What do weddings.

Instagram, and.

Toxic relationships all.

Have in common? They take your.

Money and you can't get it back. Sixteen grand somewhere in there, gone.

There's no legal solution for the fact that you married an asshole.

Welcome to The Doe. I'm X. Mio.

We're diving into the.

Stories.

Surrounding the.

Moolah, baby. The good, the bad, and the unexpected.

Yeah.

We're.

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Opinion draft.

Appearing to.

Show that by this summer, a majority of the justices will overturn Roe versus Wade. The Supreme Court today, five justices ended the right of American women to choose abortion.

-for the criminalization.

Have people are being involved in.

Limiting abortion.

Access from the current 22 weeks to just six. There is no right.

To.

Abortion.

Fighting an illegal abortion.

-abortion restriction.

-abortion trafficking. Abortion trigger laws. Arguments on.

Whether a.

Doctor should lose her license.

They.

Did not terminate.

Their pregnancy for any reason.

Well, now.

They're to the film. The violators.

Were raped.

The mother of the girl tried to.

Find out that the report was made.

By a lawyer.

Okay, okay, okay. Wow, that was a leak.

Yeah, hearing everything back to back like that.

Was like a super cut of the end of Our Rights as We Knew them. But you know what, Gloria? Something tells me that our listeners don't need a scary montage to feel a sense of hopelessness?

Nope, Sam, hopelessness is basically the default setting at this point.

Hi, welcome. If you are listening to this podcast, you probably already know the stakes. It is not looking good out there. In the year and change since Roe was overturned, states all over the country have been attacking reproductive rights from every angle possible. There is so much to be mad about. But it's impossible to be sad and angry 24-7. I mean, believe me, like I have tried. Being angry is practically my love language.

Mine too. Since Roe fell and for quite a while before that, we've been angry. Dobbs was not the beginning of this. Anti-abortion forces have been trying to chip away at the right to abortion for decades.

Oh, yes, they have. I actually think that's their love language.

But for every restriction, there was also a form of resistance so that today there is a community of people all over our country fighting for bodily autonomy, risking their own safety to make sure others are getting the health care and the support they need. I am happy to say hope does exist.

Stop it. There's hope in a conversation about abortion in America?

Yes, I promise. Sometimes in the most mundane of places. What are.

The chances I turn on the radio instead of hearing some country station because I'm in the country. I'm hearing about a place and a coalition and a whole group of people that are looking to help someone in my situation.

Today, we're going to tell you Brittany's story. It's a story of feeling trapped and finding your way out despite the odds.

There's now someone to try to call. There's actually hope. There was something that I could actually do.

There are people all over the country going above and beyond to maintain access to life-saving care. That's who you're going to hear from in this series, people who have been standing up and speaking out long before Roe versus Wade was overturned.

This is The Defenders, a show about the fight for freedom in a post-Roe America. I'm Samantha Bee. I hosted the show Full Frontal from 2016 to 2022, and I was among the first to be unapologetic about covering abortion on late-night television.

I'm Gloria Rivera. My first show with Lemonata Media was about childcare during COVID. By our second season, Roe versus Wade fell, and we were talking about abortion. Why? Because a lot of parents need access to abortion.

Behind the bleak headlines, there are people who are fighting every day for us to maintain our rights. We are going to be uplifting that work on this show, shining a light on the people who are helping and letting you know how to help them.

This week, we're sharing Brittany's story of how an abortion fund changed her life.

Abortion funds. They probably sound pretty familiar to you by now. You may have already donated to one. I don't know, maybe at three o'clock in the morning after doomscrolling for hours. These funds, they're not actually new. Community care, people taking care of each other has always been a part of abortion. But before we get into Brittany's story, we want to dig a little more into how these funds came to be. For the type of formalized abortion funds we have today, the rubber really met the road in 1976. That is when the Hyde Amendment passed a short three years after Roe v. Wade made abortion legal. By design, it was.

Like, Well, we can't ban abortion now because there's federal protection. But what we can do is make it hard for poor folks, for black folks, for indigenous people of community, rural folks. We can make it harder for them to access abortion.

Oriaku and Jacu is the executive director of the National Network of Abortion Funds. The Hyde Amendment and similar restrictions prohibited the use of federal funds for abortion, which means things like Medicaid, any federal health insurance, even the Peace Corps, they all stopped funding abortions, and that impacted Black and Brown folks disproportionately.

