: I have to tell you, the way Carol describes it in this interview on Science Versus, she was so scared.

[13:04] Laura Camien: And she said it was a risk that she didn't know how the women would react.

[13:09] Laura Camien: Like, would they think that she was just some sort of exhibitionist?

[13:13] Laura Camien: And but what happened was in an instant, she demystified all of it for the women who were gathered.

[13:22] Susan Blackwell: Wow.

[13:23] Laura Camien: She showed some of these people for the first time what the inside of, you know, a version of what their own female bodies look like.

[13:33] Susan Blackwell: It's a revolutionary act to do something like that.

[13:37] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[13:38] Susan Blackwell: When you know, women are living through a time where like they have not seen photographs of other women's bodies.

[13:45] Laura Camien: That's right.

[13:45] Susan Blackwell: They have, you know, not been encouraged to take a mirror and look at their own bodies.

[13:50] Laura Camien: Yes.

[13:51] Susan Blackwell: Okay, so yes.

[13:52] Laura Camien: So in this podcast, Science Versus, they explain that academic articles that are written about that time talk about how so few women had looked at their bodies and how many felt uncomfortable asking simple questions of their gynecologist.

[14:09] Susan Blackwell: One researcher wrote that doctors could be condescending and patronizing, and in Carol's experience, she recounted that if you asked a gynecologist a question, he would just say, "Don't worry about it, dear. I'm the doctor, and I'll do what's best for you."

[14:20] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[14:23] Susan Blackwell: Also keeping in mind that probably close to 100% of the doctors, the gynecologists were male.

[14:31] Laura Camien: They didn't even have these body parts.

[14:33] Susan Blackwell: That's right.

[14:34] Laura Camien: It was a whole different time.

[14:38] Susan Blackwell: Sometimes not so different, but it was a different time.

[14:41] Laura Camien: So back at the bookstore, by jumping up onto that desk and pulling down her underwear and putting in a speculum and showing these women the inside of her reproductive organs, Carol demystified it.

[14:53] Susan Blackwell: The women saw that it was normal and okay to be curious about your body.

[15:01] Laura Camien: Oh my God.

[15:01] Susan Blackwell: And seeing how powerful this was, Carol began formulating a new plan, not only to teach women about abortions, but also to teach women about their bodies.

[15:13] Laura Camien: So Carol Downer created a movement called the Self-Helpers.

[15:17] Susan Blackwell: Wow.

[15:18] Laura Camien: And she and a friend packed a box full of speculums and traveled to more than 20 cities to introduce women to something that they had been sitting on their whole lives, but many of them had never seen the female reproductive system.

[15:32] Susan Blackwell: And they point this out in the podcast.

[15:43] Laura Camien: Wow.

[15:44] Susan Blackwell: Which I just shocked by it.

[15:53] Laura Camien: I'm just empathetically thinking about how shocking it would have been for them to do that for the first time.

[15:59] Susan Blackwell: Oh Laura, if we were gathered, if there was a group of women in my living room and somebody, and I love and trust all you, my lady friends, but if somebody was like, "I'm gonna get up on this table, insert a speculum, and I want you to see what's going on up there. Just I want you to see clinically what is going on up there," we'd be talking about it for years later.

[16:15] Laura Camien: Years.

[16:23] Susan Blackwell: And we live now, you know, decades later.

[16:27] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[16:27] Susan Blackwell: So people who attended these meetings in turn hosted their own meetings.

[16:35] Laura Camien: And one of the attendees is interviewed and says, "We were just levitating, and we all bought our little speculum for a dollar fifty, and we took them home, and then we showed all of our friends."

[16:46] Susan Blackwell: So it was just like that Fabergé Shampoo commercial.

[16:49] Laura Camien: They told two friends and they told two friends, and so on and so on and so on.

[16:54] Susan Blackwell: So through her boots on the ground work, Carol was just making this knowledge viral.

[16:59] Laura Camien: And then months after Carol showed off her cervix in the bookstore, she and some others started a women's health clinic in Los Angeles, and they taught women everything they knew about vaginas, and they learned how to do pap smears from a physician who worked at the CDC, as well as learning how to fit diaphragms and conduct pelvic exams.

