Women's Health on the Ballot: What Trump's and Harris's Policies Mean for You with Priya Bathija

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That pick just stamped the approval for what she was prioritizing.

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Because when you looked at the people that were in the mix or rumored to be in the mix, I mean there were a lot of good choices but no one was as strong in those areas that you just talked about.

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As Tim Walls has been, Welcome back to the United she Stands podcast, the show that brings kindness and women into politics.

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I'm Ashley and I'm Sarah, and we're two women from Ohio who are here to become more educated about American politics and build a community so we can all get involved and make an impact together.

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We hope we'll inspire and empower you along the way.

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Hello everyone and welcome back to the United she Stands podcast Today.

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We have Priya back with us today and I believe she is our first repeat guest.

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So how awesome is that.

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And, of course, we are so excited to talk to her about the election.

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In regards to women's health.

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So Priya Muthija is a nationally recognized healthcare leader, attorney and policy expert.

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She is currently founder and CEO of New Health, which serves as a guide for healthcare leaders as they improve women's health.

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Previously, she was at the American Hospital Association, where she led policy efforts and strategic initiatives on value, health equity and maternal health.

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She started her career as a healthcare attorney and served as in-house counsel and a member of the executive leadership teams at ProMedica and MedStar Health.

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Priya is also a distinguished practitioner and resident at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

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Priya welcome back.

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Thank you for having me.

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I'm so excited to be here.

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So happy you're here.

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Priya, Thanks for joining us again and just thanks for the time.

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We know you're a busy lady.

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Yeah, no, I'm really excited to be here and to talk about the election and its importance on women's health Absolutely.

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But, priya, as you learned last time, we do have a bit of a ritual at the beginning.

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We need to share what we're drinking.

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I'll pass it to you first, priya, because I saw your glass and your camera.

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Yes, so I am drinking oops, there it is sparkling rosé and I know you guys, you gals, are beer gals, but I am not, and so last time I was on I had a cider, and this time it's sparkling rosé Amazing, we do not discriminate.

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That sounds lovely there's actually a pretty big wine person too.

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I yeah, I do love me some wine.

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So yeah, honestly, it depends on the day if I like beer or wine more.

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You know, it just depends, honestly, the temperature outside often dictates what.

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What I like better I like how ashley's just like yep, I'm beer I mean I'll drink wine, but I'm gonna pick a beer almost any time first.

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Ash, what are you drinking?

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I'm actually going non-alcoholic on you guys today.

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Um, so I have a mango dragon fruit fruited sour from Untitled Arts.

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We brought them back from Wisconsin when we were up there nice yeah what about you, sarah?

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I am drinking none other than Jackie O's Endless Echoes.

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It's one of my favorite um hazy IPAs that they have.

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And how perfect.

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I'm drinking it in my Bobcat Brew Trail from the Alumni Association koozie, so feeling old over here but enjoying the brew nonetheless.

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Love that.

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All right, priya, let's dive in then, today.

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So we know we have two candidates at this point that we actually know a decent amount about, so we have Donald Trump and Kamala Harris running for the highest office.

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Let's start the conversation by maybe just looking back at their records.

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So how was the state of women's health or health care under the Trump administration, and what, if any like legislation or action did that administration take to improve health care for women while they were in office?

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Yes, so I will just generally say that under the Trump administration, things weren't that great.

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I'll start with health care for everyone and kind of take a step back in history and in time, but within the first year of Trump's presidency, you may remember that he issued an executive order stating that the official position of his administration was to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

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That order even allowed federal agencies to postpone or delay implementing specific provisions.

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So we're in 2017.

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The ACA had been passed in 2010.

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So, seven years later, after many of its provisions have been implemented, after 51 million Americans had gained access to insurance coverage, including those with pre-existing conditions after all, americans had gained access to a large amount of preventative services that they didn't have guaranteed access to before, and at a time when Republicans had failed on numerous occasions to repeal the law, trump made sure and made it clear to all of us that his goal was to repeal the ACA, and he tried to do that unsuccessfully.

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And his efforts failed for a lot of reasons, but one that has always stuck out to me was that there was no meaningful replacement ever offered by Trump and the Republicans.

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There wasn't an alternative plan to make sure that the 51 million individuals who may leave coverage would get it somewhere else.

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There was no plan to make sure that everyone had access to these preventative services.

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But despite this failure to sort of repeal ACA as a whole, he was able to make some changes to minimize access under the ACA.

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So, for example, he stopped payments for cost-sharing subsidies, which increased subsidies for many Americans, and his administration also reduced funding for outreach to get individuals to sign up for insurance coverage.

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So we saw some of the lowest enrollment rates in the ACA exchanges during his term.

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I also want to mention that he was president when COVID went into effect, and while I will give him credit for his approach on managing vaccine procurement, generally speaking, his administration's approach led to a lot of confusion, whether that was around safety requirements, whether that was confusion and information exchange between the federal government, states and different providers, or failures around efforts to obtain personal protective equipment or crazy treatment plans like ingesting bleach.