The postural reality that folks were so deeply afraid of was actually the lived reality of folks from BIPOC communities for so long.

After the Hyde Amendment, more abortion funds started to form to fill the gaps in access to abortion. In 1993, several funds decided to organize together and founded the National Network of Abortion Funds. Today, the network partners with around 100 organizations. It's a number that has been growing as the need grows. Look, a lot of people were already traveling across state lines before Dobbs, but now with abortion restricted in so many states, you might have to travel a thousand miles to get an appointment where abortion is legal.

If you're coming from a state like Texas where abortion is essentially illegal, the reality is that you will be traveling across several state lines to a place where you can get care.

Traveling that far increases all costs. A bus ticket becomes a plane ticket, a day trip becomes a three-night stay. There are so many considerations, and the sheer logistics of it all can be debilitating. And that's by design. If people are so overwhelmed, they might just give up and be forced to carry these pregnancies to term. But abortion funds are here to tell you no one can force you into a decision about your body. These folks will help you find options, and they're not just doing it for a pat on the back, they're doing it because it's the right thing to do.

It's not charity. This is co-conspiring with folks in the communities to make sure they get the services that they want and need. Majority of our funds don't come at this work with this savior complex. It really is because people in our communities deserve what is best for them and their families and abortion access and reproductive justice is one pathway towards getting to our collective liberation. We've got to show up for our folks.

I like that you're saying Coke-inspiring.

Oh, yeah. I like.

It so much.

I don't need folks to just be allies and stand up. I need you to jack stuff up with us. I need you to be in here and do the work with us.

Jack, stuff up with us. I get it. I'm out the door.

I know. It's a real spirit of collaboration, of showing up for each other. Today, it makes sense that we are kicking off this series with a woman who goes above and beyond to show up for someone, a co-conspirator of the highest order. Gloria, I'm going to leave.

It to you. Thank you, Sam. An important thing to know about Brittany is she's a pet person, not a baby person.

I never wanted children. I'm sure they're great. I just never had that instinct. I'll fight you for a kitchen. But when it comes to babies, I never had the interest.

We're using only Brittany's first name to protect her safety, and we are not being specific about her location. We're going to start with Brittany's story just after she met her boyfriend. They were both playing Pokemon Go in a park. In the beginning, things were good.

He seemed super sweet, very affectionate, very intelligent. More sweet than normal, but it was refreshing, I guess, which made me let my guard down.

After several months of dating, they decided to move to the Southeast together.

Everything was fine and loving and sweet, and as soon as we got there, everything turned.

Brittany says he took away her phone, her wallet, so she had no form of identification, and he didn't allow her to use the internet when he was home, taking the modem with him when he left the house.

He would even take the cord to the TV, the plugging cord, and unplug it from the back so that I couldn't even watch TV.

He tracked any time she even stepped out of the house with an outdoor camera. He took all the food with him so she couldn't even eat when he was gone.

Even the windows upstairs were painted shut. This is an old place, so I even tried windows upstairs, so there was no escaping without him knowing. I didn't even know where the police department was because I didn't have a phone to look that up to even know which direction to run if I did run. It just got to be hopeless and depressing.

Brittany was trapped. She was also pregnant and she didn't want to be. She was a couple of months along, she guessed. She really didn't know. Tell me about that. Did he know you were pregnant? When did you suspect that you were pregnant?

Oh, he knew immediately. He was hoping for it. It came up in arguments that, well, you can't get away from me now. I mean, you got me forever, so we need to work this out.

This was another way her partner tried to trap her.

Literally weaponized my own body against me to keep me under his thumb. He thought I would become more willing to take the abuse and the control. I thought that he would take my child that he was going to obviously force me to have.

Brittany's partner wanted to use her pregnancy to control her. This is unfortunately common. So common there's actually a phrase for it, reproductive coercion. And rates of this abuse have been on the rise since Roe fell. Abortion bands give abuse even more power. Brittany was in panic mode.

I was thinking about suicide on a daily basis because even if I could get actual phone service, there was no one to call. There was no family. There was no one. If I had this man's child, I would have to deal with him forever.

You were trapped. You were feeling helpless and hopeless and thinking about suicide every day.

Every day. Every day. Every day. And it got to the point where that was calming to me.

