Shawna Potter

SHOW NOTES:

Abortion Forever! Host Shawna Potter speaks with self-proclaimed queerdo MuMu about her song, “Wrapped Up (Post-Roe)” - a song so nice it’s been released twice. She then interviews not one, but two experts from the Baltimore Abortion Fund. Listen to the entire episode to learn how abortion funds are mutual aid, how this issue is life and death but not black and white, what is SCOTUS up to (do we have to call it that?), and why you should be buying safe abortion pills online. Also, the power to delete, Pussy Riot, mom’s boyfriend sucks, and, wait, who wrote and starred in a movie musical?!

The official sponsors of this episode are First Defense Krav Maga, and Pupcakes and Pawstries, where you can use promo code waronwomen15 to get 15% off your next order.

Episode transcripts, important links, and ways to support Shawna and this podcast can be found at shawnapotter.com. Everything War On Women can be found at linktr.ee/waronwomen. For bonus episodes, behind the scenes content, and the chance to make special requests and get shoutouts on air, become a patron at patreon.com/shawnapotter.

Thanks to Brooks Harlan for chopping up War On Women’s song “Her?” to create the podcast theme song. Main podcast photo: Justin Borucki. To inquire about becoming a show sponsor, head to shawnapotter.com/contact.

SPONSOR LINKS:

firstdefensekravmaga.com

shoppe.pupcakesbarkery.pet

SHOW LINKS/RESOURCES:

https://linktr.ee/Musicofmumu

Live session version of “Wrapped Up”: https://youtu.be/wfWsZZJr9To

“Honeymoon Sex” music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMsLKFHk5Ro

“Free the Nip” on Big Mouth: https://soundtracki.com/shows/big-mouth-season-6-soundtrack

Best summer ever: https://www.hulu.com/movie/best-summer-ever-e4c333a7-8c3e-4c50-b19a-e147e1ddc67a

keepourclinics.org

abortionfunds.org

Prochoiceamerica.org

Abortionfinder.org

https://shoutyourabortion.com/

I Need An Abortion: ineedana.com

Plan C Pills: plancpills.org

BAF's website: baltimoreabortionfund.org

National Network of Abortion Funds: abortionfunds.org

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/16/1143656765/more-people-are-training-to-take-on-the-work-of-abortion-doulas

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

{intro music}

Shawna Potter:

Welcome to But Her Lyrics...the show where we delve into the meaning and politics behind the songs of artists you love or are about to discover right now. I’m Shawna Potter, singer and lyricist for War On Women - and your host. Today we’re going to break down the song “Wrapped Up (post-roe)” written and performed by feminist, activist, and self-proclaimed "queerdo” MuMu. I then chat with two amazing people from the Baltimore Abortion Fund, who help put the recent erosion of our rights into perspective AND tell us how we can get involved and help right now. General content warning - we are talking about abortion today! (woot woot!)

Funny side story here. Might not even include it. Recently at War On Women shows, I’ve been wearing a shirt I got from the org Shout Your Abortion, and it reads: “I will aid and abet abortion.” A total no-brainer for me, right? But we just got off a tour with Cancer Bats and Spaced, and we played our hometown of Baltimore for the first time in 3 or 4 years. It was packed, it was sweaty, it was amazing, but during our set, in between songs, someone came to the front of the stage and waved for my attention and said “give me the mic, give me the mic.” I said “no, but what’s up.” I hear Brooks’s guitar, we are literally starting the next song, and they just had to ask me “ok but do you really aid and abet abortion?”  and I said “yeah” and they said “oh, ok” and then went back into the crowd. I thought maybe they needed help, but it seemed more like they were testing me. It was odd! But for the record, I have been and will continue to be public about the fact that I will help anyone who wants an abortion get an abortion. And I understand that that could put me in legal trouble. And I don’t care because it’s the right thing to do. But I also understand that by being so public, I might not be a safe option for anonymous help because some asshole ‘pro-lifer’ on a mission might say ‘let’s check the phone records of this baby-killing feminazi. I don’t fucking know how it works, or how it’s going to work or how far it’s going to go. So as a failsafe, please listen to this entire episode and figure out how YOU can be of help. Because for some, it is life or death.

So just to quickly weed out any anti-choicers still listening, by tackling…

[Patreon] 

This episode's sponsors are First Defense Krav Maga in Virginia & Pupcakes and Pawstries. Their links are in the description below. Shoutout to my badass Recruit Melissa P. And because people are getting busy with holiday stuff and are not sending me questions to answer on air in time, I am just gonna shout you all out! So big thanks

Meatheads: Byron C, Bob VV, Adriene C, Zacharie M, Bridget H, Stephen K

Hunters: Tim G, Zach H, Kevin M, Lauren A

Last but not least, Demons: Elaine E, Justin c, Erika, Scott, Fruno, Nicole T, Rick G, Steven I, Matt M (hey friend), Matthew Y, and Michael B.

If you’re listening to this and want to support my work with the podcast, my safer space trainings, and my new adventure in training to become an intimacy director, you can also opt in at a monthly $2 or $5 patronage. It doesn’t get you a shout out, but it does get you my un-ending gratitude.

