On October 1, the group 'A is For' will hold its annual gala to raise both money and awareness for reproductive rights. We'll speak to its founders, actors Martha Plimpton and Kellie Overbey about the event and the group's mission in light of legal challenges to abortions and the overturn of Roe vs Wade.
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Alison Stewart: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. We continue our new series of actors joining us to discuss causes they care about we're calling it But Enough About Me. This weekend, a group of New York's most talented actors and singers will spend their Sunday night raising funds and awareness for reproductive rights. Broadway acts for abortion will hold its annual fundraiser and given the events of the last two years, it should be an entertaining and passionate event. In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and access to abortion across the country completely transformed.
Today abortions are banned in almost all circumstances in 14 states and that doesn't include Georgia, or South Carolina where abortions are banned after six weeks. This Sunday on October 1st, the A Is For Bodily Autonomy Fundraiser will be held at 54 Below and scheduled to take the stage or folks like, oh, you know, Tony Winters, Kelley O'Hara and Bonnie Milligan and John Cameron Mitchell and so many more talented folks. Joining us now are the hosts of that evening, actors and activists, Martha Plimpton, hi, Martha.
Martha Plimpton: Hi.
Alison Stewart: And Kellie Overbey. Hi, Kellie.
Kellie Overbey: Hi.
Alison Stewart: Martha, you and Kellie began working together as activists about 11 years ago, when did you know you wanted to get more involved in protecting reproductive rights?
Martha Plimpton: Well, Kellie and I have known each other since well before we started A Is For. I think that was a big part of how this organization began, which is just a bunch of women got together and had some drinks, and we're talking about how angry we were at what was then a very stigma-based argument against birth control being allowed under the ACA or as a lot of people know it, Obamacare.
Ever since then, what started out as this ragtag bunch of actors and activists who didn't really know that much about necessarily organizing or even fundraising has really developed over the last 12 years into an organization that works extremely well to dismantle stigma around abortion.
Alison Stewart: Kellie, you call the organization A Is For. How did you come up with a title? What does it mean?
Kellie Overbey: I think that was Martha's idea. When we were at a party somewhere, I think, in Los Angeles, discussing this very topic and we were angry. I like to say that Martha and I met and we played sisters for a year, and we bonded over our common rage, so it have to do with the women and women's rights and abortion and reproductive rights. We were talking that night and Martha said something like, "They might as well just slap the letter A on us." We talked about that would be a great idea and how we should reappropriate that symbol of shame and stigma and reclaim it for ourselves and say, “No, RA is for whatever we say it is,” and that's how it started. It took a little while for us to get more organized about how we wanted to help people, but we've been doing a pretty good job.
Alison Stewart: Martha, what do you think artists can uniquely contribute to this cause?
Martha Plimpton: Well, I think art is an essential and critical form of human communication. We can say things with art in all its forms, visual, literary, musical, theatrical, that are more difficult to say when we're sitting at a debate table or arguing with our families at Thanksgiving dinner.
I think art can help expand and broaden our emotional vocabulary around these things. Abortion, among other aspects of reproductive health care and sexual health care in general, has really been stymied and the legislative attacks on it have really been based on that stigmatization, that fear of speaking about it, that fear of authorization, isolation, misunderstanding, all of these things.
That's the job of art, isn't it? Is to illuminate and open up the conversation so that more things are not only able to be talked about, but can actually even be celebrated, you know what I mean, so that we can understand each other better.
Alison Stewart: Kellie, did you want to add anything, how artists can uniquely contribute?
Kellie Overbey: Yes, well, Martha and I both do a lot of theater and I believe theater, especially is a safe place where you can imagine circumstances that might be scary to you and it engenders empathy because of that. You can step into someone else's life and get a different perspective and then you're able to leave and still be yourself, but you have been enlightened a little bit, hopefully. It also sparks conversation.
One of our programs is a playwriting contest and we're getting people to write about reproductive justice. I think getting writers and other artists to imagine creating art around the topic of abortion and reproductive rights is also really important.
Alison Stewart: Martha, you have been open in the Press about having had abortions. What has it been like for you to be open about your life in that way and what have the reactions been like?