Brittany did have one thing that kept her going, a Calico kitchen, about four to five months old.

One of the times that I was in the yard, there was a super tiny little fluffball kitchen that I had found. I wouldn't really stand it up for myself, but I threw a complete fit to make him go get a bottle and everything for it because she wasn't going to make it. She was super dehydrated and sick and stuff. I was determined that it was going to be me and her and I was getting us both out. I'd stay awake all night to make sure that I didn't fall asleep and she get out because I was worried that he would hurt her or kill her when I was asleep. She definitely gave me something else to care about besides myself because I had gotten to the point that I wasn't caring about myself.

Sam, I know you're a cat person, so I feel like this is a good place to pause. How are you doing so far?

I'm very thankful for the cat in this scenario.

Sometimes.

You need an outside force to help you muster the strength to act. Does that.

Make sense? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, hearing her talk about it, it made me feel good that she had something to care for, and she will put her foot down for that little kitten when she has no power elsewhere in that dynamic.

Yes. Like, it brought mission or it brought purpose.

Yeah.

And drive.

Yeah. It was.

Just like a little catalyst. I said it. I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed that I said it.

So aside from taking care of her little catalyst, Brittany wasn't able to do much else. She had no phone, no internet, no TV. She couldn't leave the house without it resulting in a huge fight. But her partner didn't think of everything. Brittany had access to a radio. Remember radios? It was built into an old record player. Brittany turned it on to listen to something besides the silence, something to give her a break from thinking about her life or ending her life.

I honestly wasn't looking for music or anything. I just wanted noise, just something. I turn it on and I walk away. I go to the bathroom and it takes me a second to realize what they're even talking about because they're already in mid-conversation.

What they were talking about that day, that minute was the Midwest Access Coalition, an abortion fund. When you listen to that story about the Midwest Access Coalition, what did you hear? What do you remember taking away from hearing that story?

It was specifically the travel part. They were talking about, of course, Roe versus Wade and all the new abortion laws and everything, and about how women were having to travel out of their states and how some small town, they wouldn't have access to it or people without enough money wouldn't be able to travel out of state and they were having to wait to be further along where there's more complications. What they were talking about was my situation and that they could help me get out of there.

She couldn't quite believe what she heard, but Midwest Access Coalition planted a seed that would become her actual escape plan.

I wrote down the email and the phone number.

Brittany had hope.

One of the chances I turn on the radio instead of hearing some country station because I'm in the country, I'm hearing what I needed to hear about a place and a coalition and a whole group of people that are looking to help someone in my situation. It was unreal and it took hours to stop crying, but out of the hope of my only way out isn't suicide, that there is a chance that despite having no one to call, there's now someone to try to call. There's actually hope. There was something that I could actually do. There's a step that I could take to try to save myself.

Brittany had to wait until her partner left the house before she could attempt to contact Midwest Access Coalition. That would be her only chance.

It took another week before he was gone. Long enough.

Remember, Brittany's boyfriend had taken her phone, but she had an old cracked phone hidden away that she had kept for contacts. She didn't know if it would even turn on. Thankfully, it did.

I took that phone and I had ran to a Hardies, about the only thing in that town, and used their WiFi and sent the Midwest Access Coalition an email with a short paragraph just glazing over the situation I was in because the whole time, my heart's racing. I'm just like, He's going to come home before I'm back.

Do you remember what you wrote in that first message?

It was just that I have no access. I was mainly telling them that you send me emails and everything, but I won't be able to respond. But that does not mean that I'm okay. It does not mean that I don't need the help. I need the help, and you're the only help I can think of, the only help I can find.

That was your SOS?

Yeah, 100 %.

Brittany got an automatic reply email back.

It was like, We're very busy, but we received your email. An advocate will be getting back to you as soon as we can.

After sending that first email, it was another week before Brittany was able to get back to Hardies.

It's just a stressful. I'm just as freaked out. When I get to Hardies and I open the emails, she is sent two, maybe three at that point.

I just said, This is absolutely not your fault. Of course, we can help. Is it safe to reach back out to you? I'm going to take your case. How can we move forward from here?

Who was that person?

That was Allison with Midwest Access Coalition.

Allison Dreeth was emailing Brittany from home, a pigmeat, goat farm in the rural Midwest. She bought the farm as a form of self-care after years of working in the abortion field, which she's been doing now for about 15 years. Allison was ready when Brittany emailed her.