OK, are they gone? In a bit, I talk with Priya and Lynn from the Baltimore Abortion Fund who helped me understand the Supreme Court stuff a little better, and shared how individuals and communities can help address the immediate needs of someone seeking abortion care.

Coming up right now, my interview with indie pop artist MuMu on her song “Wrapped Up (post-roe)” - it was released shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade, effectively creating large pockets of the country where abortion is not available.

This is clearly a subject I take very seriously, I’ve written multiple songs about it. But even so, you might notice in the interview times when MuMu and I just start laughing. I don’t know about you, but I just can’t physically stay angry 24/7, even though there seems to be unending reasons why we all should be, I think to continue to fight there are times when you just have to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Find joy where you can. Otherwise, you’ll burn out and then you’re no help to anyone. A common theme with all the activists I interview. And frankly it was a joy to speak with MuMu. I hope you enjoy listening.

[INTERVIEW TIME]

——[transcript automatically generated on Youtube, excuse any errors]——

mumu thank you so much for joining me on but her lyrics why don't you introduce yourself to everybody hi thanks for

having me Shauna I'm MooMoo and uh I'm a New York City based Indie

musician I make theatrical pop political

lyrical stuff for your ears and I'm happy to be here uh now you're

categorized as Indie pop on bandcamp okay good to know so someone decided

that at some point um and I think some folks that listen to the show might wonder why I've invited

you on because I always describe this show as like a little Punk podcast but I

think it's still pretty [ __ ] punk to talk about abortion in spaces where

people aren't expecting it or where they maybe explicitly don't want to hear about it like in the pop world

do you feel that resistance from the people in your sphere when you put out a

political song like did this song cause a stir when it was released this past summer

I mean the stir was caused by our country and yes there was there were

there's always trolls on the internet uh actually there was there was some

when I put it out there were some trolls coming at me uh

posting long eloquent

unfactual comments on on my pages and um and then like these badass people

mostly women but i absolute you dudes that come for us as well yes yes we're

we're sort of you know responding and and it was turning into this big uproar on the internet and I had this

dinner with this chick I met on the plane on the way to Europe uh she's very

cool Celia and she she told she's a neuroscientist and she

told me about some study where the conclusion I'm you know a musician so I can't really do science well but the the

conclusion of the study was when you are sort of in between like you have a hunch

something might be true but you're not sure and you read about that it becomes very true in your mind and the takeaway

is when we leave comments up with fake information

um that can contribute to pushing people over the line into believing these

things that they had fears about or curiosity about and I I knew that some of the things that some of these people

were posting were very false and so Celia just gave me the power of

knowledge to delete just delete the comments and wow like it was so

liberating and so I I'm putting that out there for anybody who you know because we have yeah and we have a lot of like

comments help the algorithm [ __ ] that but but what are our priorities and my priority was what I write about in

this song and you know delivering stories about women who are really put

in a terrible place because of what's happening in this country and my priority is not to have an enormous

amount of comments or to give some man with false information a platform to stand on so there you go

that's amazing you know that actually reminded for anyone that listens to the show it reminds me of my conversation

with Ian Danskin from last season where we're talking about how do you actually combat

true false information not not fake news in quotes but like actual false

information things that are dangerous and alt-righty and we talk about anytime there's a comment up that's just fake

like that you either delete it or you counter it with something that's actually true and more compassionate so

that people know that it's not the only thing the only Viewpoint out there and I think that that is

so important and I love that other people kind of came to your post to they

do so that you didn't have to it's like I feel that way too as a musician it's like well I wrote the song do I have to

do all the work on yeah and yes and and defend it and do I have to be an

incredible political speaker because I write about political songs and or political topics but I don't and uh I

know that there's a lot of stuff I have to work on as far as like caring about social media goes but one thing I'm

perfectly fine with not taking part in is a back and forth with somebody who's

just there to frustrate me that's that is there's some weird Instinct within

that you know I don't know what it's about power needing attention never getting the love from their mother whatever the [ __ ] it's

about like I can't help them with that and we can just do this all day long and

it's gonna I'm not gonna be able to make anything I'm not gonna be able to be creative because I'm sitting online like

arguing with a troll so no not doing the second option I'm just deleting

um I was curious into the song I was thinking that there can often be a large gap in time between

writing a song and then actually releasing it yeah so I was wondering when did you start writing this song

I released this song A Very extended version of it maybe about a year ago and

that's just the wrapped up version like just wrapped up because because the one that we're talking about is wrapped up parentheses post row exactly yes so it's

a different version okay so this is wrapped up about a year ago all right right so I guess I'm gonna go back in

time but a little out of order this post row wrapped up was released very shortly

after Roe v Wade got shot down and the day Roe v Wade got shot down

I was in Florida with my manager we woke up to the news I was there opening up

for [ __ ] Riot that night at a pride event so pumped about it you know we flew in

the night before got our burritos went to bed woke up pumped for the day and

Roe v Wade gone so we ball naturally I'm on the toilet she's on the couch I opened the door and

we ball from the toilet to the couch and uh try to you know

talk about our feelings because that's what you know we're good at and that's

what's important to do and then I was like [ __ ] I can't

how am I gonna party tonight like like this is horrible I I want to go I want

to get under the covers but then I was like hold on a second Roe v Wade got shot down

