6 37 tonight to talk about labor in the southwest. Most of all we are delighted to be here at the tucson festival of books with this to talk about abortion and politics politics 202 is the area code 74882000 for the city in Eastern Central timezone 7488201 for those of you in the mountain and pacific timezones. Katha pollitt welcome to booktv in tucson. Thanks for being with us. Thank you so much for having me. Host when did we as a nation start having discussions debate about the issue of abortion . Guests oh well in one sense there has been a very long debate going back to the 19th century which was when abortion was criminalized. A lot of people dont know that abortion was legal in the United States until after the civil war in most states. Then there was a big campaign against abortion and Birth Control and became completely illegal even to send information through the mail. It remained that way until the 60s. Host that when you say was legal was it because it wasnt illegal or was it specifically legalize . Guest it was not a subject of law. Host and nobody really talked about it are dealt with it . Guest into states connecticut and new york there were laws that are intended to protect women from dangerous drugs that people were using, herbal preparations but except for that it was pretty much no subject of litigation. Host today in 2015 do you see a threat to abortion rights and if so from where . Guest oh definitely. We are one Supreme Court justice away from losing roe v. Wade which would there are back to the states and contrary to what people like this might want that and what will happen to those women then . I think even if roe v. Wade stays legal on paper there are laws being passed in states that would severely limit access for women especially women who dont have a lot of money. Its a very serious problem. What was your goal with pro or goals . Guest i had several goals. I wanted to flip the whole script where abortion is terrible abortion is something you should feel ashamed of a guilty bout and if you have an abortion because you are raped well okay but if you have voluntary sex forget it because to me abortion is not just some abstract right on a piece of paper. Abortion is part of what is essential for women, legal abortion is essential for womens equality. I also think its good for society that children be born in an intentional way. It shouldnt just be you get pregnant accidentally and thats the rest of your life. I dont think this is a good way to organize society. Host now beginning at the texas book festival you have been at a couple of book festivals we have covered live on booktv. One of the things that struck me about the texas book festival was the number of women coming up to ask questions thing i have had an abortion. Guest that was astonishing. It was like a baptist revival. It was really something in the system part a response to my book which is i think theres a pentup conversation that up until now we mostly had speaking about their own abortions women who regret it and go to state legislatures and say i regret my abortion so it should be illegal for everybody. This makes no sense where some have had abortions said it has helped their lives and they are not sorry have been very disempowered from speaking out because there is a lot of sexual shame and stigma associated with abortion but with abortion predicting that more women can talk openly and freely about their reallife experiences the better it is. We should hear from women who read it and we should hear from women who do not regret it. Host Katha Pollitt is our guest from the nation and we will put the phone numbers up and take your calls. We will begin with a call from sam in ashland oregon. Salem viewer on booktv. Caller the nation magazine has been a standard in my house will hold for years. Its the only magazine that comes out with true articles. I wish more people would get the nation magazine and im excited about the conference that is taking place right now right now on tv. You can only watch this on cspan. Host salem and ashland oregon anything you would like to say about the 150th anniversary . Guest well is so exciting. We are the oldest journal of news and opinion in the United States. It started in 1865 and its amazing that we are still here so we have to plan ahead for the next 50 years. Host any significance to the fact that it was founded one month before the civil war ended . Guest well i think it did come out of the civil war struggle and the coalition of what we would now call liberal causes around that. But you know its a great and laborious long history. Host katrina vanden huevel who is the editor has been on cspan many times as well. Kathy is going from at the wyoming. Kathy you are on with Katha Pollitt. Caller hi. I believe women have the right to choose and ice have. Its just innate with me and always have. On one hand they say they believe in the sanctity of life and yet america is continuously killing women and children with the drones, fake wars come or real etc. And i dont know why we used this argument that we believe in the sanctity of life on one hand that we can kill on the other . Why isnt this something thats brought up because i think its a very valid argument. Guest well its a good of partial argument and i think people do bring it up. Its a different argument because people can say look the pope is against Capital Punishment. People can always claim to some pacifistic wonderful moral person and you lose the point that most people oppose legal abortion are not necessarily against Capital Punishment and more. And even if we have Capital Punishment and war a abortion should be legal because abortion saves womans life and helps women to be equal. Host s Katha Pollitt the phrase believe in life or guest life is always going to be a strong word, stronger word than choice by choice is also also the gord words that