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So that is sort of health care as a whole under the Trump administration.

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But when we look at women's health specifically, there's some action we can look to right.

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So his proposal to repeal the ACA could have impacted women's ability to access certain preventative services that were designed specifically to be covered for women.

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So things like access to mammograms, access to cardiovascular screenings.

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He also limited financial support for family planning clinics that offered abortion care.

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As a result, nearly 25% of family planning clinics, which is approximately a thousand clinics nationwide, like Planned Parenthood clinics, had less money to work with as they provided necessary support to women.

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And then, last and sort of, the biggest is that he takes credit for overturning Roe v Wade and the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision.

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This has created a fractured landscape, a patchwork of abortion laws across the country.

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Since then, 14 states have banned abortion.

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In the United States, six states have early gestational limits, between six and 15 weeks from the last menstrual period.

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So, as a result of the actions in these 20 states, nearly a third of the US population of women that are of reproductive age live in an area where abortion isn't available or it's severely limited.

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So Dobbs has had a significant impact on people's lives, especially people who already had barriers stacked against them.

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So, for example, communities of color, lgbtq plus individuals, young people, immigrants, people living with low incomes and those living with disabilities.

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So the anti-abortion policies have led to those health equities becoming even worse.

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So the reality is the patchwork that we now have as a result of the overturning of Roe v Wade in the Dobbs decision that Trump takes absolute credit for is keeping women from getting the health care they need.

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And I just want to shout out New Health your company, priya, and all of its social media that I follow.

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So LinkedIn and Instagram, I think, are the main two.

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I learned a lot about what you just said like kind of the aftermath of Trump's decisions, and you know the what has happened since he's been in office from your social media accounts.

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And so I want to shout out a new health go follow them on Instagram and LinkedIn, because you will be learning about women's health when you're when you're scrolling the interwebs.

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So thanks for saying that, because, as you, as you both know, it takes a lot of time to do that social media, and so it's nice to know that people are reading and learning from it.

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Yeah, yeah.

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And, just as always, you just like summarize that so well, because I I remember like when we're like thinking about crafting these questions, I'm like, oh my gosh, there's so much here, like I was pretty even going to unpack this, um, but I think it was just such a great overview of kind of where we're at and what has happened since Donald Trump's administration.

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Yeah, and I think that's that's the thing, right.

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There's so many pieces to this and there's so many different laws and regulations that can impact the health of women that we don't often think about them in our day to day.

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I doubt a lot of people thought, oh, if they're going to overturn the ACA, there are specific provisions in there that are related to women's health, like, for example, you know they're supposed to cover birth control, and if that had been overturned, women who relied on that free copay and the free birth control no longer would have that.

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And I think that sometimes women's health gets lost in the larger conversations and that's why it's so important to me and so many others that are doing this work to make sure that not just women, but everyone knows what's happening, that not just women, but everyone knows what's happening.

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Yeah, absolutely yeah.

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So, shifting to maybe more positive gear here, let's look back at Kamala Harris's record in regards to what she's done during the Biden-Harris administration.

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So how is the state of women's healthcare under this administration?

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What legislation or action have they taken to improve health care for women, et cetera?

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Let's hear some positive things.

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Yeah.

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So it really is like night and day and you know there's so many improvements that can be done to improve women's health and by no means has the Biden-Harris administration been perfect or done all that can be done, but it's very good news when you look at their record on women's health.

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So I mentioned the ACA when I started to talk about Trump.

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Biden and Harris have continued to implement changes that improve access to coverage for Americans.

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So they've done that by increasing subsidies through the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act.

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They've fixed what you may have heard of the family glitch and restored subsidies for dependents who are accessing health care through the ACA exchanges.

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They've done a lot on affordability.

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I was actually invited to a White House event last week, and when I got the invitation, it just said it would be about lowering costs, and I was like, hmm, interesting, like are they going to talk about health care costs?

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Are they going to talk about, like, interest rates and homeownership and things that I don't actually work in on a day to day basis?

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And so I did some research to see what they may be announcing or talking about at the event, and what I found was that they have a pretty expansive action plan for lowering costs for Americans and they've actually taken a lot of steps to lower healthcare costs for Americans and a lot of changes to drug costs.

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For example, they capped insulin at $35.

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They capped prescription drug costs for seniors at $2,000.

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And then the event itself was to announce new prices for 10 Medicare negotiated drugs.

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So just as a little backstory, historically Medicare has not been allowed to negotiate drug prices on behalf of its 65 million beneficiaries with pharmaceutical companies.

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Democrats work to change the law and in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, got the ability to negotiate these prices for a limited number of drugs, and the first 10 have been in negotiation over the last two years with drug companies and they have finally announced the prices.

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And these are really commonly used drugs.

