WEBVTT


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I wanna show you guys something:

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This is a chart tracking 

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documented ex3cut!ons 

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of women between 1632 to 1962.

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Obviously, the real number,

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as with all ex3cut!ons, is much higher.

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Many state-sanctioned ☠️ 

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and lynch!ng$ of Black people,

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for example, were never recorded.

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Total number of documented ex3cut!ons:

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356.

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The oldest woman, 71.

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Youngest girl, 12.

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55% were Black, 

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36% were yt,

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and so on. 

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Note the alleged cr!m3s 

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these women were ex3cut3d for—

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“Concealing birth” 

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What could that be?

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Statutes punishing the “concealment of birth” 

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and ☠️ date back to 1696,

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when the colonies passed these statutes

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to punish women who gave birth out of wedlock.

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Their primary purpose for passing these statutes

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was to punish unmarried women 

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who had pr3marital s*x.

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They said this over and over again.

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But if we look at the text of these statutes,

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it's also obvious 🙃

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The statutes themselves refer to 

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“lewd” and “dissolute” women 

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and their “shame”

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Notably, the statute only applies to *unmarried* women,

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NOT married women or, 

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of course, men.

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Punishment for concealing a birth was ☠️.

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And at least 5 women in the United States 

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were ☠️ under these laws,

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the last being in 1785. 

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Would you believe me if I told you that today

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prosecutors are misusing these  *same* exact statutes

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as they are written

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to prosecute women who experience stillbirth,

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miscarriages, 

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or other pregnancy loss?

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These laws do not specify whether or how

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or when a woman should report these losses

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or who to even report to.

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These laws also don't mention 

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how developed the f3tus must be

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for the statutes to be triggered.

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Not to mention, these laws continue to rely on 

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misguided assumptions about women,

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specifically women who have s*x.

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The Rhode Island statute, for instance,

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enacted in 1938,

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only applies to concealing the birth of a child 

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“born out of wedlock”

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Why? 

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These statutes rely entirely on the assumption 

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that a woman

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who would have pr3marital s*x

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would “obviously”…. m*rd*r their child.

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In 2015, Annie Bynum took the remains 

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of her stillborn f3tus to a hospital in Arkansas

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and was prosecuted under an archaic 17th century law

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to “conceal a birth or a stillborn.”

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How is she concealing it if she took it to the hospital?

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So when she takes it to the hospital,

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it's a cr!m3, but if she had it at home,

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it's also a cr!m3? 

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Compliance is impossible when it's intended 

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to prosecute women.

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A jury convicted and sentenced her to 6 years in pr!s0n.

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Her conviction was overturned on appeal 3 years later.

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In 2016, Catherine Dellis gave birth to a stillborn baby in her home.

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She went to the doctor to receive necessary medical attention afterward,

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only to be arr3st3d.

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Autopsy showed the baby had ☠️

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about 30 to 32 weeks into the pregnancy.

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She was sentenced to 5 months in pr!s0n for 

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“concealing a ☠️ body”

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by the fact that the f3tus had already ☠️ inside the womb.

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Although the Virginia governor ultimately pardoned her,

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an appellate court had already upheld her conviction 

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In another case,

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after a woman in Ohio 

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experienced a m!scarr!age on the toilet,

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unsure of what to do 

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with the product of her m!scarr!age,

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she attempted to clean up the bathroom and flush the toilet,

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an extremely common response when having a m!scarr!age⚠️

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But when she sought medical care 

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following the pregnancy loss,

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a nurse called the police and had her arr3sted.

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She was charged with abuse of a ⚰️.

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And it's only getting worse🚨‼️

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Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022,

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more than 412 women 

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have been prosecuted after a birth, m!scarr!age,

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ab**t**n,

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or other pregnancy loss,

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the HIGHEST it's been since we first began tracking that number in 1972,

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But it's likely an undercount!!!

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This number continues to rise.

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Not only are these arr3sts and prosecutions horribly traumatic,

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they come at an extremely high cost 💰

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Most of the women who are prosecuted 

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under these statutes 

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are low income,

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marginalized women 

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who don't have the resources to take care of it,

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to hire an attorney, 

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to get these charges dismissed,

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to even make bail. 

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If/When/How’s Repro Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit fund

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that directly pays for these costs!!!

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for people investigated or fighting charges for their ab**t**n,

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stillbirth, or m!scarr!age in cr!minal,

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This is what the fund directly covers!!!

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Yes, directly!!!

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If you donate to the Repro Legal Defense Fund,

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you can be sure that your money is gonna go to the bail, bond,

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home monitoring expenses, attorneys fees, transportation…

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You can donate to the Repro Legal Defense Fund at the 🔗 in my b!0,

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✨But first✨ listen to some of the cases that your donation,

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small or large, *will* make a difference in.

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Mind you, these four cases are just from Texas—

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Case 1: A woman of color with a supportive partner experiences severe pain

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and ultimately pregnancy loss.

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She gets arr3sted for how she handles the remains

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and ends up being charged with Texas Penal Code Section 37.09

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tampering with evidence, human ⚰️,

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second degree f31ony with a range of punishment 

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🚨2 to 20 years‼️

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CPS opens a case for her four year old child.

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Due to the cr!m!nal case, her bail gets set at $50,000,

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which the Repro Legal Defense Fund pays.

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Case 2: An indigenous woman of color and survivor

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has ab***** after experiencing s***l v!013nce

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and being f0rced to get pregnant by her ab*sive boyfriend,

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who reports the ab***on.

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She initially thinks the state is investigating her ab*sive partner,

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but they go after her instead.

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She is charged with handling the remains.

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The Repro Legal Defense Fund provides support

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by paying her local attorney's fees.

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Case 3: An immigrant woman of color ends up charged with capital ☠️

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and tampering with evidence

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for a painful pregnancy loss in the toilet.

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Our Repro Legal Defense Fund assists by paying attorney's fees.

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Case 4—🚨This is all she did🚨:

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for providing ab***on pills to her 17 year old daughter in need,

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This woman of color and survivor

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is charged with f310ny ab***on, 

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dr**s under section 1 78.004,

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f310ny ass@ult on a pregnant person,

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and k!dn@pping.

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The person who called the 🚔 on her is her ab***ve ex-husband.

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Due to these allegations,

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a family defense case is open for her other younger children.

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A $500,000 bail is set…

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…and the Repro Legal Defense Fund pays it,

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along with covering the cost of the cr!m!nal and family defense. ❤️‍🩹

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Donating even a ✨single✨ dollar to the Repro Legal Defense Fund

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at the 🔗 in my b!0 will *directly* help these people.

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Every single case counts. 

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Please support these bail funds.

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As prosecutions and arr3sts get higher,

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more rampant, more aggressive,

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and discriminatory beyond measure,

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The Repro Legal Defense Fund is on the front lines giving these people,

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these women who are being prosecuted,

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exactly what they need. 

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And if you believe you or someone you know

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would need the resources that Repro Legal Defense Fund provides,

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you can apply at the 🔗 in my b!0 as well.