It was a Sunday. I was on my way to have brunch with a friend, and I got an email from Brittany, and she said, Can you come get me tomorrow? And that felt really fast, but it also felt really definitive, like something was going on. She said that her former partner's behaviors had changed, and she felt like now she was in danger, immediate danger.

So she told me she herself was flying out and going to come and pick me up.

She writes to you, you read the words in an email. I'm going to come get you. I'm going to help you. What is your reaction when you read those words?

Loud, crying in the middle of a hardies with a bunch of strangers looking at me and I do not care. I couldn't believe that there was not just hope that there was somebody. I don't know why I trusted her, but the way she said she was coming, I knew she was going to do everything she could to get there. There was no, Well, as long as this works out or we'll try this. It was, I am coming to get you. Tell me how to get you.

And so that's when I dropped all of my plans and I told my husband. I called my lawyer. I called people at Midwesex's coalition to let them know what was happening, and I just booked a flight.

Allison flew out that same afternoon. After this short break, we'll hear what happens when Allison helps Brittany escape. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation believes everyone should have a meaningful opportunity to thrive no matter who they are or where they come from. But right now, people in the US and across the world are confronted by enormous challenges, from catastrophic climate change and pervasive inequities to attacks on democracy itself. Institutions at every level are struggling to provide solutions that work for all people. And there's a growing lack of faith in each other and even in the possibility that progress is possible. That's why the Hewlett Foundation supports a diverse set of creative thinkers and problem solvers who engage across differences, advance constructive dialog, and address institutional failures. Whether through its work in gender equity, democracy, environment, education, or the arts, the Hewlett Foundation seeks to harness our collective capacity to build a world where all people have the opportunity to thrive. Learn more at hewlett. Org. Women's bodies are at the center of today's cultural conversations. We face overt regulations that dominate the headlines, but we also face quiet regulations. They are so entrenched in our everyday lives that decisions around our bodies and how we feel about them are no longer ours alone to make.

Because so much of what women experience is shrouded in secrecy, treated as an afterthought, or just blatantly ruled by societal expectations and norms, the simple act of exchanging stories becomes the most powerful tool we can use to stay informed. Introducing Unruly, an eight-part podcast from Flamingo highlighting the not often discussed ways women's bodies are subjected to needless oversight. Hosted by writer, curator, and activist, Kimberly Drew, Unruly tackles conversations around body neutrality, wellness, capitalism, menopause, and more. Because information is power and your body is your business. Unruly is available wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more at shopflamingo. Com/unruly. As soon as Allison learned Brittany needed immediate help, within that same day, she bought a ticket and got on a plane. Brittany lived in a rural part of the Southeast.

They had an auto parts store in the Hardies, and that was about it, from what I saw. I was driving past a lot of fields of cotton that looked like hay barrels. And then I pulled up to the house and there was a lot of cars outside and I was worried about that. She wasn't out there and I couldn't see any movement or anything.

Brittany had figured out the Wi-Fi code after watching her partner put it in, though he didn't know that. So she was able to communicate with Allison during these crucial moments.

I got an email from her and she said, He's here. I need 15 more minutes. I drove around to the Hardies and scarfed down a cheeseburger and went to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Brittany was planning a quick exit.

My heart's just pounding. Just don't mess this up. Don't let him see the phone. Don't check it too many times. He walks out of the room for a second and I check it to make sure nothing's changed, that she's still going to be there at that time. I'm just scared to death that he's going to pop in the door and see the phone and take it before I can get to her.

Her shoes and bags were ready to go. Of course, she planned to bring her kit in.

I didn't have a carrier for her. I had a little zip up cooler, one of the big ones like you put a bunch of sandwiches or something in.

With her cat and a cooler, Brittany was officially ready to run for her life. But there was a problem. On her way back to Brittany, Allison realized she'd driven over a piece of metal that was now lodged in the tire of her rental car.

And so I pulled up to the dollar store to try to deal with this metal thing in the tire. Oh, my God. And these two Jehovah witnesses came over and helped me pull it out and told me where a car shop was, which was right across the street, and he looked at it and no air was leaking. So all these weird things were happening that were intensifying. And then it was time to go back.

