EPISODES

It's been a minute! The Birth Justice Podcast NYC team has been deep in process for the last year to bring you season 2 in 2022! But before we jump into a new season, it felt important to revisit and review some of the wisdom and insight from season one. Tune in to take a trip down memory lane and hear highlights from our esteemed guests as well as updates about the podcast. Also: this podcast will be getting a new name! Stay tuned for details and be sure to support this work on Patreon.com/Taj...

Season 1 Episode 12 is the season finale and features an interview with Evelyn Alvarez: mom, doula, trainer, and the world’s best hypewoman! She’s also the cofounder of Bronx Rebirth and Progress Collective. In this week’s episode Evelyn shares the tales and the tea of being a doula in NYC. She also shares insights on the politics of doula compensation, what is happening in NYC hospitals, how medical routines cause harm, and how our City can do a better job of increasing doula access to clients ...

Season 1 Episode 11 features an interview with Nathalia Gibbs and Dana Kurzer-Yashin from the National Harm Reduction Coalition. In this week’s episode we dive into a harm reduction 101 crash course where we get into the definition, history and current landscape of harm reduction policies and practices. We then apply this information to better understand how pregnant people who use drugs are navigating prenatal care, childbirth, and the child welfare system; and how New York City and State can b...

Season 1 Episode 10 features an interview with Erin Miles Cloud: a lawyer and a mother, as well as the Co-Director and Co-Founder of Movement for Family Power. In this week’s episode we do a deep dive into the womb to foster care pipeline and the ways in which hospitals and social workers are complicit in criminalizing poor parents and people who use drugs. We get into the relationship between the police department and child welfare services, and how the child welfare system incentivizes the sep...

Season 1 Episode 9 features an interview with Nicole Jean Baptiste: a mother of two, a full spectrum community based doula, lactation counselor, yoga instructor, and oral historian. In this week’s episode we discuss Nicole’s journey into birthwork (which includes a bit about her own birth story) as well as the birth injustice she has witnessed in New York City as a doula and as an advocate. We also dive into doula work: from the importance of compensating doulas to valuing doulas as autonomous b...

Season 1 Episode 8 features an interview with Natasha Johnson: activist, artist, advocate, academic, attorney, yoga instructor and the founder of Globalizing Gender. In this week’s episode we discuss female genital mutilation and cutting - what it is, why and how it happens, how it impacts sexual and reproductive health (including pregnancy and childbirth), and how it shows up in New York City. Natasha Johnson’s Bio: Natasha has been an educator for 21 years and an attorney for 15 years. In 201...

Season 1 Episode 7 features an interview with Dr. Lynn Roberts: a mother, grandmother, professor, and scholar activist. In this week’s episode we discuss some historical moments of reproductive justice organizing and advocacy in New York City from the nineties and early 2000’s as well as the intersections of public health and reproductive justice in Lynn’s career and beyond. Lynn Roberts’ Bio: Dr. Lynn Roberts earned a Bachelor in Science in human development from Howard University (1984) and a...

Season 1 Episode 6 features an interview with Elizabeth Estrada ( commonly known as Eli) - a Mexican immigrant organizer based in the Bronx working on reproductive justice in New York City and State. In this episode we discuss fake clinics, also known as crisis pregnancy centers. We do a deep dive into how fake clinics are intentionally confusing and coercing people to give birth by creating barriers and detours, as well as providing misinformation to people who are looking to learn about and a...

Season 1 Episode 5 features an interview with Carmen Mojica. We discuss her journey into birthwork and motherhood, the history and current practice of midwifery, and what it will take to achieve birth justice in the Bronx and in New York City. Carmen Mojica Bio: Carmen Mojica CPM, LM CLC is an Afro-Dominicana born and raised in the Bronx. She is a midwife, mother, writer and reproductive health activist. The focus of her work is on the empowerment of women and people of the African Diaspora, sp...

Season 1 Episode 4 features an interview with Chanel Porchia Albert. We discuss how she became a doula, why she started Ancient Song Doula Services, the role of doulas in and beyond birthwork, and how Ancient Song is pivoting during this pandemic moment. We also chat about intergenerational hope and birthwork as political work for both the birthing person and the doula supporting them. Chanel Porchia Albert Bio: Commissioner Chanel L. Porchia Albert CD, CPD, CLC, CHHC is the Founder and Chief O...

Season 1 Episode 3 features an interview with Leslie Grant Spann. We discuss her three birth stories, and do a deep dive into the history of reproductive justice community organizing via Sistas on the Rise in the Bronx, New York City and nationwide with young parents in the early 2000s. Leslie Grant Spann Bio: Leslie Grant-Spann began her work in social justice as a 15-year-old-mother working with Sistas on the Rise in the South Bronx. Leslie organized other young mothers around access to educa...

Season 1 Episode 2 features an interview with professor Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens. We discuss a brief history of American gynecology and we reflect on what this history means in present day gynecological care, including her own experiences of medical racism. But before we jump into this week's episode, we take a moment of silence for Sha-Asia Washington - a 26 year old Black woman who died during childbirth in early July at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn. Say her name. Learn her story. Here is th...

The first episode of the first season of the Birth Justice Podcast NYC features an interview between podcast host Taja Lindley and her mother, Adrianne Robinson. This episode - the birth of the Birth Justice Podcast NYC - is released on the same day as Taja’s birthday! Adrianne shares her journey into motherhood and what it was like to give birth to Taja in New York City in 1985. Adrianne Robinson’s Bio Adrianne Robinson has always had a passion for science and helping others, while growing up ...

In this pre-season (and pre- series!) prelude episode, the Birth Justice Podcast NYC host Taja Lindley shares what brings her to this podcast project, and what you can expect to hear and experience in Season 1 and beyond. Links to information and resources that Taja references in this episode: [Book] Killing the Black Body by Dorothy Roberts [Book] Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins [Article] Exam Rooms and Bedrooms: Navigating Queer Sexual Health on Rewire News Taja Lindley’s A B...

Get ready for the Birth Justice Podcast NYC - the only podcast on the internet exclusively grappling with the sexual and reproductive health of New Yorkers. Every week there will be conversations and interviews with people, projects and organizations doing the good work of making reproductive justice and birth justice possible in our city and beyond. Season 1 Episode 1 drops July 8th, 2020. Hosted by Taja Lindley Produced by Colored Girls Hustle Soundscape and Audio Engineering by Emma Alabast...