[17:19] Susan Blackwell: And throughout all of it, as they were treating women, they'd explain exactly what they were doing, and they would encourage questions.

[17:27] Laura Camien: And it was a very different approach that educated and empowered women.

[17:32] Susan Blackwell: Now, flash forward to when I had my abortion, they were talking to me because I wasn't under anesthesia.

[17:39] Laura Camien: They were like, "Now you're going to feel a little pinprick in your cervix, and that's just us injecting some anesthesia into your cervix."

[17:47] Susan Blackwell: "And now you're going to hear the sound of suction."

[17:51] Laura Camien: And I was like, "All right, yeah, talk me through it. Talk me through it."

[17:55] Susan Blackwell: So that's what they were doing.

[17:58] Laura Camien: And for some of their patients, it was probably the first time that they were being exposed to this approach that was more educational and empowering for them.

[18:08] Susan Blackwell: Uh-huh.

[18:09] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[18:09] Susan Blackwell: Wow.

[18:10] Laura Camien: So these clinics mushroomed with at least 50 self-help groups popping up all across the country.

[18:17] Susan Blackwell: And then some of the self-helpers learned how to provide safe abortions.

[18:23] Laura Camien: Wow.

[18:23] Susan Blackwell: And the journalist interviewing Carol, now again, did I mention she's in her 80s?

[18:28] Laura Camien: Asks about the fact that people on Carol's team were conducting abortions without credentialed medical training.

[18:35] Susan Blackwell: And Carol responds that the work that they were doing was very easy to defend because essentially at the time, unless you were rich and could afford the expense of traveling to a doctor who would provide you with a safe abortion.

[18:49] Laura Camien: Even though it was still illegal.

[18:50] Susan Blackwell: That's right.

[18:51] Laura Camien: But if you have money, as we know in this country.

[18:54] Susan Blackwell: Oh yeah.

[18:54] Laura Camien: I mean, just to take a tiny tangent, like when Roe v. Wade was being overturned, I was like, "Oh, these politicians, you, I mean, we all saw the posters and the memes. These politicians who are codifying this and putting it into law, if their wife or daughter or mistress gets pregnant and they want an abortion, they're gonna find an alloria."

[19:18] Susan Blackwell: They will find a way.

[19:19] Laura Camien: That's right.

[19:20] Susan Blackwell: That's right.

[19:21] Laura Camien: They will happen.

[19:22] Susan Blackwell: So Carol was saying that unless you were rich and could afford the expense of traveling to a doctor who would provide you with a safe abortion, then back alley abortions were the alternative.

[19:32] Laura Camien: And there were very serious, horrible things that were happening as a result.

[19:38] Susan Blackwell: And Suze, can I just stop you for a second?

[19:40] Laura Camien: Sure.

[19:41] Susan Blackwell: At this time, like there was no talk even about legalizing abortion, right?

[19:47] Laura Camien: But we're still not to the point where people have started to fight for the legislation.

[19:52] Susan Blackwell: We weren't far.

[19:53] Laura Camien: We weren't far.

[19:54] Susan Blackwell: Okay.

[19:54] Laura Camien: We were getting real close.

[19:59] Susan Blackwell: Okay, great.

[20:00] Laura Camien: So, you know, the self-helpers are setting up, in addition to the other care that they're providing and education that providing, now they're doing some abortions, and doing abortions is still very illegal.

[20:12] Susan Blackwell: And soon the police started surveilling, and then they raided the self-helpers LA Clinic.

[20:18] Laura Camien: And Carol and another self-helper were charged with practicing medicine without a license.

[20:24] Susan Blackwell: Oh no.

[20:24] Laura Camien: And Carol decided to fight.

[20:27] Susan Blackwell: And when the case went to trial, Carol remembers driving herself to the court, and the song "I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar" came onto the radio.

[20:36] Laura Camien: If you're listening to this and you don't know that song, it's a Helen Reddy song.

[20:41] Susan Blackwell: That's what you're doing.

[20:42] Laura Camien: And stop what you're doing and Google it.

[20:44] Susan Blackwell: And you have to know that that was an important song for people.

[20:49] Laura Camien: It's not the only song of protest, obviously, but it was an important song of protest at the time.