and I have a microphone that I get to stand in front of tonight that's such an honor

and I you know immediately was really grateful for the opportunity and then it's like [ __ ] [ __ ] Riot are you

kidding me yeah for [ __ ] Riot yeah I mean talk about Punk they really know

how to bring it and um and then there was a scramble because I didn't have the gear to switch out the

track and I wanted a new I don't really I hadn't performed wrapped up in a long time and I was

playing with track uh that night and I wanted to cut down I wanted to take

the you know all the extensions the bridge the the instrumentals out and

just tell these stories because it's a song with three different stories about three different women all who are in

need of an abortion and we did the edit uh and it was like a big

scramble I had to give the track directly to the sound guy and was like when I Point At You can you just play the song I thought you were running a

track and I was like play the [ __ ] song okay the world is burning

and uh and I got to talk publicly on that stage about how

you know Roe v Wade being gone doesn't stop abortions from happening it stops them from being safe

and I felt the support of the crowd and that's what's nice about playing live like when you most of the time when

they're not supportive you don't hear from them they just go silent and then the ones who are yeah they're scared in person to challenge you right sure yeah

and then [ __ ] Riot gets you know I'm like very I'm trying to I'm empathizing

with the the difficulty of this issue but you know all of those people out there who are going to be affected by

this and and then [ __ ] ride gets on stage and and the lead singer is like vasectomies prevent abortion looks like

I'm in the right place this is perfect um but I wrote this song

uh and uh I made this song with this wonderful human Jamie Lawrence and uh

when I was writing the lyrics I was in the sound booth because we like to just like boom boom boom like let's get him

we don't know what we're making and then let's make something and so I'm in the sound booth trying to write some lyrics and I remember every time I was writing

for the song and every time I recorded for it I literally had cramps and I'm not wow

yeah and I'm not like a woo-woo kind of per I'm a very practical sort of you

know um I don't follow astrology sorry um but the Moon is just you know it's

pretty but yeah but when it but like this song really really affected me

physically and I know I wasn't sure why I mean it's so obvious but I kept

getting cramps and I was like what is going on I this can't keep happening I you know I'm my period is it's just

occurred it's not coming soon and I didn't I realized that there was something happening between my brain and

my body that I was sort of not noticing until I noticed um

yeah it was a difficult song to to make you're having little mini abortions and solidarity no um

[Laughter] please don't cut that down oh so so yeah so you had a longer

extended version and then kind of as is it because the you knew the Supreme Court ruling was coming up that you

decided to like make some cuts and re-release it to be a more straightforward version I performed that

song that night and got off stage and was like let's get

this ready for a release now this like you said this song goes through like three different situations

three different women's stories about you know abortion maybe being the right choice for them but they're denied

having one do you often write narrative lyrics like telling a story start to

finish uh or is this kind of an outlier for you yeah I think that's where the

theatricality really comes in and I tried to resist that for a long time like really well maybe I should yeah I'm

like maybe because I I grew up writing music from when I was nine I remember my first song it's not that good

unfortunately but um well no one's is mine was about my pick that I was holding playing while playing guitar

it's gorgeous mine was like a mom break up with your husband song Whoa yes it

came out heavy from the start uh yeah quite a baby feminist oh yeah yeah yeah it actually it does it all tracks yeah

I'm very I'm like you need to find someone who treats you with respect the

lyric in the song I love it yeah um so I write very narrative songs and I

started I started with writing music and then ended up sometime at the end of

high school acting professionally and I had been you know pushing that area and then I had an agent and I was

making money so I was like all right I guess I'll do this yeah and you know the songs are like my sort of diary and and

this acting thing will be my my gig and then you know with that and I like to

sing so I ended up in musical theater for a while and did some Broadway and um

so I was very much in that world and it influenced me and that's you know we grew up sort of like yeah I'm doing this

but I'm gonna be this one day and it's like actually every single [ __ ] thing that I did on every day is now who I am

it's all part of the picture yeah so the theater really came in and you know at some point I guess four years ago or

five years ago I decided to put acting on the shelf and tell

the stories I wanted to tell I felt really limited to what kind of messages I was putting out there I was just sort

of a vehicle for someone else's messages and oftentimes they were messages that

were influenced by capitalism and you know what's gonna make money what's

going to run on the air longest blah blah blah and I wanted to talk about [ __ ] that I cared about so

I started releasing music first song was free the nip and there's always a story

I'm working on finding the balance of giving you know it's not like when you

listen to the song you have to listen to a story like if you're listening to the song you're listening to the song I want the option of you can listen to the

story or you can just chill and like continue making that bread that you're making and talking right Grandma

whatever you're doing I'm like a very I have like a very domestic feminist woman in my mind

some You Gotta Eat you know so maybe it I mean like you'll feel great about

it after but yeah they're they're very they're very narrative all of the songs and I'm sort

of embracing it now while I'm throwing in that theatrical you know word into my song genre