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They are drugs that are very expensive but they treat conditions like cardiac conditions, diabetes very common things that are needed for those on Medicare.

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And while it won't go into effect until 2026, in the announcement they estimated that you know it would lead to $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket cost savings to Medicare beneficiaries and $6 billion in savings to the government.

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So these are really consequential savings to Americans.

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Yeah, I was hoping you were going to touch on that.

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I know it's like pretty fresh, but yeah, I had just seen all the announcements around that.

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That's a really big win.

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Yeah, and it's really exciting.

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And, of course, this issue of negotiating drug prices has been one that's been around for a long time and has been.

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You know, republicans and Democrats have very different positions on it, so it was a really big deal to get to the point where they could negotiate 10 drugs.

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And it doesn't seem like that much when you say 10 drugs, but when you look at the estimated savings it's a pretty big deal, and each year as we move forward, more and more drugs will be added to that.

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So it's a big win for Americans, you know.

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And in terms of abortion, since we are talking about women's health, they've also tried to do as much as they can to protect our rights to what we have left after Dobbs Right.

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So most of the ability and authority related to abortion has been passed back to the states.

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But there were things that they were able to do.

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They revised restrictions on medication abortion pills to allow dispensing via certified pharmacies and telehealth.

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They issued guidance around abortions that are performed to stabilize the health of people in emergency departments and said that they were protected under our EMTALA law, even in states that banned abortions.

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They strengthened HIPAA protections for data privacy for requests for information around reproductive care, for information around reproductive care, and, of course, they've defended abortion cases in all the federal courts, up to the Supreme Court, related to medication, abortion and emergency abortions.

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So they have done what they can within the purview of their authority after the Dobbs decision.

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And then they've done some really exciting things that I don't think anyone expected them to do, and the first is around clinical research and innovation.

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Last November, I believe it was President Biden and his wife, jill Biden, the first lady, launched the first ever White House initiative on women's health research.

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So so, ashley, you were the first to tell me about this and it's actually spread like wildfire since it was announced, and it's really a whole government approach to women's health research and innovation.

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And when I was on your podcast last time, we talked about how there's so much that we still don't know about women's health.

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We don't know about diseases like endometriosis that occur only in women.

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We don't have a lot of answers to cognitive conditions like Alzheimer's that mostly occur in women, and we don't have, you know, real education around how to treat women in those conditions that appear differently, like cardiovascular care.

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So there's a lot more we need to learn and this task force.

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This effort by the administration really gave all of us hope that down the road we might find answers to those things and even more like how to support women in midlife right, including changes that take place during perimenopause, menopause and postmenopause.

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We all go through this, but we don't know enough to really understand how to support women as they do that.

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And then, last, I just want to touch on maternal health, and I'm sorry I'm talking so much.

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They've just they've done a lot.

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Yeah, no love it, keep going.

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Yeah, but they started their administration by issuing a maternal health blueprint and it was meant to be again a whole of government approach to addressing our maternal mortality crisis in this country.

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And they've had some really, really big wins.

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For example, in the American Rescue Plan, they were able to pass a law that allows for Medicaid coverage one year postpartum, which is huge, because almost half of the births in our country are covered by Medicaid, and prior to this law passing, medicaid was just required to cover health care services for 60 days after delivery, and data has shown us over and over again that the most challenges and the most maternal deaths actually happened between seven and 365 days after delivery.

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So we weren't even covering that most dangerous time for women.

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So the American Rescue Plan gave states the ability to expand that.

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One year postpartum.

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We've seen a lot of funding go to testing new models and care delivery pathways.

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They established a maternal mental health hotline, which is critical because maternal mental health is the leading cause of pregnancy-related death in our country.

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For those that need that number, it's 1-800-TLC-MAMA or mama.

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You can use that to ask questions, get support from trained counselors as you go through this phase of life.

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And then they've made a lot of investments in training the next generation of workforce.

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As you all might have seen like we have shortages of everything when it comes to obstetrics today and those shortages are expected to be even greater in the future.

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So they have invested in training OBGYNs, primary care physicians, doulas, midwives and nurses to really address those shortages.

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So again, I talked forever in response to that, but there just really has been a lot of effort and exciting action from this administration.

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That's exactly why you're here to give us all of that wonderful information.

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We would never stop you from sharing all of that great stuff, so thank you.

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Yeah, of course.

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Yeah, I will just say this is probably one of the areas I have been like the most excited about from this administration as well, and overall I've liked this administration to your point.

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You know they're not perfect, but overall I've been very happy with the Biden Harris administration, but this area specifically has been like very exciting to your point.

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It's like stuff that not necessarily we even like asked for Right and it was just like this.

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They're kind of very forward thinking in regards to this.

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So it's been yeah, it's been really exciting to watch and see.

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Yeah, and I like to think of myself as being pretty connected and up to speed, but when you sent me that announcement back in November that this was launching, I was like whoa, like I hadn't heard anything about this.