She goes, I'm doing circles around you. Okay. Just come out whenever you're ready. And I said, I'm coming now with exclamation points. And I put on my shoes and he stands up. And I grab the kitchen and I throw her in the cooler and he starts, I don't even hear him at this point. I know he's asking me what I'm doing and he's getting agitated and I don't hear him at all. I'm just grabbing my stuff and I'm leaving pretty much everything and just grabbing what I can run away with. I run down the stairs with the cat and he's right behind me. I run out the front door and there she is. She's pulling up. I run to the car and she goes, Honey, just put stuff in the car. I drop a couple of things on the way, a couple of bags as I'm going because the kiddie carrier slips down, and he's trying to talk to her through the window, and she's like, Sir, step away.

From the vehicle.

He looked like a sidewalk protester outside of an abortion clinic. Like he was a young white man and he was carrying a book around. And so it's just like reminded me of a Bible or something which made me chuckle.

And then he starts in, Well, I don't know what she's got in those bags. Like she might be taking things. I'm calling the cops. Do you know that she has a cat? And that's my cat, and blah, blah, blah. And at this time, of course, Allison didn't even know about the cat at all. And she doesn't skip a beat. And she's like, It's fine. The cat's fine. Just come on, Brittany, get in the car.

Brittany got in the car and I just drove so fast out of there. I was checking my mirrors constantly, making sure no one was following us.

I'm shaking and she just grabs me by the arm and she's like, It's okay, honey. You're good. We got you.

This is astonishing. The way that Allison dropped everything in that scenario, dropped everything to go and do what needed to be done, it's mind-blowing story.

It's like moment by moment. I can see it in my mind unfold. I get angry at him because he says, That's my cat. It's like, You know what? Go fuck yourself, buddy.

I feel like Allison would have put Brittany on her back and crawled across a redwood forest floor, or have crawled to the center of the Earth to get this woman the help that she needed. Unbelievable.

Yeah, she would have done anything.

And Brittany is somehow new to put her trust in Allison. I mean, it's unimaginable, actually, when you listen to the story. How many things could have gone wrong along the way. Yet somehow she's in the car. She's got the cat. Allison's there and they drive away.

Allison drives Brittany to an abortion clinic so she could get an ultrasound. She says her partner never took her to see a doctor. That's when Brittany found out she was 24 weeks along, much further than she thought she was. The state she was in at the time allowed abortions up to only 20 weeks. Now, 20 weeks sounds progressive, but it's not. An abortion ban at any point in a pregnancy, whether it's at six weeks or 26 weeks, is still a ban meant to restrict your freedom and deny health care. They're all BS time limits set in place in large part by uninformed lawmakers. While most abortions happen in the first nine weeks, people need access to abortions later in pregnancy for all sorts of reasons. Maybe you didn't find out you were pregnant until 12 weeks, or you learned of a fetal anomaly during your 20-week scan, or maybe you wanted an abortion earlier, but you couldn't get an appointment because your local clinic is overwhelmed with patients traveling from out of state. Whatever the reason, it's none of your state politician's business. Abortion care should not be restricted based on time. So even though Brittany had just escaped hell, she'd have to get on a plane and fly to a less restrictive state to get care.

Allison arranged a flight, but there was a problem. Brittany still didn't have identification, no ID. Remember, her abusive partner had taken it.

I was just so anxious that that was going to be the hang up.

Yeah.

She just kept reassuring me that everything's fine.

Brittany, the way you're describing it, it sounds like at every point at which you felt anxious, Allison had an answer. Yeah, she was.

Like, Just don't worry about anything. Then any questions that I have or what if this happens or what if that and she's like, We'll deal with it. Nothing's going to stop us getting you out of here. Nothing's going to stop us getting you the treatment you need. You're not going to have to have his baby. I got you the whole time.

You are being taken.

Care of. 100 %. Literally, I've told her multiple times she needs a cape. When we.

