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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