[20:54] Susan Blackwell: And Carol is driving herself to the courthouse, singing along at the top of her lungs, and she said she felt great.

[21:01] Laura Camien: She felt prepared to stand trial.

[21:03] Susan Blackwell: And she said these words on this Science Versus podcast.

[21:07] Laura Camien: "I realized that I wasn't facing anything worse than I had been facing my whole life, but it always had been in this nebulous way, ways you couldn't really address.

[21:17] Susan Blackwell: So now my oppressor had shown his face, and I could actually engage with him and fight, and that was a wonderful feeling."

[21:26] Laura Camien: Wow.

[21:26] Susan Blackwell: That trial lasted for five days.

[21:29] Laura Camien: And because I think they had insufficient evidence, Carol Downer was found not guilty.

[21:35] Susan Blackwell: And then just weeks later, the case of Roe v. Wade was decided effectively legalizing abortions in the United States.

[21:45] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[21:46] Susan Blackwell: So yeah, yeah, yep.

[21:49] Laura Camien: So hooray.

[21:51] Susan Blackwell: But then cut to June of 2022, when Roe was overturned.

[21:56] Laura Camien: Boom.

[21:57] Susan Blackwell: Oof.

[21:57] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[21:58] Susan Blackwell: It's a big oof.

[22:00] Laura Camien: It's so yeah, it's infuriating.

[22:03] Susan Blackwell: I, yeah.

[22:04] Laura Camien: It's really, really, really enraging.

[22:08] Susan Blackwell: Just did not believe that it would happen that, you know, in our lifetime that we could have made this progress and then lost this progress.

[22:17] Laura Camien: But this is why when Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court, there were people that could see a few moves down the chessboard and they were, you know, grieving because we knew where this was headed, but we're still fighting.

[22:31] Susan Blackwell: Yes, and we're still looking for inspiration.

[22:34] Laura Camien: And speaking of fighting and inspiration, there are so many people fighting for reproductive rights on several fronts.

[22:41] Susan Blackwell: You have people fighting legally, you have people fighting politically.

[22:45] Laura Camien: I want to spotlight one activist who I am finding super sparky.

[22:50] Susan Blackwell: Like when I get scared, I think of this person, and I'm just like, "Fuck around and find out."

[22:55] Laura Camien: And that person is named Verónica Cruz.

[22:59] Susan Blackwell: According to our friend Wikipedia, Verónica Cruz is the founder of La Libres, which means, depending on the translation you're relying upon, the free ones.

[23:09] Laura Camien: And you know that speaks to me, the free ones.

[23:12] Susan Blackwell: This is an organization based in Mexico dedicated to the defense, guarantee, and respect of human rights for women in the state of Guanajuato and across Mexico.

[23:23] Laura Camien: Verónica Cruz has worked to decriminalize and destigmatize women's decisions over their bodies and reproductive rights.

[23:32] Susan Blackwell: She works to bring public awareness to the situations of predominantly uneducated, indigenous, and impoverished women who are imprisoned for abortion and miscarriage in Mexico.

[23:44] Laura Camien: And by all accounts, she is a badass.

[23:49] Susan Blackwell: So there is this great article in The New Yorker by journalist Stefania Taladrid, who I just mentioned.

[23:55] Laura Camien: And in it, she tells the story about how five years ago Verónica Cruz was defying Mexican law by helping women, again, mostly poor women, abort at home.

[24:05] Susan Blackwell: In part because activists like Cruz successfully reduced the stigma of abortion.

[24:12] Laura Camien: The Supreme Court of Mexico decriminalized abortion in September of 2021.

[24:18] Susan Blackwell: In the same month, Texas moved in the opposite direction.

[24:23] Laura Camien: And this state law known as SB8 banned nearly all abortions past the sixth week.

[24:31] Susan Blackwell: So then Verónica Cruz had widened the scope of her work, supplying free abortion pills to undocumented women in Texas.

[24:40] Laura Camien: And now she has organized a multi-generational network of activists who are getting abortion pills across the Mexican border to Americans.

[24:50] Susan Blackwell: All sorts of people who need them.

[24:52] Laura Camien: Wow.

[24:53] Susan Blackwell: And apparently, this is this.