Come back, we'll learn about other superheroes, a group of pilots flying people to abortion appointments for free. The Levi Strauss Foundation outfits the movements and leaders pushing us towards a more just and abundant world through investments in worker rights and wellbeing, democracy, reproductive justice, and immigrant rights. For more information, visit levastraussfoundation. Org. That's Levi, S-T-R-A-U-S-S. Foundation. Org. With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients, and seasonal recipes delivered right to doorstep. Skip trips to the grocery store and count on HelloFresh to make home cooking easy, fun, and affordable. That's why it's America's number one meal kit. The holiday season can be hectic, and that's where HelloFresh's 15-minute meals come in. These quick fixes help you get a wholesome meal on the table in much less time than it takes to get delivery. Just like always, HelloFresh's ingredients travel from the farm to your door so you know they're fresh and everything arrives pre-portioned, so you can get right to cooking very quick. I love HelloFresh. I just made the sweet chili chicken bowls with chicken thighs, Jasmine rice, bell pepper, and candied peanuts. I cannot believe I made this in my own kitchen. It was so good.

In case you missed it, HelloFresh is so much more than delicious dinners. They also can help take the hassle out of every mealtime occasion with easy breakfast, quick lunches, and snacks all delivered along with your weekly box. Go to hellofresh. Com/defendersfree and use the code, Defenders Free, for free breakfast for life. One breakfast item per box while subscription is active. That's free breakfast for life at hellofresh. Com/defendersfree with code Defenders Free. Hellofresh, America's number one, Mealkit. Okay, Sam, where we left off, Allison had helped Brittany escape from her home and her abusive partner. But Brittany still has to now travel across state lines and she doesn't have an ID.

That seems like a huge problem.

Right? Can you imagine trying to fly in America without an ID?

Oh, absolutely not. Last week I tried to go through airport security with a half-eating yogurt, and I thought they were going to call the canine unit on me. Okay, I feel like you're about to tell me that Allison had a plan.

Correct. Because Allison knows people who know people. So she was able to arrange a flight for Brittany with Elevated Access. Two beautiful words. Have you heard about them?

No.

Okay, so Elevated Access is a group of volunteer pilots all over the country. They give their time, their plane, their skills, gas, money, everything to help people access the health care they deserve, whether that's an abortion or gender affirming care. These pilots are flying people for free to their appointments, and no ID is required.

Okay, because it's a private plane.

Exactly. But here's another cool fact. The guy who founded Elevated Access actually volunteered at Midwest Access Coalition, where Allison works. It's a beautiful full circle moment. He started the organization in 2022 in part as a response to what he saw there, people having to deal with all the extreme healthcare bands popping up around the country. Allison contacted him and found a private pilot for Brittany.

We pulled up to the plane and I didn't realize how small it was going to be. It was very nice, but it was very small.

We're talking small plane. Think of a Honda Civic-size thing. It's only four seats.

That's Mike. We're using just his first name to protect his safety.

You could tell she had just gone through a lot. Her mind was in a thousand different places and just trying to process everything that was going on. My goal was just to try to make the flight the easiest part of her day. Keep everything calm, make sure she was comfortable.

He could see right away that one way to help Brittany was to help her kitchen.

At this point, we didn't have a carrier or anything, so she's still in that little zip up cooler, but she's very well behaved. So she was just relaxing.

I have two cats at home, and so I had an extra cat carrier. I'm like, I'll just bring the cat carrier with me. Who knows what she was able to bring with her.

And he brought towels and everything to make the carrier all comfy.

With her kit and taken care of, Brittany felt much better.

She seemed relatively comfortable when we got up to the plane and getting settled.

He loaded my stuff in the back and he gave me the headphones and he was like, If you want to talk to me during the flight, do you have any questions, we can talk? He goes, Or if you'd rather not, you can just turn the volume down.

I usually offer them the back seat because it's the most comfortable spot. There's two seats back there, so it's a little more space to spread out.

He goes, You can take a nap if you wanted to. At the time, I thought that would be ridiculous. The last thing I'm going to do is go to sleep. We get everything going and we take off. Again, the cat's being very well behaved. That's when I knew that with every few minutes, I realized how far away from him I was, how farther away from the craziness and how much there was no way he could get a hold of me like this wasn't happening. I was free. I'd say within 30 minutes, I was asleep. I slept probably at least an hour.

Deep sleep?

Oh, yeah. I just had my finger in the carrier on my little kitten because she was holding my finger. I slept on top of the carrier, hunched over it. The carrier, the little lines, the little metal on the top of it was actually indented in my cheek for a couple of hours. I just slept really hard and woke up and felt better than I had felt in months. During the flight, I looked out and we were above the clouds, but there were also clouds above that and there was sun shining through and it was just beautiful. I was so grateful that I hadn't killed myself, that I hadn't. I never thought I was going to get out of there, but I'm just so glad that I had just given myself the time to find a way out of there.

