CHOICE/LESS

Kelly describes going public with her abortion story--and the shock she felt after it was poached and misrepresented by anti-choice websites without her consent.

Jack RR Evans tells the stories of their abortion and of coming out. Jack, who is a nonbinary transgender person, experienced dysphoria during their pregnancy. Jack understood why years later, when they realized they were transgender.

Sterilization abuse so far has played a role in every episode of CHOICE/LESS: The Backstory, but in our third installment, this abuse is front and center.

Charon Asetoyer is a Comanche activist and women’s rights advocate. In this episode, she discusses the Indian Health Service’s extensive and deliberate campaign to sterilize thousands of Native American women in the 1960s and 1970s without their informed consent.

A 2014 amendment to Tennessee's fetal homicide bill allowed the state to charge pregnant women with aggravated assault, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, if they have pregnancy complications after illegal narcotic use. The first law of its kind, it opened the door for the state to charge women for drug use, and at least in one case, for not wearing a seatbelt while pregnant. In theory, the law gave addicted pregnant women two options: get treatment or go to jail. But in reality, the state did little to ensure that treatment was available for women who needed it.

Brittany Hudson, of Knoxville, Tennessee, tells us her story of addiction, loss, and a long road to recovery.

Retired engineer and Lyft driver Rachel Brown came out as transgender at age 68. She's been using her time as a driver to educate her passengers in Massachusetts about an alarming referendum on the ballot this fall that could repeal transgender legal protections in the state. This is her story.