I mean I I was gonna save it for later but I could not pass up the chance to

ask you about the fact that you were in a [ __ ] movie called best summer ever

oh yeah I I could only watch a trailer I don't know if I could like see it anywhere for free but if so I'll

probably do it tonight it's on Hulu now oh great yeah all right so everyone watch best summer ever on Hulu it seems

like a lovely movie uh that lead actress her voice is fantastic oh my goddess

yeah Shannon DeVito and you're like you're one of the stars of this movie that's insane

uh well so I I'm the song the head songwriter of the soundtrack it's a musical feature film and I was lucky

enough to music supervise and and um produce the vocals on all the songs so

yeah Shannon DeVito rips on this WOW power ballad and uh I got to be in the

studio with her and see it happen and it was it was incredible so the the the movie is uh form of activism in itself

it's the first feature film with sag-aftra which is the you know the

union for all the all the big things that go on TV and it's the first sag

after feature film to ever have uh over half the cast and crew with people with

disabilities so it's really um it was really incredible to make this

and learn so much from everybody involved and you know write

these songs and then hear them colored in this way that I could have never imagined by these voices

from people with different minds and different bodies than me and you know like you write a song and you're like

okay this is whatever and then you hear someone else who is their own beautiful creature bring it to life and it was it

was a really incredible experience to to make that movie and yes I'm also the cheerleader [ __ ] in the movie and I

love apologies in advance that's what that's the role I would want I love it okay cool

um yeah that I just thought that was so cool in in researching you like all these different things that you've

you've done and yeah there's no question there I just saw it gets rad high five yay thanks

virtual high five um okay back to the song okay wrapped up

Post Road I'm already getting cramps just talking about it oh no damn it's

say as much or as little as you want obviously about this but is there a specific incident that inspired the

writing of this song or was it just this general feeling of frustration with the way things are going with these laws I

mean I think every single person with female anatomy in this country has a

specific story with how they feel about what's going on um apparently people with male anatomy

do too I'm not sure why but there we are and I've I've not had an abortion it's

not that I wouldn't have an abortion it's that I haven't had to I wanted to

approach this song with compassion for people who are against abortions because

it was a long journey for me but I came to find that people who believe differently than me

are not bad people and that's it's really I mean it's it is funny how how

hard that was for me to come to but but a big Journey with that was thinking about how when I was a kid I think or I

thought I was not for abortions and I'm talking like eight years old you know

sure my sister got pregnant when she was 17 and had my niece and I sort of somehow

connected those things because I knew everyone around was like ooh a teen mom like hush hush hush and to me I was like

my sister's a rock star and I love my niece and when I I remember talking to a friend who had you know a more a family

that talked about this subject more I guess because he was more informed yeah I was a dude he was like

you know abortions are they're they're they're good we need those we need those available for women and I was like but

my niece I love my niece and I it really like there's it was such a small box of information that I was working with and

when I you know continue these conversations when I got a little older

more was revealed it was like yeah you like having an abortion

it doesn't mean every every baby should be aborted it means that somebody should

choose or it doesn't mean you need to have an abortion it just means like that you aren't choosing for someone else and

and another concept that I uh learned more about was abortions aren't really

done willy-nilly like they're not they're not just a casual like teeth

cleaning at the dentist like and I and I I knew that but then I fully realized that when recently I guess it was a

about a year ago now I was in close contact with a friend who got an

abortion and she's someone who you know had been donating to Planned Parenthood and was very outspoken about her you know

pro-choice beliefs but when it came to her it was a really hard decision to

make and it was not with the right person and it was not at the right time and her finances are not there and you

know like there was so there were so many reasons why she wasn't really you

know wanting to try to make this baby situation happen right now but her body

went through so much her mind went through so much her heart is still broken about it and it's a year later

and witnessing that I was like wow we are really we misunderstand a lot of the at least

some of us misunderstand a lot of this um so with the song I

as I as I went on my own Journey with with realizing all of the

you know it's all the complexities of this topic I wanted to not preach and not tell

people what to believe I just wanted to tell some stories and so the first verse is about

a kid who is having a hard time at home and uh her mom isn't very present with

her and it's just the two of them and there's a boy who sort of you know says

the right things does the right things plays the part and and until he can have sex with her that's what he's after I'm

not I'm not trying to make boys you know the problem but like as a kid you know a lot of kids the boys are conditioned to

believe that sex is their goal and the girls are you know conditioned to believe that not having sex is their

goal and bull so this this this daughter um this kid she gets pregnant and she

tries to to get an abortion and uh walking into the clinic

uh people screamed and rocks were thrown at her lyric reference

the second verse is about a college student who gets roofied and needs an

abortion and her mom blames her and uh and sort of you know guilts her into

having this child when you know she's right in the middle of getting a college degree she suddenly needs to

have a child and raise a child and the third verse is about a woman who is Raising five children on

her own and she lives in a state where abortions are

not legal and um her ex you know shows up and they have

like a fling for a night and he takes off in the morning as usual and turns out she's pregnant and she tries to find

a place to get an abortion and she can't she can't drive you know 10 hours

and she can't leave her five kids at home and she can't afford to take off work and