[24:56] Laura Camien: Oh my God, you have to.

[25:00] Susan Blackwell: This journalism is so good.

[25:03] Laura Camien: Stefania Taladrid is also so sparky because as I was listening to the story, and it is a big piece of journalism.

[25:10] Susan Blackwell: I was like, man, there's some brave, sparkish women who are part of all of this.

[25:17] Laura Camien: So apparently there's this whole army of older female expats living in Mexico, and they are referred to as the old hippies.

[25:29] Susan Blackwell: Locally, they are called the old hippies in English, the old hippies.

[25:32] Laura Camien: So among those expats is a woman named Liz.

[25:35] Susan Blackwell: That's not a real name.

[25:36] Susan Blackwell: Everybody uses pseudonyms because you know they're doing the good work. So Liz is a retired Southern woman in her 70s. And on the morning of June 24th, 2022, as she was making coffee in her kitchen, where you know, she's got pictures of her great grandchildren covering the fridge, she heard on the radio that the constitutional right to abortion in the United States has ended. And she sits down, like she it makes her sit down. But five years earlier, Liz had met Verónica Cruz. So Liz figured that with Roe overturned and states from Arkansas to South Dakota implementing abortion restrictions, the demand for Mexican abortion pills would soar. So she picked up the phone and she called Cruz, and then she called some of her friends, mostly friends over 60, to find out which of them would be game to join an underground network.

Oh. Because these women were old enough to remember what life was like before the 1973 Roe ruling. And they fucking fought for it the first time. They fought they fought for it the first time and they were like, Lord, I not to jump my own spark, but what do we make of it? A movie about the old hippies and Veronica and a movie, a standalone. My God, who is going to get to play Verónica Cruz? There should be a movie, there should be a series about her.

[26:56] Laura Camien: Well, Kate, are you are you? I know you have a lot of ground to cover, so you may not be going into further detail, but are you gonna tell us how what about this underground network they started?

[27:05] Susan Blackwell: I'm gonna tell you right now. Yes. And this move this should be a movie. This should be a movie. So in July, weeks after the US Supreme Court negated Roe, this group of old hippie ladies met with Cruz, and Cruz asked them if they would raise money and buy pills in Mexico that could be distributed across the border. So I want to just for a second talk about medication abortion. Uh-huh. This is an abortion brought on by taking medication. What's kind of called the The Morning After Pill. The morning after pill. Yeah. So when I was writing The Spark and I was like, I want to tell you loud and proud that I have had an abortion. I was like, I think I've had two abortions. Because I was like, I think I'm pregnant again.

And I, it was literally the morning after. Because I'm sure it's different for different women, but I was like, I can feel this in my body. Feel something. There's a gigantic hormone shift in my body. And I was like, chalk me up for two abortions because you took um a morning after pill. Yeah. And it was so no trauma, no drama, that I was like, yeah, I did. Like it's such a vague memory. And what a privilege. Wow. And what a fucking privilege. So wow. So yes. So a medication abortion is an abortion brought on by taking medication. And in the United States, this is typically a two-day process that involves taking mephapristone, which blocks progesterone, and misoprostal, which causes uterine contractions.

So the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, approves the use of this two-pill regimen under a doctor's supervision up until the 10th week of pregnancy. And a prescription, which can be obtained in the United States where abortion is legal, is required. In Mexico, Cruz explained to these old hippies, misoprostal is sold over the counter. Mephapristone still requires a prescription, but Cruz had found suppliers. And when she ran short, she could rely on misopristol, which can cause an abortion on its own. I think ideally you use them in concert with each other. Yeah. But I just wanted, in case you didn't know, I just want to demystify this for people.

[29:21] Laura Camien: You know what, Laura? As I was doing this, I was like, you know what I'm down with? Destigmatization.

[29:27] Susan Blackwell: Yeah. I'll hail Carol Downer and other people who are have worked to destigmatize this. Because what abortion is health care. So we have to remember though, in some US states, what I'm describing here, so with such anger and so cavalierly, it's highly illegal. In Louisiana, anyone who knowingly performs a medication abortion is subject to a five year prison sentence and a $50,000 fine. Where is that? Louisiana, to our friends in Louisiana. To our friends in Oklahoma, it's a 10-year sentence and a hundred thousand dollar fine. Oh my God. And it's expected that more laws like this may come. Although, I want to be clear about this, no criminal convictions have been reported. Interesting. It's early days, but no criminal convictions have been reported.