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I had no idea that they were going to do this, and I do think that some of it happened very quickly on their end as well.

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Right Like there has been so much work done by so many advocates over so many years over so many years, but all of a sudden, maria Shriver has this great conversation with Jill Biden and boom, we have this first ever initiative and it's it's really cool to have been able to see it play out.

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And it's really cool to see the creativity, like actually, like you both have said, like we didn't really ask for this and their hands are pretty tied with you know, dobbs so just the way that they were able to get creative and still somehow support women's health care, that's, that's what's impressive to me, especially.

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Awesome, ok, all good stuff.

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So let's look forward now, right, so we kind of talked about these with the record, let's look forward to November.

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What would another Trump administration you know, including some of the proposals that we know are in Project 2025, because he's aligned to a lot, of, a lot of those proposals what would those do in terms of women's health and what are things we should know going into, you know, the ballot box?

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Yeah.

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So I'll start with Project 2025, because I think that document would be devastating for women's health and a lot of areas of healthcare, to be quite honest, and both of you did such a nice job calling out what would happen to maternal and reproductive care in your last podcast on Project 2025.

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So I'm not going to reiterate everything, but I do want to touch on a couple things and encourage everyone to listen to your last podcast.

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But one of the things it would do is it would reduce access to mental health services, even though, as I said earlier, maternal mental health is the leading cause of pregnancy-related death in our country.

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It also would drastically cut Medicaid, which covers, as I mentioned before, nearly half the births in our country, and that's despite the fact that nearly all states across the country red and blue have expanded Medicaid coverage to one year postpartum.

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So we have bipartisan support and understanding that we are not going to improve the health of mothers and babies without this Medicaid funding.

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And yet Project 2025 is sort of against that.

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We're currently last place in maternal mortality compared to other developed nations, and so if these provisions of Project 2025 were to move forward, I think it would cement that status of last place among developed nations.

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Project 2025 also plans to defund Planned Parenthood, would ban abortion from being referred to as health care.

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It also calls for reduced access to surrogacy and fertility treatments like IVF.

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It calls for reduced access to contraception and reversal of the FDA approval for mifepristone, which we all know is commonly used, it's safe and it's an effective abortion pill.

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So it's really an assault on all things, but particularly abortion and, like you shared as a fun fact in that podcast episode, it's a term that is used 199 times throughout the 920 page document.

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So attacking abortion and limiting rights to abortion is definitely on the table in Project 2025.

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Now, you know, as you mentioned, ashley, like Trump has been aligned with certain provisions of Project 2025, but he has also distanced himself and the campaign from that document.

00:25:04.749 --> 00:25:33.682
So, whether or not he's for it, against it, even knows about it or who wrote it, there are some signs that we've already seen or things that he said that would give us some perspective on what would happen if Republicans gain control of the presidency, house and Senate and I say it that way because a Trump presidency without the support of the House and the Senate won't necessarily lead to these results.

00:25:33.682 --> 00:25:41.869
But if Republicans were to control all three chambers, we could have some of these things happen.

00:25:41.869 --> 00:25:47.922
So, when it comes to abortion, trump has sent mixed signals about the future.

00:25:47.922 --> 00:25:56.462
He said that he would consider a national 15 to 16 week ban on abortion, but he's also said that he would leave it to the states.

00:25:56.462 --> 00:26:35.045
So one way or the other, we are in a place where abortion access will be significantly restricted for women, and I recently saw a video that showed an interview with Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones, and he was so right, like we have to look at the states to see what could happen in a future Republican administration.

00:26:35.826 --> 00:26:40.580
So we've already seen challenges to fertility treatments at the state level.

00:26:40.641 --> 00:27:09.184
You guys might remember that the Alabama Supreme Court found that embryos created through IVF should be considered children, right, and that decision almost immediately shut down activities at IVF clinics in the state, and it put lawmakers, doctors and patients sort of into a tizzy right, raising concerns about the far-ranging impact that that would have on healthcare and future use of technologies like IVF.

00:27:10.295 --> 00:27:14.404
We've seen attacks on Mifepristone that have started in states like Texas.

00:27:14.404 --> 00:27:23.882
The one that did make it to the Supreme Court was kicked back for lack of standing, but those types of challenges are going to continue.

00:27:23.882 --> 00:27:31.323
We also know that they're going ban those challenges to other issues related to bodily autonomy.

00:27:31.323 --> 00:27:45.586
We are seeing so many attacks on gender affirming care and the rights of transgender individuals, and those are going to continue and these vulnerable populations are going to continue to be at risk.

00:27:45.586 --> 00:28:05.577
So, unfortunately, even though we don't know where Trump stands exactly on Project 2025, and we all hope that the reality set forth in Project 2025 don't move forward there is still a lot of movement that could happen in the wrong direction when it comes to women's rights and women's health.