um she ends up drinking her herself uh to death that she dies you

know just a light Indie pop song really fun yeah really like you can definitely

just you know cruise and bake your bread while you listen

I'm baking bread right now by the way I I like in the song that you're you're

talking about families the family pressure societal pressure and then just

like a lack of access the the Strategic lack of access

um and so you show that it's not just one thing and that it's complicated and

everyone has their reasons and um it's just a really humanizing way obviously to talk talk about this issue

um which I think I you know I believe in diverse tactics right and so I think we need all kinds of different stories

uh and art made about reproductive Justice so that at some point everyone will get

the message hopefully hopefully and I and there's a

huge problem with the way information is spread in different areas of the country and I'm aware of that and I'm aware that

there's some very very good wonderful people who are very much against

abortions being legal in this country I don't know how to reach them it can

get very disheartening um making music like this and

see things like Roe v Wade getting shot down happen but you know I I do it because I have a certain amount of time

on the planet and this is kind of the only thing I know how to do and uh it's the only thing that really

matters to me so why not just make my contribution whether it's for

the two people on Instagram who write to me about their abortions and how grateful they are to hear this or for

you know changing laws I don't know I don't know where any of it goes I just I just need to get it out

do you have any recommendations for someone that's looking to radicalize themselves

any organizations books media anything at all yes so

I would recommend keep our clinics it's a great place to

learn about you know if you want to be supporting a certain clinic in your state or in another state whatever your

reasons are they have all of the clinics listed the independently funded clinics and that's a you know everybody makes

their contribution in different ways you might want to donate dollars you might want to volunteer you might want to write a song Whatever it is like

there's options out there I think we're sort of at least me I can I can lean toward and I feel like we're as a

society an All or Nothing kind of person or people and there's actually

all of this gray area like you don't need to absolutely do nothing for a cause you care about and you don't have

to devote your life to it you can find an independent abortion you know uh

provider in your state or another state that you care about and donate ten dollars a month

um there's a what was this pro-choiceamerica.org has a lot of good

information uh abortionsfinder.org is a good place to is a resource for those who need

abortions and yeah just I I would say like my suggestion would be to think about

what you have the capacity for and you know like budget in all the other cool stuff you're doing in your life and your

self-care and whatever you're I know we all have a lot going on but think about

like is it is it a financial thing that you can commit to even a small one or is it a volunteer based thing or is it

making phone calls or whatever it is like we can all make a difference and it doesn't need to be

you know a life a life commitment

yeah like because otherwise it'll just wear us down exactly we'll just

experience that burnout and give up completely exactly but we are powerful in numbers and if if we all are silently

caring about something and sitting around wishing it would change it's not going to

but we can all make up a practical reasonable contribution and Magic will

happen so I I urge people to not get discouraged I also validate you feeling

discouraged because I feel discouraged on a regular basis but then I need to put my big girl pants on and get the

[ __ ] out there and do something and get back to work yeah yeah um to end on something a little more fun

as far as I understand it wait that wasn't fun no I mean it's fun for me but I'm a feminist so okay great

um the song You released after wrapped up is called honeymoon sex and it's

described as an Ode to one night stands yeah whose genius idea was that to

release that song after rep so that would feed me I love it I love that juxtaposition tell

me about that um I have ADHD okay so that's my reasoning uh I I

there's I mean as you know music takes a long time to make and then prep for

release yeah and like you mix and you master and then you send it to the distribution and then you get your plan

together and blah blah blah blah blah so like it's months and months later um honeymoon sex is a song about having

unrealistic expectations for a one-night stand it's a sort of yeah it's a total

pivot or not I don't know how you interpret it yeah maybe in the Jukebox

musical they're actually like directly related anyone sex would come first though and then rap yeah I think that

orders backwards but yeah yeah okay um so honeymoon sex like is I'm sort of

a uh intimacy junkie when it comes to my any relationships like it's all or

nothing again I'm a very All or Nothing person and I was in a I was in between

relationships and uh in that rebound mode and was like yeah I wouldn't mind

hooking up with someone like that would be fun but I really needed to be very intimate and we need to be completely in

love and you can tell me that they're ready to devote their life to our love and happiness but then I also need no

like want nothing you know no commitment involved the next morning because I

really would like to be single right now it's a tough balance here yeah it's tough and honeymoon sex I I made a weird

video for honeymoon sex that's out but honeymoon love is a different ver it's

just the word love instead of sex and I did it with uh a lot of the cast that is

in the movie best summer ever oh my gosh yeah and it's super fun it's like I'm I

think it's my favorite music video I've ever made and I love making these things so cool we'll put links to everything in

the show notes yeah okay that'll come out at the end of November so we'll give you the YouTube link if people can

subscribe how funny um well tell everyone where they can find you online or if there's anything

you want to plug other than that video that will be out by the time this episode's Out ooh fun you can find me at

music of MooMoo that's m-u-m-u that's on all the platforms

um I have a lot of fun videos on YouTube and Instagrams where I post about shows

uh oh a fun thing that happened recently was big mouth on Netflix

they licensed my song free the nip for their second episode and I just

congratulations on that thank you I just saw it a couple days ago it was very fun and they use it well like the episode's

like about like nipple twisting eroticism and then free the new place and

uh so that's pretty exciting that is amazing that's great I'm so I'm so I've

I've had a song license before and it's like it's just such a nice treat oh God I mean the money is good but just also

the like wow my song found a home that feels so cool yeah yeah

awesome that's awesome so link to that as well in the show notes moo moo thank you so much for joining me on the

podcast I really appreciate you spending some time with me to talk about the song wrapped up post row thanks Shauna I

really love the work you're doing and I'm grateful to be on this podcast today

Thanks again to MuMu. The personal is political, and her song does a great job of making the political, personal. Diverse tactics, baby. And now, my conversation with Lynn and Priya from the BAF, lending their expertise to the big questions, like “what the fuck is going on?” and “What can we do?”

