UNDUE BURDENS with Andrea Raby & Marie Khan

06/13/22 • 49 min

Andrea Raby and Marie Khan in conversation with Asha Dahya

In this bracing conversation, “Undue Burdens” director/producer Andrea Raby and Marie Khan, director of operations for Midwest Access Coalition break down what each of us can do to preserve abortion access and why wearing Handmaid costumes and wielding wire hangers isn’t helpful.

“We have ... abortion pills. We have practical support funds. We have abortion funds. We have mutual aid organizations. We have radical harm reduction spaces.” — Marie Khan on the structures that are in place now that people didn’t have access to 50+ years ago.

Andrea Raby is a Chicago-based documentary filmmaker and producer whose films have played in festivals across the U.S. Her latest short film “Strikers” is supported by IF/Then Shorts. She was a fellow of the 2019 Double Exposure Film Festival with her short film “Undue Burdens.” Her producing credits include podcast “Love is Not” and short documentary “A Galaxy Sits in the Cracks.” She is currently a co-producer on director Ruth Leitman’s in-progress documentary “No One Asked You.”

Marie J Khan (she/her) came on board with Midwest Access Coalition (MAC) in 2016, a practical support organization assisting and funding abortion seekers traveling for care. As the director of programs, she works closely with partner clinics and hospitals, and is a hotline coordinator providing comprehensive logistical planning, booking, and funding for travel/lodging/childcare/food for MAC clients. Marie grew up in Southern Wisconsin, in a conservative Christian space. Once she was able to access more reproductive resources and broaden her worldview, she realized she had much to learn. Connecting with her own South Asian community has been critical in her ongoing process of understanding herself. She’s worked exclusively at bars, nonprofits, and public universities, and is thankful for the radical and fearless thinkers who have helped her survive and thrive.

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Andrea Raby and Marie Khan in conversation with Asha Dahya

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Previous Episode

AAPI IN THE REPRO CONVO with Lilly Hu and Seri Lee

rePRO PERIODICAL VOL. 04: AAPI IN THE REPRO CONVO with Lilly Hu of Cold Wall & Seri Lee of NAPAWF

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Repo Film Podcast as part of the Repro Periodical Newsletter, where each month we share a short film and conversation centered around a theme. May is Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and given that the majority of our film team are part of the AAPI community, myself included, we fully realize the importance and timeliness of looking at the way we approach and help justice impacts AAPI Folks.

This month, we're featuring the stunning short film Cold Wall and a short interview with writer and director Lilly Hu, who is originally from China. Cold Wall was her award winning IFC thesis film, which is about a young Chinese high school student experiencing an unplanned pregnancy while studying abroad alone in Los Angeles. Cold Wall follows Bei Bei a.k.a Katie as she negotiates her own unwanted pregnancy in an American culture that she doesn't fully understand.

In the second half of this episode, I'll be speaking with Seri Lee, the national campaign and membership director for the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, also referred to in our interview by its acronym NAPAWF, Seri and I talk about the scary time we are living in, staring down the barrel of Roe v Wade being overturned. What reproductive justice is and why it is important for the AAPI community and what we as everyday people can do, even in small ways to ensure abortion access reproductive health and human rights is a reality we can all work toward.

It is a time filled with uncertainty right now. But as Seri quotes, black American abolitionist Mariam Kabir in our interview, "Having hope is a discipline." I love that quote so much and we will not give up. So I hope you enjoy this conversation.

SHOW NOTES:

COLD WALL (Dir. Lilly Hu)
- Watch on Vimeo
NATIONAL ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN WOMEN'S FORUM | NAPAWF
- napawf.org
- Sign your name on the Asian American and Pacific Islander Abortion Solidarity Statement – https://www.napawf.org/abortionsolidarity
Our Blues (Netflix)
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Visit reprofilm.org for more information

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Next Episode

BONUS: Why WE'RE Here (Meet Team rePRO)

Bonus Episode: Why WE’RE Here

Get to know us a little better in this bonus podcast episode: A few members of the rePRO team got together to talk about why we do this work. Hear from co-founders Lela Meadow-Conner and Mallory Martin, podcast host Asha Dahya, programmer Neha Aziz, and copywriter Emily Christensen. (Recorded prior to June 24, 2022.)

“We're all from all across the country. We're from all different walks of life and different lived experiences, different ages ... (we’re in) different parts of our lives. And I think that it’s so important that rePRO never is a singular vision. It is all of us..” — Lela Meadow-Conner

reprofilm.org

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