Have they gone to court? Not that I'm aware of. Yeah. Not that I'm aware of. And there's a whole, this is a whole other spark, but there's there's this whole other spark to pus on this about how it may benefit politicians more to pretend like it's not happening than to actually prosecute. But that's a whole other spark.

[30:36] Laura Camien: Why? I'm trying to think of why how it would benefit them.

[30:40] Susan Blackwell: Just because they got to say I was against it.

[30:44] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[30:44] Susan Blackwell: But then it doesn't take time and money in the court systems.

[30:49] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[30:49] Susan Blackwell: Yeah. I think so. Wow. Okay. So the way Cruz sees it, women have a moral duty to stand up for one another when the state fails to guarantee their rights. And I fucking I love her for it. I love it. So in the Americas, one of the privileges of advanced age is getting the benefit of the doubt at security checkpoints. So these old hippies. These old hippies started getting these pills across the border out of Mexico into the United States. And there's this one old hippie who is written about and interviewed, and she talks about how she goes to this like local artisan's market. She buys like 20 pairs of handmade beaded earrings at the market in Mexico. And then she gets those cardboard jewelry boxes that have the little um that little cotton padding.

A little cotton thing in there. And then she puts the earrings on top. And then she puts the pills and the instructions about how to use them inside the cotton padding. And the instructions that the little note with the instructions ends with hugs the pill fairy. So they are they are also called the pill fairies. Okay, that's amazing. But also, is there any chance they could get caught since they are revealing exactly how they do it?

[32:15] Laura Camien: Uh-huh.

[32:16] Susan Blackwell: Yeah. Yeah. But I think this is where a lot of this creativity comes in. Yeah. Because these they're gonna stay one step ahead.

[32:24] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[32:25] Susan Blackwell: Yeah. That's how I'd like this movie to play out. Now that we've said that on air, we've got to change our system.

[32:30] Laura Camien: Okay.

[32:31] Susan Blackwell: Yeah. Yeah. So this woman who is has smuggled these over. It's a just this woman has had two abortions herself. And she liked the idea of putting earrings in every package, not just because it's a good sort of discretionary cloak to get it across the border. And it she can just declare souvenirs. She said, it's so stressful to be pregnant when you don't want to be. You have all these hormones going, you don't like the way your body feels, you just want it to be over. So I thought it'd be nice to get a pair of earrings when you're in that kind of mood, you know, an abortion and a present. Oh my God. And I was like, come on. So uh then so she, you know, she puts all the the pills, uh, the necessary pills, the instructions, the little cotton layer, the earrings, and then she packs them into her carry-on and heads to the airport.

And at customs, she declares some souvenirs and she's welcome back to the United States. And where is she a resident so she's an expat living in uh San Miguel Allende got it and also there this network though this network is ever expanding and so the other thing that's really interesting is the way that because Verónica Cruz is a badass the way that it's set up it's all segmented so nobody knows anybody else's identity nobody knows anybody else's whereabouts wow yeah yeah and they're all super aware I don't get deeply into this but they are all highly cognizant of their digital footprint and their Google searches and so you know they're being smart about it.

[34:11] Laura Camien: I just feel so mad that it's come to this uh huh did I may I remind you of the sound of my angry voice I I have a little bit of I still have to shake myself because I am disbelieving that it's come to this but here we are so like we all we have to fight this on so many fronts wow we have to fight this by voting we have to fight this by educating ourselves we have to fight this by engaging I have to tell you after now I can't do it because I said it on a podcast but I was like oh god I'm I like to be a pill fairy you want to say how can I help yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah well I mean there's other ways as well people are you know offering I'm sure you have this in your spark so I don't want to jump it but you know offering to house people who need to come in from other states, etc.

[35:03] Susan Blackwell: Yeah.

