Outlawed Podcast: Abortion Doctors Release Second Season

 In days gone by (actually, just before Trump), there were a few hot button issues that people avoided in casual conversation. Religion was usually taboo. So was abortion. Today, however, every topic is a hot button issue. You like Taylor Swift's music. You're a commie or woke! You don't like certain comedians. You're part of cancel culture! You favor bodily autonomy and a woman's right to choose. You're one of them!

 With red states banning abortion, despite widespread support for abortion with restrictions in those states (See Kansas), and right-wing attacks on women and physicians, there are people courageous enough to fight. In 2024, North Carolina physicians Dr. Bev Gray and Dr. Jonas Swartz proactively started a podcast to document what’s happening behind the headlines.

The second season of Outlawed launched last week. 

Most of the time when OB-Gyns speak to the media, it’s reactive: they’re being sued, indicted, or responding to the latest attack on reproductive healthcare. 

With his podcast, they're being proactive.

Emmy and Peabody award-winner Jane Marie (The Dream) is executive producing, ensuring that Outlawed is blunt and accessible in keeping with her reputation as a journalist who exposes the myths, scams, and ideologies that undermine the American dream. 

In this second season, co-hosts Bev Gray and Jonas Swartz speak with guests, including Jewish and Christian clergy members, activist Renee Bracey Sherman, economist Caityln Myers, and psychologist Tania Israel, on topics from abortion storytelling to bridging political divides. 

The co-hosts and their guests are just as perplexed and outraged as the majority of Americans about the ongoing implications of bans and restrictions on anyone pregnant or trying to get pregnant. By sharing how they navigate tough daily conversations about abortion, they aim to help the rest of us find the courage, language, and hope to speak up in our own lives.

In the wild west of abortion bans and restrictions, patients, families, and their doctors are being treated like outlaws. OB-Gyns and abortion care providers the co-hosts embrace the American tradition of fighting injustice by sharing their direct line to what’s actually happening in our homes and medical offices. 

Outlawed was inspired by Abortion Care Today: Stories of Reproductive Health Care Post-Roe, an oral history project from Duke University School of Medicine students, where Gray and Swartz are also faculty. An early episode of the new season features Dr. Wesley Hogan, a research professor and former director of The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke who partnered with Gray and Swartz on the oral history project. 

Dr. Gray says, "As doctors and professors, we speak daily with students, patients, and our colleagues about bans and restrictions even as we ourselves are processing new information. By sharing what we continue to learn, we hope to close the gap between the stories making the news and what people need to know for their own lives and families."

For producer Jane Marie, the disconnect between our culture’s idolatry of motherhood and how reproductive care has become increasingly unattainable is an issue that also resonates on her award-winning show The Dream, an investigative journalism podcast that exposes how MLMS, ideologies, and self-proclaimed experts prey especially on women. 

Jane Marie says, “Misinformation on abortion is designed to keep people from talking about it, and from advocating for the right to be treated like a human, whether you want to be a parent or not. I thought I knew plenty about abortion until Bev and Jonas came along and enlightened me. I’ve learned a ton through their reporting, and now I can discuss the issue with confidence and… actual facts.”

The podcast episodes average about 35 minutes, expanding when needed. The sound quality is superb, as is the intro and background music. The acoustic guitar is a perfect match to the tone of the show. 

Surprisingly, the physician co-hosts excel at narrative podcasting and interviewing guests. This is in sharp contrast to my doctor, who regales me with his feats on the golf course. 

The episode that had the most impact on me was the December 24, 2024, show titled, Abortion School. Here are the show notes: "It’s time to go back to school and learn about the nuts and bolts of abortion care. In the first part of the episode, Bev and Jonas walk you through specifics about medication and procedural abortion and how patients might decide which option is best for them. The second part of our episode (starting at minute 18) is an interview with Dr. Diana Green Foster, highlighting some of the findings of the Turnaway Study. We discuss the devastating impacts of being turned away from abortion care."

There is so much disinformation about abortion, I found this episode enlightening. Despite false claims that abortions are risky, and that babies are aborted just as they are being born, this episode sets the record straight.  

It's another testimony to indie podcasting that such an important topic is tackled. Outlawed is available free and without ads wherever you listen to your podcasts.

 This show provides a direct line to abortion care doctors, patients, scientists, and everyday Americans experiencing the impact of bans and restrictions on reproductive health care. 

For those who are pro-choice, this show provides evidence for your belief system. For those who are pro-life, listen and sort through the truths and fabrications, so that your stance can be based on evidentiary proof and not on scare tactics.