——[transcript automatically generated on Youtube]——

well hi everyone thank you both so much for joining me on but her lyrics

um this is the first time I've had two guests at once why don't you introduce yourselves to everybody

sure I can go first um my name is Lynn mckenia and I'm the um co-director of the Baltimore abortion fund and my name

is Priya hey Chatterjee I am the communications manager of the Baltimore abortion fund

um so I admit I haven't always known what an abortion

fund is so just for anyone that hasn't heard of that what is an abortion fund and why are they needed

yeah so for some um kind of historical context and background

um so the Hyde Amendment which is still the law of the land federally prohibits

Federal funding of abortion care um and so now also in addition to that

many Health insurers and so that includes some private insurers and

Medicaid in many states don't cover the cost of abortions

um so abortion funds help meet that need and make abortion care more accessible

by funding our clients abortions um and also in some cases providing

practical support like transportation and child care for folks who are having

abortions and so the Baltimore abortion fund specifically

um serves people who are in Maryland or are traveling to Maryland to have

abortions um we're often small and community-based organizations and we're flexible in

terms of the support um and eligibility for support that we

can offer right so not just the service but the expenses that might come around getting the service uh the travel and

child care and all that stuff that's great I am I'm embarrassed to admit when I finally learned about abortion funds

because for a long time I was only ever aware of Planned Parenthood which

provides Direct Services and maybe like gnarl um are abortion funds new like how long

have they been around so the Baltimore abortion fund was established in 2014.

most abortion funds are in terms of how old non-profits often are

um a lot of abortion funds are relatively new um but they're not new in that they're

meeting a need that is new hmm yeah this is Lynn um I just wanted to

add on that like I think the concept of an abortion fund is something that's like certainly in people's minds

um since uh you know the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs um but the the concept

of communities of care and communities taking care of each other and making sure that we can access reproductive

health care that we can get abortions has gone on for decades and centuries

honestly um so while many people may be hearing about the concept of an abortion fund for a long time

um these structures and these systems of care have been in place um and it's all part of

um you know Mutual Aid and taking care of each other yeah it falls under mutual Aid right and it just seems more like

official and organized now maybe than it was in in the past like we can be more open and honest about it and advertise

it as a place um you know that you can go to for help and there are even some abortion funds

that have been around for decades um you know since before Roe was codified

um in the 70s um or right around the time that Roe was codified in the 70s there are a few abortion funds that have have been

around for that long so you mentioned uh Priya the the recent Supreme we both have mentioned the

recent Supreme Court decision for anyone that doesn't speak legalese can you give us the elevator pitch

version of the recent Supreme Court decision like what happened and what

does it mean yeah so the recent uh Supreme Court decision on abortion rights was called

Dobbs V Jackson um or Dobbs for short so the Dobbs

decision overturned two cases actually it overturned Roe versus Wade the 1973

decision that legalized abortion nationally and it also overturned Planned

Parenthood V Casey which was a 1992 decision that prevented States from

placing an undue burden so basically unnecessary barriers on accessing

abortion care um and some background on abortion

rights in the U.S that kind of help understand where we are now

um Dobbs was not the beginning of the end of abortion rights

um ever since Roe was decided States and localities with Conservative Christian

Fascist governments have been finding their own creative ways to curb abortion

access um in several States in which abortion is now illegal only had one or two

clinics to serve millions of people before Dobbs was decided so in a lot of

rural areas people were already experiencing this sexual and reproductive Health apartheid

essentially um and a healthcare apartheid in general in which there are very few Avenues

through which they could actually access care so at the time the Dobbs was decided

several States had what we were calling trigger laws meaning that if roe and

Casey were overturned abortion would either immediately become illegal or it

would become very heavily restricted in those States so in a nutshell Dobbs

removed Federal protections of abortion rights allowing states to decide for

themselves whether abortion should remain legal and what barriers should or should not exist when patients are

trying to access care and I think a big function of Dobbs

um has been causing confusion um a lot of people thought that the

Dobbs decision meant that abortion is now illegal um and

we're not aware of protections already existing in some states so while Dobbs did allow abortions to

become illegal or very heavily restricted in some areas more so than they were before it's also caused this

massive amount of confusion as to whether abortion is or is not legal

in a state but also just nationally and that's just another barrier so in this

episode's song Mumu describes three different scenarios when people might have preferred to get an abortion but it

wasn't an option for them I'm not sure if you read the lyrics but did any of the situations stick out for you

yeah so I think the last situation with the single parent who's already raising

six kids stuck out to me personally because what a lot of people don't realize about abortion care is that the

majority of people who have abortions are already parents or they have already

given birth before so having an abortion isn't always just about deciding whether

to become a parent but also whether you want to parent more children and so

abortion Bans are cruel in any case but especially in a country with very limited support for families like no