[35:03] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[35:04] Susan Blackwell: Yeah, absolutely. So there's a just uh another stroke of creativity. Another old hippie is a gardener, and she's out working in her garden, and then she's like, Oh, the seeds. Oh, I'll put the pills and the instructions in a packet of seeds in case maybe the person who receives it might have a little patch of dirt and they could plant flowers. And I was like, You beautiful old hippies. Ah, love them. Cruz has said that she thinks of herself as part of an ant colony of civil disobedience. Wow. And I'm gonna this is so much of this is just uh Stephanie Taladrid's beautiful writing. One of countless workers toiling beneath an unbroken surface, carving intricate paths towards their goal. In the United States, as in Mexico, Cruz predicted the more people who got involved in the movement, the harder it would be for anyone to stop it.

[35:59] Laura Camien: So Stephania Taladrid's article ends with the story of a woman in Texas named Sarah.

[36:04] Susan Blackwell: We'll call her Sarah, who discovered she was pregnant, she didn't want to be, and her friends, her supportive friends were texting with her about how to arrange a Texas miscarriage in case they were being surveilled. And she learned about an organization called Plan C. Plan C helps women in the US to obtain abortion medication from around the world. So Sarah placed an order, but it wouldn't arrive for a month. So she took her pregnancy test at 9 30 a.m. in the morning, and through a friend, she got in touch with Verónica Cruz's network via an encrypted text service called Signal. And two hours later, Verónica Cruz's network had the pills she needed in that woman's hands. Wow. So one month later, Sarah's abortion pills from the Plan C finally made it to her.

And while this woman Sarah did not know Verónica Cruz or the old hippies or anyone else in this whole constellation of activists. The only person that she knew and had contact with was this stranger who had handed her the pills.

[37:19] Laura Camien: Oh my gosh.

[37:20] Susan Blackwell: But she imagined this expanding constellation of women operating in secret and in concert to help other women and Sarah thought try to arrest all of us and she grabbed her phone and she texted the contact who had handed her the pills and said how do I start doing what you do?

[37:38] Laura Camien: Oh y'all Stephania Taladrid's reporting in the New Yorker is so good.

[37:45] Susan Blackwell: We need to share this article too. I think we'll do that when this episode airs I want to talk about what do we make of it there are so many what do we make of it there's a whole story that I didn't even tell you that I researched that I didn't even get into about the Jane Collective the Jane Collective started in 1965 in Chicago very much to serve you know women who is there a TV show about this the Jane Collective there's a film oh film.

[38:14] Laura Camien: There's a star-studded film starring Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver called Call Jane.

[38:14] Susan Blackwell: Call Jane.

[38:23] Susan Blackwell: Also there's an HBO documentary called The Janes that tells the story of these women and this network they constructed to provide more than 11,000 abortions from 1969 through 1973 when legal clinics opened in Chicago.

[38:40] Laura Camien: And that story ends very not spoiler alert, but that story ends very similarly in that they were about to prosecute, they busted them and they were about to prosecute these women, and Roe v. Wade happened.

[38:52] Susan Blackwell: Wow. And that's how, yeah, talk about a hero's journey.

[38:56] Laura Camien: Talk about, yeah. So I also want to point out there's so many ways. There are so many creative ways to engage with this if you are so inclined. Journalism, my God, the journalism that's coming out of this.

[39:10] Susan Blackwell: New York magazine's The Cut has published a great resource for up-to-date abortion information. And it's at thecut.com slash abortion dash clinic dash near dash you.

[39:25] Laura Camien: But if you put the cut.com abortion resources, there are so many things. How to protect yourself when seeking an abortion, how to learn about your legal risks. So the good people at the cut.com and New York magazine are doing the work.

[39:39] Susan Blackwell: And when I was preparing this, I was like, we may lose listeners because of this, because I think that we probably do have listeners who believe differently, who believe that life begins at conception. And I was like, huh, what do I think about that? That we might, and I was like, I prioritize the destigmatization and my belief that abortion is it's health care. It's health care. It is health care.

[40:10] Laura Camien: And I also think I would love to believe that people can hang with differing opinions. Regardless of your belief, can we go back to the fundamentals of what it means to live in a free country? Living in a free country means that you may make a different decision than another person would make. And that's a beautiful thing.

