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News Page 4 Street Roots • Sept. 23-29, 2016 This is not a drill' The stakes are high for women's reproductive freedoms, warns Ilyse Hogue, leader of NARAL Pro-Choice America BY EMILY GREEN STAFF WRITER efore a national television audience, Ilyse Hogue took the stage on the third night of the 2016 Democratic National Convention and did the unthinkable - she spoke publicly about her abortion. Her words struck a chord. Abortion remains a highly divisive social issue that carries with it a stigma long felt by the millions of American women who have chosen to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Hogue’s unapologetic proclamation that evening sent those women a message: You don’t have to be ashamed. A fourth-generation Texan and respected progressive activist, Hogue took the helm at NARAL Pro-Choice America after working as a senior adviser at Media Matters for America, a nonprofit dedicated to monitoring, analyzing and correcting conservative misinformation in the media. She has also held senior positions at Rainforest Action Network and MoveOn.org. As president at NARAL Pro-Choice America, Hogue, 47, oversees a national organization with affiliates in 22 states striving to protect and advance women’s reproductive freedom through political action including lobbying and advocacy. On Sept. 30, she will give the keynote address at NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon’s PHOTO BY GARY CAMERON/REUTERS annual luncheon fundraiser at the Sentinel Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, leaves the stage after speaking July 27 in downtown Portland. at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. In her DNC speech, Hogue talked Street Roots spoke with Hogue in advance about her own decision to have an abortion. of her Portland visit We wanted to know about her decision to share her abortion story at the DNC and the current state of policy that reflects the lived experience of wanted to live in shame. That made me feel women’s reproductive rights in America. so many women in this country. like it was all worth it. Emily Green: In a move that’S been called E.G.: What has the response been like? E.G.: In the 43 years since Roe v. Wade both radical and historical, you began your recognized a woman’s constitutional right to I.H.: The response was overwhelmingly speech at the Democratic National Convention obtain an abortion, have the protections wonderful and reaffirming. My existence, by talking about your own experience with granted therein ever been more in jeopardy since I took this job, generates negative abortion. What factored into your decision to than they are today? response on a daily basis, so of course that reveal something so personal and so was present, but actually not more than I.H.: I don’t think that they have been, stigmatized on national television? usual. The small but very, very vocal but I have not been around that long Ilyse Hogue: Well, it definitely was never extremists on the other side were definitely (laughs) so there may be others of a on my top 10 list of things that I wanted to drowned out in the wake of my speech by different generation that felt like it was do in my lifetime, but what motivated me the number of people who thanked me and equally as perilous at different times. was pretty simple: The stakes are high - supported me online for putting myself out We’re at the zenith of what the anti-choice higher than they’ve ever been in my there. movement has - the strategy that they’ve lifetime. Around this election particularly, I would say the thing that made it all feel been employing for four decades since Roe when it comes to reproductive freedom and worth it was the following week, when a v. Wade passed. They have been thinking reproductive justice. So, the stakes were young woman posted on a very popular about nothing else but repealing those high and I had a stage, and millions of mom’s blog, called Scary Mommy, her own rights ever since, and they’ve done a very women who have shared this experience story about her own abortion experience good job, objectively, of employing a long with me did not. and in that said that she was motivated by term strategy that allowed them to take over It felt like a time to say to the country, “I my speech, but also came out as a pro state legislatures and help re-district so will not be ashamed by sharing my real life choice Republican who had been living in Congress reflects the minority opinion that experience” and demanding that we elect shame for years because of what she was they are. And they’ve worked really hard to people into office who will work to create taught to believe, and that she no longer get judges elected. B I think they’ve thrown everything they have at the wall, and unfortunately, too much of it has stuck in too many states. Oregon actually stands out as sort of a paragon of virtue as far as these rights are concerned, but I’m from Texas, and I can tell you we’re at the other end of the spectrum. We’ve got a presidential election where not only do we have one side of the equation running on misogyny and outlawing all of the advances, specifically abortion access and rights to make our own decisions, but also just misogyny - just running on the idea that women are inferior. On the other side, you’ve actually got not only the first shot we have at having a woman in the White House, but a woman who understands that when you centralize women’s well-being in policy, that we all do better. So, you’ve got that ticket, and then you’ve got the winner being able to choose a number of Supreme Court justices, most likely, in the coming years. Therefore, we’ve got a convergence of opportunity and crisis. Clinics are closing all over the country, women are being - in some cases - it’s certainly vilified and rare - but important cases - imprisoned for taking matters into their own hands, and on the other side you have the opportunity of actually marching forward into the future where we have policies that reflect real women’s lives. I can tell you in my lifetime, there has never been a more important election with regard to the issues that we care so deeply about E.G.: Speaking of the election, Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, is a staunch opponent of women’s reproductive freedom. If he does get into the White House, how will that change NARAL and other women’s rights groups offensives, and do you think it could actually mean a reversal of Roe v. Wade? I.H.: I do. I think Trump has certainly said that Pence would be the most powerful vice president ever when it comes to these issues, and Pence has done everything Trump has said he wanted to do. Trump said he wanted to defund Planned Parenthood. Pence has done it (in Indiana) at great cost to Indiana residents. Trump, in a moment of clarity, said that he would punish women who had abortions. Purvi Patel (was convicted of feticide and sentenced to 20 years in prison) on Pence’s watch in Indiana for having a home abortion. Trump has said he would punish doctors. Mike Pence, as governor of Indiana, has signed into law one of the most extreme bills ever that could send doctors to jail for performing certain abortions. (In March, Pence singed a measure that prohibited women from obtaining an abortion based on the race, gender or disability of the fetus, and also holds doctors liable for wrongful death if they perform an abortion based on one of those prohibited reasons.) This is not a drill. This is real life, and I think that Mike See HOGUE, page 5