people are getting a little tired of choice in trying to broaden the framework which not just your right up until birth to decide not to have a the baby or not at all the things you need to be good a good parent and have a good family life. Fighting is racism in fighting against poverty, fighting against Domestic Violence and i think thats really good and really important to broaden out the framework. Right now what it is oh the fetus is so sacred and wonderful but as soon as the fetus is a baby forget it. The republicans its cut, everything. Host lee lind is an encino new york. Please go ahead with your question or comment. Caller thank you for taking my call and thank thank you cap up for the work you are doing. My question is i am a stepfather of four beautiful young daughters. I love them and i love my wife dearly and we have raised them with the decision to be honest about reproductive rights to seek out planned parenthood and other organizations that can help them out throughout their journey. You know one of them is now registered nurse. Another one is now a teacher. The other one is a bit of a free spirit but the fourth one is 14 years old in new york city as we speak attending a Robotics Convention 96 gpa. You know, i have the strong support of system personally for females and reproductive rights. What can i do as a male, what can other males do who are interested in this journey and in this fight to help carry it forward and i thank you for your time. Guest that is such a good and important question. That really is part of the story and i think that the prochoice Movement Needs to welcome that and men need to find a way to be active. I think you are right, a lot of prochoice and dont know how to engage. Or havent really felt that they need to engage because women are doing such a great job. I would say you know try joining a local prochoice group see if you can help with clinic defense defense clinic events. Dont you show up that call the clinic and see if he useful when they are swarmed by antichoicers. Raise money, donate money. There are conferences all over. Go to one of them and try to connect with people that are already active. You know all the usual stuff. It just takes a little for men to get involved in some site you are doing a wonderful job already. Host Katha Pollitt if a couple the woman decides she wants to have an abortion and her partner, her husband doesnt want that do you feel that he has a right to be part of that decision . Guest no i dont. Its her body. Shes the one that is going to go undergo childbirth and pregnancy and probably do most of the childcare too. When i hear people saying he should be involved in the decision whether they mean . Of course is their relationship is good and solid and stable she is going to talk to him but what if it isnt . What if its a one state a one night stand . I think somebody has to make the decision and it has to be the person in his body those events are taking place. Host larry in colombia note. Caller kudos to cspan by the way but theres one area it seems to be the nation has been strangely silent unless im missing it and that is the war on isis, the bombing of iraq and syria. Editorially i dont see a position on that. Maybe one column and on ukraine its very clear where the nation stands. So katha having thought about the editorial position isis in the war going on there. Guest you know i cant really speak to that. I work at home. I write my page. Thats pretty much it. Im i am not part of any editorial decision so you will have to take this up with someone who is more responsible. Im almost like a freelancer they are. I get a salary but im not really connected to the week by week editorial decisions. Host we invited Katha Pollitt to talk about her book pro reclaiming abortion rights talking about abortion and politics specifically. Caller thanks to Katha Pollitt for all the work you do and i have to say one person you mention the woman state legislator saying i so regret my abortion. Newt gingrich and Ronald Reagan could show up and complain they regret their first marriages and probably regret the first three or four. I forget what number he is at and i like what the previous caller said what can he do . I it made it to point, i have friends who support the Republican Party and their mostly sane people. In my experience most of them are crazy about fewer taxes than they want a free government. But i make it a point to ask them very calmly, so what are you doing about your party and the way they are squeezing their medical care. The Republican Party has become a machine for producing teenage star unwed mothers. Its like they hate them. They hate them. But they are doing their best to help. Host mags, lets let Katha Pollitt respond to what you said. Guess i. Guess i just wanted to say what you said about regret is appointed make in the book which is life is full of regrets. People regret their marriage paper. People regret the jobs they have done and their nonmarriages. Life is just a path of mistakes it sometimes seems that but we dont say yes the law that we should ban marriage because half the people regret their marriage. Abortion rights are about what the law should be. Its not really all about the feelings. And even if many women, i dont think many women do in the studies dont support the idea that they do but even if a lot of them said that would be a retrospective judgment on what they decided to do at the time. Women are adults. They should be able to make decisions including making decisions that later they decided the wrong decisions to make. And its only because its women that they put this whole, we are so obsessed with peoples feelings. This is another thing i say the book. This is all about the way we are trained to think about women reality tv. Its all about your feelings in judging other women and a whole lot of negativity. I think we really need