[40:34] Susan Blackwell: I feel the same about guns. I don't want I want there to be far more legislation around guns, but fundamentally, if someone chooses to have a gun and I choose not to have a gun, that is what it means to live in a free country. I don't love their choice. Do we want to live in a free country? And same thing with abortion. No one is insisting that you have one. But if you need one and you want one, you should be able to get one.

[41:08] Laura Camien: Yeah. I believe so. That is my belief.

[41:13] Susan Blackwell: I also thought, talk about right like your parents are dead. I was just like, I know that my parents are on the other side of this. And you know, it's a little bit we agree to disagree. I have family members who have dedicated their lives to the other side of this.

[41:30] Laura Camien: Yeah. Same, same.

[41:31] Susan Blackwell: Yeah, absolutely 100%. And I love them and I respect them and I feel and believe differently.

[41:40] Laura Camien: That's right. So that is where it's at.

[41:44] Susan Blackwell: That is right. And hopefully, if you're a listener and you have enjoyed us thus far, and you've continued listening, if you, you know, strongly disagree, can we agree? Can we agree to disagree about this and respect the creative ways that people are trying to get what they need in a world where our healthcare system is not providing what they need?

[42:07] Laura Camien: Yeah. And our judicial system.

[42:10] Susan Blackwell: Judicial system. And our political system is making it wrong.

[42:15] Laura Camien: Yeah. And it is not an even playing field.

[42:19] Susan Blackwell: No. Something this is a whole this is not even an episode. This is huge. Who does this target? Well, who pays the consequence for it?

[42:28] Laura Camien: Exactly. It's like the people who can't, yeah. The injustice runs deep on this one.

[42:34] Susan Blackwell: I also am so emboldened by the work of these journalists and these activists and the bravery. And I just love, I'm like, if you have the privilege of being an old white lady who looks like you are just you just you and I can get through an airport.

[42:56] Laura Camien: Yeah. Frankly. Maybe not after this podcast, but yeah.

[42:59] Susan Blackwell: And I just think like, thank God for the people who are showing up to say, um, tired of this belief system being shoved down the rest of our throats when over and over again the majority of Americans have said we believe that abortion we should have access to abortions. It is health care.

[43:20] Laura Camien: And I'm personally inspired by it's it's not enough, but I'm inspired by things like you know, in Kansas, where they tried to put it on the ballot, and I think a lot of people thought, no-brainer, we're going to abolish, you know, any possibility in the future of abortions in Kansas. And the people of Kansas were like, no, you're not.

[43:46] Susan Blackwell: Hard pass. No, you're not. Um, and so I just think like again, yes, follow the money, follow the politics. Who benefits from this, and um, we have to just keep rising up. We have to keep reiterating our stance on this.

[44:05] Laura Camien: Somebody please make a movie. Somebody get to writing that screenplay about Verónica Cruz. It is, yeah. She is unbelievable.

[44:14] Susan Blackwell: That's a hot spark. That's an amazing story. Spark. An incredible role for someone to play.

[44:19] Laura Camien: Oh my gosh. She is sort of like when people are like, Aren't you scared? You could get arrested. And she's like, then you all have to come and get me out. Like, she is she is badass incarnate. She's really, really great.

[44:31] Susan Blackwell: And she has been, God, I found her so sparkish. She has been essentially, she's been an activist since she was a kid. When she was a little kid, she was like, I need to make sure that other little kids have what they need, whether that's food, toys, clothing. As she got older, she was like, in high school, she was like, I need to make sure that these women in my community can read. So she was going to teach them and her work, she became a social worker, and her work has evolved as she has been called to these needs in her community.

[45:05] Laura Camien: And she is, I don't know. I really, it really helps me to look to people like that because I think I can be kind of a scaredy. And I just look at somebody like that and I'm like, all right, all right.

[45:17] Susan Blackwell: I mean, what I think about is the fear that I might have to participate in something, um, is one level, but then I think about the fear of the person who is facing the consequences of either having to birth a child that they do not want or cannot care for, or came out of a traumatic experience, and the fear that they're facing of either having to have this child, or as incredible as the system is, think about like you're receiving pills from somewhere with some notes about how to take them. That's scary.