There was some building clouds and as you fly through those, as the clouds lift, so does the plane. We got some bumps going through a couple of those.

He looked back. I could tell by his face, he was like, Oh, she's probably going to look uncomfortable. I had just woken up, probably from the turbulence, and we were surrounded by clouds. You couldn't see past the tip of the wings. At that point, I had never felt so fearless. I'm like, If the plane goes down, then that's fine. I'm fine with it. I'm just happy to be there. It was just so much peace. But at the same time, I knew I was okay.

Mike flew Brittany roughly 800 miles across several state lines. About four hours later, they landed in the Midwest.

We got out of the plane. We got her all the bags into the person that was picking her up. She came up, she's like, Can I give you a hug? I was like, Yes, of course. Because I think she was just so relieved to have gotten somewhere and to be there. You could just tell there had just been this weight lifted off of her.

Brittany had a two-day abortion procedure, and she was so ready. After each day, she got to return to her little kitchen in a hotel room that Allison had arranged. This was all happening right before Christmas. Brittany, how did you feel after the procedure?

Yeah. That was my first time to actually take a deep breath and look at what all had happened. It had been so fast and so much stress and so just chaos that I never had a second to really appreciate what it all had just went through. It was a snowstorm and it was Christmas and I just could not be happier to be in that hotel with my little Kitty and done with it. I cried, but it was happiness. It was just relief. It was six months of tears, just six months of stress and pain and just fear and hopelessness. Literally, I cried it all out.

Brittany spent the Christmas holiday playing with her cat, taking videos of her cat, watching TV, and not consumed with all the things she had been worrying about just days prior. Eventually, Brittany got her ID back. We're not just talking about a driver's license. Brittany was able to get a new birth certificate. Her former partner had destroyed her old one. She also got a new Social Security card. She credits Allison for everything.

Just the way everything worked out, it was just too perfect.

Brittany says Allison also gently pushed her to take ownership of her life and help herself.

Even though I was still a little shut down, she was like, I'm going to send you numbers to call. These are people I know with housing and all sorts of assistance, but you need to call them. Allison and.

Midwest Access Coalition didn't just help Brittany access an abortion. They helped her out of an abusive situation and gave her a new life. Now Brittany is in her own apartment where she says she has two years of paid rent and utilities. Services and support are being wrapped around her. Things like cards to Walmart, vouchers for clothes and furniture, monthly bus passes, on-site counselors, and group meals, all the results of that first email that ended up with Allison.

Through Allison, I now have two years to actually get my life together. I have my own apartment with my own key where my kiddie is safe all day. Within a month of being there, I already had a job. I'm saving money. By the time two years is up, I'm going to be able to go back to being on my own in my own place with my own vehicle and everything.

When you wake up every day now, Brittany, in this new life, what's it like for you? Just the.

Simplest things bring me tears of joy. Just my kitchen plane on the floor while I'm washing dishes. My concern for the day is, did I have laundry detergent to do laundry? Not if some psycho is going to come in and have a screaming fit for two days and I have this thing growing inside me that I don't want and I have nowhere to turn and just constant suicidal thoughts. And to be now crying happy tears while doing dishes in my apartment, I know that I'm there and I'm safe.

Throughout my whole conversation with Brittany, she kept saying over and over how Allison was this hero, that she should be wearing a cape. But Allison doesn't see it like that.

It's not my story, it's Brittany's. And so she tells me all the time, Thank you so much. You're my superhero. You're my hero. And I'm like, You're my freaking hero. You did this, actually. You're the one who reached out. You're the one who made this happen. I just had the resources to get us over the finish line.

How critical was it for Brittany to get that abortion?

I mean, it saved her life. She said it. I've said it. The abortion movement says that abortion saves lives all the time. And that's true for my own abortion story. Abortion saved my life. But Brittany, her life was really fucking saved.

It was. Brittany doesn't want anyone else trapped in that situation to stay.

Just don't give up. There are other steps. You don't have to be ashamed. Despite what somebody might be telling you, you don't have to be. There's a whole community of people who care and want to help you out of the situation and that will literally be superheroes for you. All you have to do is find them and ask.