00:28:06.858 --> 00:28:19.565
And yeah, to your point, priya, you know ideally he would need more than just the presidency to do some of this, but Project 2025 does kind of give him more executive power as well if he follows through some of that stuff.

00:28:19.565 --> 00:28:22.346
And then you know we've seen Republicans vote on these things.

00:28:22.346 --> 00:28:24.366
There was a vote in the Senate for IVF.

00:28:24.366 --> 00:28:27.248
There was a vote in the Senate to protect contraception.

00:28:27.248 --> 00:28:30.973
Republicans voted against all of those things.

00:28:30.973 --> 00:28:33.882
So yeah, I mean we can kind of look at their record and know the direction.

00:28:34.210 --> 00:28:44.685
And I didn't even talk about the clinical research and innovation and the improvements on maternal and child health that have been put into play in the Biden-Harris administration.

00:28:44.685 --> 00:28:51.221
All of those are sort of up at stake in a change in transition in power.

00:28:51.221 --> 00:28:53.084
Yeah, absolutely.

00:28:56.910 --> 00:28:58.917
So, lucky me, I get to transition us to Harris again.

00:28:58.917 --> 00:29:07.114
So what would we expect to see from the Harris-Walls administration?

00:29:07.114 --> 00:29:11.330
Anything different than the Biden and Harris administration and what they have been able to complete the past four years?

00:29:11.330 --> 00:29:15.599
And are there any proposals that she has publicly stated?

00:29:16.020 --> 00:29:17.130
Yeah, absolutely so.

00:29:17.130 --> 00:29:20.980
I think we continue to see the work continue right.

00:29:20.980 --> 00:29:30.480
So access to health care generally has been a priority for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz and so many of the Democrats that are up for election this term.

00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:37.478
She's also been an advocate for more clinical research, innovation and lowering costs of care for women.

00:29:37.478 --> 00:29:51.561
She's been the leading face of the Biden-Harris administration on reproductive rights and improving our maternal mortality crisis, and she has a strong history of working on maternal health in every role she's had in her career.

00:29:51.561 --> 00:29:57.233
So I anticipate that that stuff moves forward the way that it is.

00:29:57.233 --> 00:30:02.351
I think she'll move full steam ahead to find a way to protect abortion access.

00:30:02.351 --> 00:30:11.940
Again, if she's able to have Democrats gain control of the House and Senate, that will determine the speed at which she can move forward on that.

00:30:19.490 --> 00:30:21.933
I think Harris-Walls administration will continue to find new ways to improve our maternal health crisis.

00:30:21.933 --> 00:30:29.925
There is certainly a lot that can be done, especially around tackling some of the fundamental challenges we have in society that impact maternal health.

00:30:29.925 --> 00:30:37.338
So things like poverty, access to food, housing, education so those have huge impacts on maternal health.

00:30:37.338 --> 00:30:44.584
They have huge impacts on all of our health Right, and I'm just excited she has Tim Walls on our team.

00:30:44.584 --> 00:30:58.381
He has such a great history of addressing food insecurity period, poverty, reproductive health all of that in Minnesota, and, of course, he shared his own experiences with fertility treatments like IVF.

00:30:58.381 --> 00:31:22.818
So I feel, as we move forward for women's health, I hate to say there's only one choice or one party that will get us to where we need to be, but that's the reality of where we are, and then I think you know this Harris-Walls administration is going to try to find ways to tackle other issues that are important to women, that do impact our health.

00:31:23.560 --> 00:31:50.478
For example, there's been a lot of discussion lately around family-friendly policies that make it easier to have kids, care for kids and work and parent at the same time, and a lot of those conversations are directly related to the experience that women had during the COVID-19 pandemic, where they were juggling careers, homeschooling, all the things, while also dealing with a global pandemic.

00:31:50.478 --> 00:31:57.057
It's also related to the fact that Americans aren't having babies at the same rate that they used to.

00:31:57.057 --> 00:32:10.723
So since 2007, the nation's birth rate has declined about 2% each year on average, and 2023 was the first year where fewer babies were born since 1979.

00:32:10.723 --> 00:32:24.423
So Americans aren't having babies at the same rate and there's a lot of factors that lead into that and that will have an impact on our society and our economy as we move forward.

00:32:24.423 --> 00:32:55.772
So the upcoming years, where we hope to see a Harrison Walls administration, will be the perfect time to advance policies that address things like inflation and market instability, but also things like paid parental, family and medical leave and the rising costs of child care, and in the past week we've seen a lot of discussion around the child tax credit and actually both administrations have candidates that have made statements about where they would fall on that.

00:32:57.738 --> 00:32:58.199
I believe.

00:32:58.199 --> 00:33:27.476
Jd Vance has said that he supports a $5,000 child tax credit for every child across the country, and in Kamala Harris's economic plan that was released last week, she mentioned a $6,000 child tax credit for the first year in which a baby is born and then going back to the pandemic level of support, which I think is around $3,500 per child, or $3,600 it might be.