Martha Plimpton: Well, it's interesting because a lot of people expect it to be a very difficult or complicated thing. It's really not for me. It's not complicated at all, because of the circumstances of my medical choices, which is what they are, they’re medical choices are entirely-- of course they're personal, but they're entirely normal. Abortion is more common than many other procedures in this country. It's one in four Americans experience or need about abortion care at some point in their lives. It's important for me to be able to talk about that and to be open about it, because that's the whole point of our organization, isn't it?
Really, whatever pushback or negativity I received from it, it doesn't really affect me, because I know that, A, it's irrelevant it's not helpful, and I know that those people are coming from a place of fear and not understanding what they're really talking about, if that makes any sense.
Alison Stewart: Sure. My guests are Martha Plimpton, and Kellie Overbey, cofounders of the nonprofit A Is For. Kellie, how has the organization had to change in the past let's say two or three years?
Kellie Overbey: Yes. Well, we were hoping to be done with it by now. We were hoping we would solve the problem and that nobody would need us anymore and unfortunately, it's gone in the other direction. Interestingly, I think we have been doing this work steadfastly since we started and it's just continued. I think maybe how it's changed is that a lot of people who previous to Dobbs didn't believe that that was possible. I think that they've now realized, "Oh, this is real." I don't know that we've changed so much but I think more people are listening to us, if that makes any sense.
Alison Stewart: Martha, [crosstalk]
Martha Plimpton: I think also that it's not the same issue that it may have been in 1970 or 1973 when Roe was decided. We've made advancements. There is such a thing as medication abortion, there is such a thing as self-managed abortion, and those are things that we need to be able to communicate with people and spread the word about. We need to spread the word about Mife and Miso, and let people know that there are ways for them to access self-managed abortion early on in a pregnancy that weren't available back then. That has changed a lot.
I think what hasn't changed is maybe the more salient question for an organization like ours. What hasn't changed is the amount of shame, stigma, embarrassment, isolation, criminalization. People are being put in jail today in 2023 for even talking about accessing medication abortion or accessing abortion on social media. It's not anywhere near as less of an extreme a situation as it was in 1973, even though we may have these new medications that make early abortion more possible and accessible. I think what's really critical is that those late-term abortions or late in-pregnancy abortions that people need, and who are risking their lives and their health in states where it's prohibited.
The stories coming out of Texas are horrific. In the lawsuit over SB8, these laws are really, really horrific. What we need to do is normalize the conversation around the fact that abortion is a medical procedure and denormalize the conversation around whether or not abortion is a moral choice.
Alison Stewart: Kellie, let's get to the- -theme of Sunday's event, Bodily Autonomy For All. Why is that the theme?
Kellie Overbey: In addition to attacks on reproductive rights, you see across the United States, all these attacks against the LGBTQIA+ community and it's all of a piece, isn't it? Bodily autonomy, what you're able to do with your body, how you live your life, when to have children, if you feel you are the gender assigned at birth or not it all nobody's business, basically. We thought what a great theme for our gala this year to talk about ally-ship. We all should be joined in this outrage against these kinds of legislation, this kind of legislation that's been popping up all over the country and really ruining people's lives. It's really scary.
Alison Stewart: Martha, what does the event look like? What's the rhythm of the evening?
Martha Plimpton: Well, I'll tell you, every year it's different and every year it's insane, and every year it's like my head is set on fire and then when the evening's over, it goes out and I have no memory of anything, but it's an incredible-- it's a totally breakneck slide by the seat of our pants event. You have to be there to experience it. There's no audio or video recording, and it's all Broadway actors and singers getting on stage and the audience bids for the chance to choose what song they sing with our live band.
They have no idea what they're going to sing. There's a list of 20 songs the audience gets and each performer is paired with an awesome prize. We've got a million-- well, not a million, but we have a lot of really great prizes this year, and we always have great prizes. Then the actor or the singer gets up there and we just auction them off basically and the audience decides what they're going to sing and it can go completely south and be a disaster but we love it. Everybody loves it and the night is always completely memorable and people say it's the most fun benefit of the year.
Alison Stewart: Bodily Autonomy For All. It is happening at 54 Below. I have been speaking with the co-founders of the nonprofit A Is For, Martha Plimpton, and Kellie Overbey. Have a great gala.
Martha Plimpton: Thank you so much.
Kellie Overbey: It's actually called Broadway Acts for Abortion. I just want to make that clarification.
Alison Stewart: Thank you so much. That is all of it for today. I'm Alison Stewart. I appreciate you listening, and I will meet you back here next time.
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