There are people all over this country waiting for you to find them, waiting for that call or text. Allison was there to respond to Brittany, but Allison's not alone. There is a huge network of helpers making sure everyone has access to the health care they need. Okay, so Sam, we started off with a very angry montage.

We did, yes. But then we.

Heard Brittany and Allison's incredible story of hope. I told you hope exists. How are you feeling now?

Okay, well, to be the journalist, I'm still very mad, but I love this story, and I'm so grateful that people like Allison exist. But why the hell does someone need a league of literal superheroes to make it to a doctor's appointment? Also, I'm guessing there are way more Britannies than there are Allison's right now, and that is very scary.

Yeah, that is very scary. The need is rising and the donations are dwindling. So if you can support a fund like the Midwest Access Coalition or the National Network of Abortion Funds, that is a great place to start.

But donations aren't everything. There are so many ways to help. You can volunteer your time to support a fund, or when your friend calls you because they missed their period, you can steer them to accurate information and resources. Okay, maybe you can't fly a plane, but you can offer to put together care packages to support people.

During an abortion. It can be so simple. A heating pad.

And tea goes a long way. Yes, anyone can become.

A defender. And that is where this show comes in. We have so many stories for you. Stories that will enrage you, yes, but they'll also inspire you to get out of bed and figure out where you fit in this fight because it's going to take every single one of us and we will win. Here's what's coming up in The Defenders. It is.

All about.

Bodily autonomy.

It is about people's ability to control their own destinations.

Tennessee is an oppressed state. Like every individual there has been gerrymandered.

Out of.

Their basic human rights.

People who are.

Undocumented and.

Need an abortion are either.

Forced into parenthood or they're just straight up risking deportation. You want to get it done as soon as possible, but when you don't have the access to do so, it makes everything so much harder.

I will go out on my own terms. I will not be told that I'm done. We also.

Want to make sure that people know how to contact Midwest Access Coalition since we know what a total lifeline that was for Brittany. If you are traveling to, from, or within the Midwest to access an abortion, Midwest Access Coalition can be a great resource. Call or text their hotline at 847-750-6224. You can also go to Midwestaccesscoalition. Org. Find other abortion funds around the country at the National Network of Abortion Funds website, abortionfunds. Org.

There's more of The Defenders with Lemonata Premium. Subscribers get exclusive to access to bonus content like an unaired interview with an Elevated Access pilot. Subscribe now in Apple Podcasts.

The Defenders is a production of Lemonata Media.

We're your hosts, Gloria.

Riviera and Samantha Bee.

Munna Danish is our supervising producer.

Lisa Fu is.

Our producer. Isara Asavez and Tony Williams are our associate producers.

Ivan Karyev and Natasha Jacobs are our audio engineers.

Music by Hannah Sprown with additional music by Natasha Jacobs.

Story editing by Jackie Danziger, our VP of narrative content.

Fact-checking by Naomi Barr.

Executive producers are Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Whittl's-Wax.

This series is supported by Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Levi Strauss Foundation.

Follow The Defenders wherever you get your podcasts or listen ad-free on Amazon Music with your prime membership.

If you are in a domestic violence situation, you can call 800-799-SAFE or go to thehotline. Org. If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering self-harm or suicide, you can call or text 988 to access a trained crisis counselor.

Everybody check your emails. You never know what's going to be in your inbox. It could be the most important email anyone ever wrote in their entire life.

What's up, everyone? I'm Delaney Fisher, comedian and serial entrepreneur. And I'm Kelsey Cooke, comedian and, I swear this is real, a world champion, football player. On our podcast, Self Helpless, we dig into everything from heartbreak to career burnout to the wild stories from our 20s and the many anxieties we've experienced along the way. We're often joined by guests who range from celebrities to renowned health experts. And together, we'll unpack big topics like deciding whether or not we want kids, building your dream career, strengthening self-trust, and much, much more. So join us every Monday for an unfiltered, entertaining, and honest conversation with friends where you don't even have to leave your house. If you're not wearing pants, we will never know. That's right. So listen to Self Helpless wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, listeners, I'm here today to tell you about La Monata Media's.

Newest limited podcast series called Declined.

This 10-part series takes you through the journey of two exceptional women from to freedom, ultimately leading to the creation of the Returning Artists Guild, an organization that uplift the artwork of currently and formerly incarcerated artists across the country. Call Declined.

Premieres November 27th, wherever you get your podcasts.