to say women are able to make a decision that is the best decision that woman can make. Thats it. Host do any insurance plans pay for abortion . Guest yes, some do but fewer and fewer. One of the effects of obamacare has been to make it easier harder for insurance to pay for abortion. Host why is that . Guest well thats because the Republican Party whose base is to be found on the religious right wants to squeeze abortion as far as possible and make it harder and harder for people to get them. And i would say, i want to say antichoice people think about this. You have thrown in your lot with a party that is the party of Cutting Health care for poor people. How can you do that . You are with the party that wants to cut Unemployment Insurance and wants to cut every benefit for children every benefit for single mothers wants to deprive poor people of medicaid by not taking up medicaid expansion. Thats all republican, republican republicans so how can you talk all the time about the fetus and its rights but not children come i to understand that. Host we are at the tucson festival of books in our next caller is from two sam tucson. Mary anne, hi mary anne. Caller hello . Host we are listening please go ahead. Caller hello. Ive written several letters which have been published in the paper. My grandfather Practice Medicine before roe v. Wade. When i was old enough to understand it when he died my mother told me about the struggles that he went through because he was incredibly kind and decent doctor. He wants to help these women but he couldnt. I have written these letters and basically this is my contention. Most women who are in my category and above can get an abortion. Its the poor, the young, the helpless and others who are having to struggle and that to me means that perhaps we should have some kind of a group that would bring some sort of action that might get an amendment to the constitution rather than struggling with more decisions by the Supreme Court. I dont know how it would be done but im very much afraid that this baby the only way out of this situation. Host marianne we have Katha Pollitt answer that cannot ask you just a little bit of a personal question . What age group are you in . Caller actually i am 82. Host do you remember as a younger woman anyone having an abortion or anyone talking about this issue . Caller sure. I mean im not that old and i certainly remember how happy i was when roe v. Wade passed and as i said my mother had told me the stories about the struggles that my grandfather had when he was completely unable the women came to him and he would try to place and say i will find a wonderful home for your baby and i will help you get through this and the woman would say one of them in particular would say i couldnt do this. If i had this child i couldnt give it up through abortion and he could do nothing for her. This particular woman went to the guy in the country up the river who did abortion and she lives. And thats why i say its a desperate situation. Every time i hear abortion clinics being closed and everything i just wonder if there isnt a way to get a constitutional amendment . I cant see any other way. Host that is mary anne in tucson. Katha pollitt. Guest i dont know about a constitutional amendment. Ravi cowade is a constitutional law and it does what the constitution, gives abortion constitutional protection. But you know i just want to say one more thing which is the caller are so right about illegal abortion. I think there is this picture the people have the hard it is to get an abortion if we ban that women wont have it. This is not the way it works at all. My mother had an illegal abortion in my greatgrandmother had an illegal abortion back in belarus in 1914. And she died. I think people have an idea that this law people will still do it. They will be safe and it will be much more traumatic and painful. Host we have a few minutes left with our guest Katha Pollitt. Karen and santa fe. Hi aaron. Caller hi, thank you for taking my call. I will be as short as i can. Since 1500 b. C. Men have taken over the idea that their progeny progeny but there are other issues that are cultural. All over the world women are taught to behave and live in a mans world and i think its a total disrespect for equity were not the right to women but the respect of who women are. Guest i agree with you. Caller basically that is what im talking about his respect and the cultural understanding and learning by those who would consider this contrary. They try to understand that women are more than half of the globe and its a universal project and we just have to help men understand without looking to take over their jobs are asking them to respect us. Host we are going to leave it there so we get one more call. Any response from that call . Guest i agree with everything you said with the one proviso that we have to deal with the fact that a lot of women are against abortion rights too. This is a fundamentally in my view religious movement the antiabortion movement. There are a lot of very religious women who believe that its against gods will and its hard to persuade people that god isnt saying what somebody thinks god is saying but i think thats part of it. Host the last call for Katha Pollitt comes from robert in redfield south dakota. Hi robert. Caller hello there. Thank you very much for taking my call. In south dakota we have wrestled with this and after voting a few years back one person was for prolife said one thing they found out is that everybody is for the life of the fetus but once its born there is no right to a life for the children. That really caused me to do a lot of rethinking also. They are very much against a life providing a life for a child once born like you said earlier. Also. Host robert i apologize. We will have to leave it there. We are almost out of time. Katha pollitt final comments . Guest