Universal Pre-K no free child care very limited public transit often not being

able to access an abortion means that resources aren't increasingly scarce

just for the pregnant person but also for all the people who depend on them so

in that case it's not just one person's life trajectory who's being affected

it's everybody else who's dependent on that person yeah I I was gonna ask what are the

patterns um uh you know who is actually getting these procedures most often and you're

answering a lot of a lot of them are parents already why is it helpful for us to know that

like the reality because I think the right is trying to paint a certain picture of of just completely like it's

completely immoral and there's no wiggle room it's like very uh black and white

um but that probably isn't the case yeah um as as with most situations in our

lives there's very little um that is black and white right and often I mean everybody has abortions

really the the number um is I think about one in four people

uh who have reproductive capabilities will have an abortion in their lifetime

and so that doesn't just apply to people on the left there are people too there

are people who are anti-abortion who have abortions too that's not to say that if you're anti-abortion you don't

deserve access to an abortion because everybody who wants to be able to have an abortion should be able to and you

should be able to access that care in your own community but

that's unfortunately not the landscape that we're in right now everybody has

abortions but not everybody has Equitable access to them

and I think like one of the um one of the things that's really stuck with me

um is just that we should trust people to make their own decisions about their health care about their bodies and so to try to

paint this as a black girl a white issue as something that is you know polarizing divisive one side is great one side is

wrong really ignores all of the complexity and nuances of people's lives and the fact that we should all be

empowered to make the best decision for ourselves for our families

um and to control our futures and know

there's no amount of theoretical moral argument that somebody

can make from their own perspective that can be so broadly applied to like every aspect of human

life and every decision that somebody might want to make right that shouldn't be federal law for everyone yeah

another little little fact the vast majority of people who have abortions

are poor or low income so if the only option for accessing abortion care is to

take time off work travel a long distance to get to your appointment then

that's not an exception for somebody who can already barely make ends meet in the first place and has a busy schedule so

everybody of every background has abortions um but it is also important to

understand the socioeconomic factors that affect abortion access as well and

it ties directly into mumu's song lyrics too of a mother of six needing looking

at what the landscape of abortion access looks like in her State and realizing

that she would have to drive six hours to get to the New York nearest clinic and child care gas money

taking off time from work all the factors that Priya just mentioned um are

can be overwhelming obstacles for something to overcome and why abortion funds exist in

the first place what do you wish people knew about abortion like what do you not get asked

about enough one big mission that abortion funds and a lot of abortion access advocacy organizations are

um are facing right now is we all wish people knew that abortion pills are safe

and effective okay and that you can get abortion pills in all 50 states there's

not a whole lot of awareness about self-managed abortion and a lot of the

Impressions that we have of self-managed abortion of you know coat hanger imagery

is that it is violent and dangerous and unsafe

um but abortion pills are very safe they're very effective

um and you can even order them online so sites like plan C pills.org and I need

an a.com can direct you to ways to access abortion in your state and that

can sometimes include buying abortion pills online and getting them shipped to you in the event that you can't access

um abortion care in your state what are the next few steps in this

fight like post the scotus decision um how can people

help right now what should we be doing should we should we be stocking up on abortion pills in our own homes are we

donating what what should we do buying abortion we fully encourage people to buy abortion pills

um and if you if you have the money to have them on hand and pass them around

then absolutely go for it um The Next Step

Statewide for Maryland is codifying abortion rights in our

state's Constitution so right now abortion access is legally codified into

our law but not into the actual constitution of the state of Maryland oh

okay yeah I thought we were safe here I thought everything was fine here but there's an extra step to make it yeah so

we are relatively in a pretty safe space for abortion protections right now but

yeah codifying abortion rights in our state's Constitution would be the next

step to really ensure that that is a standard moving forward and that it's

going to be something that if somebody were to try to remove that from the Constitution that would be a very

difficult process um so what folks should keep in mind

um what folks should keep an eye on in 2023 is that during legislative session

that codification will be coming up for votes and then the way that that would

be implemented is that we would have a valid initiative in 2024 for Maryland

voters to affirm that they want this codified in the state's Constitution so

that's something that we will be seeing come up in 2023 and 2024 and so I would

encourage folks to keep an eye out for her action alerts from the Maryland Reproductive Rights Coalition so that's

one way that you can stay informed about abortion access in Maryland specifically another is to donate to and or volunteer

with your local abortion fund we will always plug donating to and volunteering with the Baltimore abortion fund

um we are always accepting volunteer interests forms we always welcome

donations and one-time donations are great but we also appreciate monthly donations big or small that help us

budget for upcoming months um so keeping an eye on what's happening in

the state legislature this upcoming session will be really key and then finding out how to get involved

with your local abortion fund is one way that you can help get involved in the

community responsibility of helping people access abortion locally I love that response Priya and I think one

other important piece of context to add is like there's kind of these two parallel but equally important