[45:55] Laura Camien: But I want to say this on that point. The plan C plan C, because the FDA can't is not in a position to do it. Plan C has done independent research where they receive they got pills from all the different.

[46:30] Susan Blackwell: Oh, amen. Yeah.

[46:32] Laura Camien: That's so there's that.

[46:34] Susan Blackwell: But I also want to say this there is a very, very slight chance, and you have to take it when it's meant to be taken with a medication abortion. There's a very, very, very tiny slight chance. Again, I'm not a doctor of hemorrhaging or infection with a medication abortion. But it is largely considered to be, it is recognized to be incredibly safe.

[46:59] Laura Camien: 100%.

[47:00] Susan Blackwell: But I'm just thinking about the fear, like if you do hemorrhage, you've got to go into a hospital. Are they going to ask you what happened here? And if you live in the wrong stuff, if you if you live in the wrong state, you have to say you cannot acknowledge that you took pills.

[47:15] Laura Camien: That's right.

[47:16] Susan Blackwell: And they're going to be able to test and see that you do you have the that medication in your blood system. So it's like the fear on top of fear on top of fear. It takes a whole lot of courage. Fuck that shit.

[47:27] Laura Camien: And yeah, fuck this shit.

[47:29] Susan Blackwell: That a woman would be put through that just to get the health care she needs. Because what abortion is health care. Friends. Thanks for hanging out. I feel like you stirred up some dust. I feel like there is a lot of research to be done. There's action to be taken. It's so inspiring.

[47:54] Laura Camien: Here's what I want to say too. I know that these are it is Mr. Toad's wild ride. Has been for a few years now in a lot of different ways. Lean in when you can. Take a break when you have to. But when you can, when you can lean in. And if you're in a position of privilege, like these two old white ladies, like make the most of it.

[48:14] Susan Blackwell: Make the most of your absolutely privileges in your platforms. I feel like the like the younger generation did us good at the voting booth most recently, but they're not gonna stand by for this. But these wise old ladies who've been around the block and done this before, I love the I love the intergenerational work being done together. Because it takes these older ladies, they're not in in risk of getting pregnant. Right.

[48:51] Laura Camien: So it's not for them that they're doing it, they're doing it for all the other ladies in the world.

[48:59] Susan Blackwell: Yeah. According to the reporting in the New Yorker, that that network, as of the writing of that article, is between people in their 30s up to I think 82.

[49:09] Laura Camien: Yes.

[49:10] Susan Blackwell: Yeah. Those octogenarians.

[49:12] Laura Camien: Yes, nobody's going through their carry-on.

[49:15] Susan Blackwell: So, friends, that's thank you, Susan. Thank you, Laura Camien. And thank you, Sparklers.

[49:22] Laura Camien: Thank you, sparklers. Woo!

[49:24] Susan Blackwell: That's it. This episode of The Spark File was made on the lands of the Lenape people. And as always, we hope that this put another bunch of sparks in your file.

[49:33] Laura Camien: Listen to me. You listen and listen good. If there's a spark you'd like us to explore, or if you'd like to learn more about how to coach with us to bring your creative ideas to life, email us at thesparkfile at gmail.com or submit it through our website, thesparkfile.com. We will even happily take your feedback.

[49:52] Susan Blackwell: But first, the price of admission. You have to share a creative risk you've taken recently. Follow us on social at the Sparkfile and be sure to subscribe, rate and five-star review this podcast. It really does help other listeners to find us.

[50:06] Laura Camien: Also, if you like this podcast, we hope that you'll share it with people that you love. And if you didn't like it, we wish you the best.

[50:14] Susan Blackwell: Live and be well. It's a free country. Yeah. If something lights you up and gets your creative sparks flying, we're writing you a forever permission slip to make that thing that's been knocking at your door. It's your turn to take that spark and fan it into a flame.

[50:31] Laura Camien: You know, you gotta take it and make it.

[50:38] Susan Blackwell: Oh, Suze, that was so good. When I boke into something that inspires me, dump it in the spark files.

[50:48] Laura Camien: Spark. Could be something that I wanna take or how I wanna be. I'll pump it in the spark files.

[50:59] Susan Blackwell: I jump into my spark files. Let's open up the spark fire.