WBAI-FM Upcoming Program
Joy of Resistance

Thu, Apr 25, 2019   7:00 PM

COMMERCIAL SURROGACY IN NYS?

In our first segment we will be taking a close look at "commercial gestational surrogacy"--which may soon be legalized in New York State. Surrogacy is the renting of a woman's womb for the purpose of bearing a child for another (or others).

We'll examine this practice and the industry it has spawned, from the perspectives of Human Rights, race, class and sex. We'll also look at the health issues that can arise for both the "egg donators" and the women who undergo the pregnancies.

Our guest will be Taina Bien Aime, famed long-time activist for the rights of women and girls, and founding Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW)..

She speak about why surrogacy has been banned in many countries and what is at stake for women's human rights in this issue--as well a recent letter signed by over 10,000 women addressed to Governor Cuomo--who backs surrogacy being legalized in New York--urging him to reconsider his position.

In our second segment we'll speak with Ann Menasche. She's a Civil Rights lawyer and has been a radical feminist and a socialist activist for her entire adult life. She organized a lesbian feminist group and mass marches in defense of abortion rights in the 1980's in San Francisco and led a coalition for marriage equality.

Recently she became a founding member of a new national radical feminist organization: Feminists in Struggle--or FIST--which was launched on International Women's Day, March 8, 2019. We'll speak about why a number of women across the country saw the need for a new feminist organization and what the group is all about.

headline photo