I’m so grateful to Rachael Lorenzo, founder of Indigenous Women Rising (IWR), for making the time to chat with us last week—and thanks to all of you who joined the livestream, too!
Honestly, this is one of the sharpest and most grounding chats we’ve had on Abortion, Every Day—so if you didn’t get a chance to tune in live, you should watch our full conversation above.
Rachael walked Kylie and me through what reproductive rights actually look like for Indigenous people—from the political and cultural barriers patients face, to the colonial roots of attacks on midwives, to the ways national organizations can blow up long-built relationships when they parachute into Native communities.
She also talked candidly about IWR’s day-to-day work—lobbying, funding abortions, covering travel, childcare, and elder care, and even paying funeral home costs. And she explained what it means to do all of that in a way that honors culture, language, and community.
“Roe is the bar on the floor. Maybe it’s in hell. It was crumbs—and I’m not accepting crumbs for my people or for anybody.”
Rachael also offered a reality check about where things stand for IWR right now: donations have dropped, but the need hasn’t. And on top of that, the organization is fighting a social media shadowban at the exact moment they’re trying to raise $2 million just to keep meeting patient needs.
Here’s how we can help: If you have the means, please consider making Indigenous Women Rising part of your giving this year by donating. Not everyone can write a big check, but sharing IWR’s work, talking it up to friends, and encouraging your networks to support them also makes a real difference.
This community has done extraordinary things before, and I’d love for us to help get IWR closer to that $2 million goal.
You can also follow IWR on Instagram here and here, and engage with their posts to help push back against Meta’s shadowban.
Thank you again to everyone who joined the livestream—and to the folks at IWR for the incredible, life-saving work they do every single day. As we make it through the rest of the week, I’ll be taking Rachael’s advice to look for “little sparks of joy and humor” to carry us through “this shitty fascist moment.”
I hope you do, too.