00:33:27.476 --> 00:33:30.579
So those are out there.

00:33:30.579 --> 00:33:32.843
They're out there from both parties.

00:33:32.843 --> 00:33:41.410
Trump has not confirmed that he supports the policy that Vance has put out, but really the devil is going to be in the details.

00:33:41.410 --> 00:33:45.423
It's going to depend on how much these proposals actually cost.

00:33:45.423 --> 00:34:00.963
It's going to depend on whether the House and the Senate can get on board with them, but it is exciting to see this conversation that would address some of the increased costs of child care be part of both sides of the conversation.

00:34:02.806 --> 00:34:34.480
Absolutely Just back to like her choice in walls, because actually Sarah and I haven't really talked about on the podcast, but I feel like that pick just stamped the approval for what, what, what she was prioritizing because you know, when you looked at kind of like, the people that were in the mix or, you know, rumored to be in the mix, I mean there were a lot of good choices but like no one was as strong in those areas that you just talked about as Tim Walls has been, and so I just feel like that was so intentional on her front, right.

00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:36.331
I mean she could have picked someone from a swing state.

00:34:36.331 --> 00:34:36.932
She could have picked.

00:34:36.932 --> 00:34:43.079
There were so many other choices and yeah, I think that was like a big deal and so I'm really excited about him as well.

00:34:43.280 --> 00:34:46.550
Yeah, and it's just yeah, Sarah, I didn't mean to cut you off.

00:34:46.590 --> 00:34:49.853
Go on I was just saying we loved him.

00:34:49.853 --> 00:34:56.056
We love him, yeah, no, I mean everything I've read about him to your point.

00:34:56.056 --> 00:35:39.501
Ashley just sort of shows the priorities that will take place in this, and the minute I found out that he was a social studies teacher, I was like sold, because I think some of the best teachers I had growing up in North Canton, ohio were my social studies teachers and I've spent a lot of time over the past few weeks thinking about Nancy Rogers and Hop Collier and Glenn Cummings my three teachers that I had in high school, and they were some of my favorites and they were the people that sort of showed me a different part of the world and showed me a different way to think about things, and I think having someone that has instilled that in so many young people is exciting to have on a ticket.

00:35:44.795 --> 00:35:48.083
All right, before we wrap Priya, let's just do a vibe check.

00:35:48.083 --> 00:35:51.438
We are 76 days from election.

00:35:51.438 --> 00:35:53.990
We're recording this on August 21st, I think it's 76.

00:35:53.990 --> 00:35:55.193
It's 76 or 75.

00:35:55.193 --> 00:35:57.797
How are you feeling?

00:35:57.797 --> 00:35:59.601
Are you optimistic?

00:35:59.601 --> 00:36:00.702
Are you stressed?

00:36:00.702 --> 00:36:01.744
What's the vibe?

00:36:01.744 --> 00:36:06.351
How are you feeling about just the election and, in general, how are you feeling about the future of women's health?

00:36:06.371 --> 00:36:06.530
care?

00:36:06.530 --> 00:36:06.831
Yeah.

00:36:06.831 --> 00:36:16.766
So I will say that in the past month, I have had more hope about the future of women's health than I have had in the past six months to a year.

00:36:16.766 --> 00:36:31.226
I think the announcement of the Harris-Walls ticket has been a game changer in terms of policy, in terms of excitement and enthusiasm and, dare I say, hope.

00:36:31.226 --> 00:36:36.331
Excitement and enthusiasm, and dare I say, hope.

00:36:36.351 --> 00:36:48.043
Right, you know, I feel a lot like I felt when President Obama was running for office, but I do have mornings where I wake up and I have a pit in my stomach and I wonder what it's going to be like if we have the same outcome we had in 2016.

00:36:48.043 --> 00:36:52.798
And am I getting excited for something that may never happen?

00:36:52.798 --> 00:37:04.791
And so, as I watch the DNC and I see speeches, I mean Michelle Obama's speech yesterday was just phenomenal, like let's take politics out of it.

00:37:04.791 --> 00:37:10.438
Like she was poised, she hit every line and every mark.

00:37:10.438 --> 00:37:22.255
It was such a well-delivered speech, but she brought out so many points that I think are important when we think about women's health, and the first is that hope is making a comeback.

00:37:22.255 --> 00:37:24.059
It really is.

00:37:24.059 --> 00:37:43.894
We have eight states that have abortion on the ballot in November, and we know that abortion has proven to be a winning issue on ballots and you guys saw that last year firsthand in Ohio, and so there's a lot of energy and I think that will bring out a lot of voters in the fall.

00:37:44.757 --> 00:37:48.362
But she also made the point that we can't stop.