um paths forward for further expanding abortion access

there's the legal Avenues which here in Maryland are very specific and are about like strengthening our existing

protections but then there's also the immediate reality where people across the country do not have access to care

right now and so in addition to pursuing some of these longer term strategies

around legality and federal protections Etc there's also the very immediate

present where donating to an abortion fund literally translates into someone having enough money for a bus ticket or

a plane ticket or enough money to pay for their procedure to actually get the care that they need so it's twofold it's

about protecting people in this moment and supporting each other in this moment while we are working in tandem to some

of these legal strategies especially on the state and federal level which will take like really like years to come to

fruition and kind of undo the ramifications of what we're currently seeing and those ramifications are real

right like it's not hyperbole to say people will die without access to

abortion yes yeah it's essential life-changing Healthcare period And there are people

whose lives are in physical danger especially black brown queer trans

people who are living at the intersections of various oppressions living as part of a Health Care system

that is already making it difficult for them to access care um so yes for many people in the U.S

abortion access is a life or death issue it's not um hyperbole to say that I I

can't like really sum it up any more than that that'll do it um where can people best find the

Baltimore abortion fund and where can people find their maybe local abortion funds yeah so we are at

baltimoreabortionfund.org um and Baltimore fund on Instagram and

if you follow us on social media then you'll also see every now and then if we have a request if we have time sensitive

funding requests to meet an urgent need you'll see those

requests you'll see those asks on our social media pages

and on our website you can find more information about the services that we

offer to support people who are having abortions and need money to fund their

abortions and then we also have a Blog on there with just more information about the

movement for abortion rights yeah Lynn did you have anything to add there

no just a shout out that priya's been writing some really awesome um articles for our blog all about like

pushing back against abortion stigma what to know about later abortion care in Maryland

um so if you want to learn more specifically about local

access local issues um in abortion care uh that's like a

really Maryland specifics or some information and then um for finding

other abortion funds so the national network of abortion funds has an abortion fund directory so if you plug

in your city or your address your ZIP code you can locate the abortion one that is

nearest to you or abortion funds in your state in general the national network of

abortion funds will has a list and will be able to direct you to the resources

that are local to you cool well obviously I'll put all that in the show notes

um and anything else that y'all are able to send me any links or resources uh we'll be there so look out for that and

uh Lynn Priya thank you both so much for joining me on short notice to talk about abortion yay I really appreciate your

time today thank you yeah thank you for having us yeah it's been awesome um we love

talking about abortion so any chance that we get to do it um we are there

me too

{guitar break}

You can support this podcast by liking my youtube channel, and sharing, subscribing, and reviewing But Her Lyrics.. Wherever you get your podcasts - it’s free and it helps. To find episode transcripts, or to find out more about what I do, my book, my trainings, my patreon, head to shawnapotter.com

To learn about all things WOW, head to linktr.ee/waronwomen

All of those links we mentioned in the interview are in this video’s description. While writing and editing this episode, I think my area of improvement is to hold other’s close, with love and empathetic curiosity. And to recognize that doing so does not invalidate my anger. I’d love to hear your area of improvement if you’re willing to share. Thanks for listening. Abortion Forever.

LYRICS: “Wrapped Up (Post Roe)”

Verse1:

The daughter of a child

Raised by the sea

Has yet to know

All she can be

She watched her mother

Mend her heart

With many men

Till she fell apart

This child tried

The best she could

To find a boy

Who understood

He took her hand

And swore a lie

Until she opened up her thighs

Pre-chorus:

And when she went to the doctor

People screamed and rocks were thrown

They wanted a child

To have a child of her own

Chorus:

All the fear you give

And all the faith you hold

Is heavy on her heavy heart of gold

All your virtue and strong beliefs

Wrapped up in her destiny

Verse 2:

Momma’s strict

But freedoms here

She’s on her own

It’s freshman year

Studies hard

And gets the grades

It’s Friday

Time to celebrate

A charming boy

Who warms her up

Puts her choice

In a solo cup

On a red light

He passes go

She didn’t say yes or no

Pre-chorus:

And when she talked to her mother

She was shamed and she was blamed

Nine months later

A child was born without a name

Chorus:

All the fear you give

And all the faith you hold

Is heavy on her heavy heart of gold

All her hard work and all her dreams

Wrapped up in her destiny

Verse 3:

A woman on her own

Works day and night

With six mouths to feed

Money’s tight

She never cried

Or wanted more

Forgot her dreams

So long before

Her ex shows up

With one desire

One night to

Rekindle fire

He left her there

With bills to pay

And one more child on the way

Pre-chorus:

And when she looked at her options

She’d have to drive all through the night

She drank till she bled

Now six mouths will go unfed

Chorus:

All the fear you give

All the faith you hold

Is heavy on her heavy heart of gold

You’re wide awake

She’s fast asleep

Wrapped up in her destiny

Outro:

There’s things a hateful eye can’t see

Love don’t judge and peace don’t scream

Mind your own destiny

credits

released August 5, 2022

Music by: Jamie Lawrence and MuMu

Band:

Drums: Jamie Lawrence

Guitar: Jack Broza

Back up vocals: Nataysha Echeveria