00:37:48.724 --> 00:38:13.360
We can't assume that, because we feel this hope today that we will still have a positive result in whatever number of days it is, and as we move forward over the next 80 or so days, I think we all need to put in the work, we need to talk about the realities of what could happen in a Trump administration version 2.0.

00:38:13.360 --> 00:38:17.512
We need to have conversations like the one that we've had today.

00:38:17.512 --> 00:38:21.260
We need to maintain a positive attitude.

00:38:21.260 --> 00:38:42.086
There are going to be a lot of lies and attack ads and I think as a party we need to stay together and we need to make sure we do whatever we can to get people to show up to vote, not only for president but for every race down the ballot, because it really is going to be a close one.

00:38:42.086 --> 00:38:57.001
There are going to be so many close races that will make the difference between where we are with the presidency, the House, the Senate, and really how effective we can be in protecting and promoting the rights of women as we move forward.

00:38:58.670 --> 00:38:59.211
Absolutely.

00:38:59.211 --> 00:39:00.835
And just to add a few things on that.

00:39:00.835 --> 00:39:21.454
I mean absolutely, like getting the vote out is just so huge and something, to be honest, I don't even think I really understood the impact of until like a month or so ago, whenever I started seeing these stats around like, hey, if 30% more of the registered Democrats in Ohio would have voted in, you know, 2020, Ohio would have went blue like for Biden.

00:39:21.454 --> 00:39:23.400
Like that is a crazy stat, you know.

00:39:23.400 --> 00:39:30.311
And so it's like it's not that people don't agree with some of these policies or, you know, to your point, maybe they're just not excited about it.

00:39:30.311 --> 00:39:33.978
But this energy, like hopefully, this energy is good.

00:39:33.978 --> 00:39:37.693
It's the first step, but we have to do our part to bring them to the ballot as well.

00:39:37.753 --> 00:39:41.934
And so, knocking on doors, talking to your friends and family, I mean all of that is just so important.

00:39:41.934 --> 00:39:43.518
If you want a phone bank, join a phone bank.

00:39:43.518 --> 00:39:48.898
There's so many things you can do that genuinely do influence and get the vote out.

00:39:48.898 --> 00:39:51.983
And you know, I know that's like kind of like does that stuff really work?

00:39:51.983 --> 00:39:53.206
Because Nick has asked me that.

00:39:53.206 --> 00:39:53.927
He's like you're gonna.

00:39:53.927 --> 00:39:58.800
I've been spending my Friday at lunches like knocking on doors and he's like does that really work?

00:39:58.800 --> 00:40:14.297
And I'm like he's like everybody knows how they're voting and I'm like, no, nick, that's the point is like you know attention, or they don't vote, and so, yeah, it like really works, those things work.

00:40:14.297 --> 00:40:24.054
And so, to your point, freya, like we can be energized and excited and I know anyone, I think, who follows politics that you know aligns with the democratic party is.

00:40:24.054 --> 00:40:26.079
But it takes more than that to.

00:40:26.079 --> 00:40:27.990
It's going to take more than that to win the election.

00:40:29.193 --> 00:40:37.260
Yeah, and I, you know I personally I know you guys won't believe this because I do all these podcasts and I'm always like public speaking on different issues.

00:40:37.260 --> 00:41:02.454
But like I hate knocking doors, like knocking on doors and talking to strangers, I hate picking up the phone and calling a stranger to talk about what their voting plan is, but I will sit in my apartment and have parties and bring friends over and write postcards to get people to get out the vote every single day, and I think that's another point.

00:41:02.454 --> 00:41:11.360
Like that just builds off of what you said, Ashley, and sort of what both of you have been doing with your podcast is there are ways for all of us to help.

00:41:11.360 --> 00:41:23.018
There are ways for all of us to move forward democracy, to move forward protecting and valuing the right to vote, to move forward healthcare, to move forward women's health right.

00:41:23.018 --> 00:41:31.213
There are ways that we can all do it that make us feel good, that align with our skill sets, and we just have to find out what that is and then do it.

00:41:32.295 --> 00:41:33.677
Yeah, exactly Right, I mean it's.

00:41:33.677 --> 00:41:38.414
It could be a donation, it could be you talking to your family, you talking to a friend, like those.

00:41:38.414 --> 00:41:40.329
All those things make a difference to your point, Brita.

00:41:40.329 --> 00:41:45.476
You don't have to be like outgoing and go knock doors or something crazy, but I will say I do enjoy that.

00:41:46.829 --> 00:41:52.056
And I feel that's the benefit of elections and the Democratic Party.

00:41:52.056 --> 00:42:06.077
The process Sorry, I shouldn't say the Democratic Party, but the democratic process is that we all get to contribute, we all get a say in the future of our country and how it works and how it runs.

00:42:06.077 --> 00:42:07.998
And you know everyone will say this is the most consequential election we will ever have.

00:42:07.998 --> 00:42:09.221
And you know everyone will say it.

00:42:09.221 --> 00:42:12.164
This is the most consequential election we will ever have.

00:42:12.164 --> 00:42:23.300
And we may say that again four years from now, but as of now, this is it and we all need to find ways to show up and keep that excitement and keep that hope alive.

00:42:23.300 --> 00:42:24.884
Yeah, absolutely.

00:42:25.751 --> 00:42:33.880
And if you have a crazy friend that approaches you and asks if you want to start a podcast about politics, just say yes, just do it.

00:42:35.190 --> 00:42:35.952
It'll be worth it.

00:42:35.952 --> 00:42:55.418
Oh my gosh, I'm so thankful you guys have this podcast and I think over the past year and a half however long it's been that we've known each other maybe two years even I have told so many people about it and I'm so proud of the work that you're doing and I do think that it makes such a big difference.

00:42:55.418 --> 00:43:00.344
It's it's a nice way to learn, and the more we know, the more we can effectuate change.

00:43:01.126 --> 00:43:06.277
Thanks so much and we feel 100% the same way about you.

00:43:06.277 --> 00:43:15.262
I still kind of feel like you're like famous and we're just like these like you're like famous and we're just like these two girls.

00:43:15.282 --> 00:43:16.105
I'm like, oh my gosh, it's Bria.

00:43:16.105 --> 00:43:36.572
You know it's funny, because people are like, oh, we're inspired by what you're doing and on a day to day basis and I think this is something that a lot of women face Like I just feel like I'm a gal sitting at home with a laptop and a cat right, Like I am a childless cat lady who is invested in improving women's health and you don't see the impact that you're making.

00:43:36.572 --> 00:43:53.871
And I hope you realize it's there for the work that you're doing, because I think it's there for the work that we're all doing and we have to remind ourselves that it's there so that we can keep moving forward forward.

00:43:53.911 --> 00:43:54.512
It can be to your point.

00:43:54.512 --> 00:43:55.755
It's a lot of work right, creating the socials.

00:43:55.755 --> 00:43:56.938
I mean just it can be draining, you can lose hope.

00:43:56.938 --> 00:44:04.653
But it's very encouraging, especially when you know you get a nice piece of feedback from someone to just remember, like what you're doing does make a difference.

00:44:04.795 --> 00:44:07.322
Yeah, absolutely Well, thank you guys.

00:44:07.322 --> 00:44:12.398
I'm so happy to be part of the podcast again, thanks for coming by, priya.

00:44:12.860 --> 00:44:15.097
Yes, we'll definitely have you as a three-peat.

00:44:15.097 --> 00:44:17.496
I mean, there's always a reason to have you on.

00:44:17.516 --> 00:44:18.681
Anytime.

00:44:18.681 --> 00:44:21.077
Maybe it'll be like a celebration episode.

00:44:21.097 --> 00:44:24.775
Yeah, that would be awesome, we're manifesting it.

00:44:24.909 --> 00:44:28.958
Or an episode on rebuilding, but either way we can come together.

00:44:28.998 --> 00:44:30.782
Yeah, I love it For the future of women's health.

00:44:31.702 --> 00:44:34.063
Yes, Sounds perfect, awesome.

00:44:34.063 --> 00:44:41.132
We will drop all of your stuff in the show notes for people to find you, but do you just want to kind of mention where they can find you if, if they want to reach out or they want to follow you.

00:44:41.333 --> 00:44:43.458
Yeah, so the best place is on LinkedIn.

00:44:43.458 --> 00:44:49.637
I do most of my work there, um, but I also have accounts on Instagram and X?

00:44:49.637 --> 00:45:00.579
Um for new health, which is N-Y-O-O and then the word health, so pretty easy to find and lots of updates on women's health in all of those places.

00:45:01.541 --> 00:45:04.233
Yes, definitely worth the follow, very educational.

00:45:05.036 --> 00:45:08.813
And, like I said, we'll link it all for everybody, but I just wanted to kind of let you plug it there.

00:45:08.813 --> 00:45:10.536
Yeah Well, thank you so much, priya.

00:45:10.536 --> 00:45:14.235
Thank you everyone for tuning in this week and we will catch you next week.

00:45:21.811 --> 00:45:23.617
Thanks for joining us for today's episode.

00:45:23.769 --> 00:45:30.655
We really appreciate the support we would also really appreciate it if you hit the follow button and share this episode with anyone you think would enjoy it.

00:45:31.072 --> 00:45:33.943
And we'd like to thank Kevin Tanner, who edited this episode.

00:45:33.943 --> 00:45:40.911
If you're interested in learning more about him and his services, his website and Instagram are in the show notes With that we'll see you next week.

00:45:52.623 --> 00:45:54.865
Wildflower Wild flat.

00:45:54.865 --> 00:45:56.512
I can't talk, Kevin.

00:45:56.512 --> 00:45:57.958
I want to say wild.