Talk It Out with Jodi Leib

March for Women's Lives, 2004

At the March for Women's Lives, when I entered this interview, Amy and Emily from The Indigo Girls were talking with a young woman who is also making a film about the abortion debate. She, like myself, are challenging the notion of what it means to be Pro-Life. She mentioned that the Catholic Church originally coined the phase Pro-Life, and I gather that's where the abortion debate as a political war zone began. When we create language and dialogue, we plant the seeds for thought, which causes action.

When I host a show called Talk It Out, the message is that people have information stored within the vessel of self that must be released. I act as a canvas for guests and readers, where emotion can be expressed through dialogue thereby causing a transformation of energy from negative into positive. Positive energy makes the world a safer and better place. It just does. Talk It Out creates positive energy. Therefore, in our view, for this article, to be Pro-Life means that we support women's choices for their own healthcare. If an abortion is necessary to create positive energy in the world, then being Pro-Abortion is also Pro-Life. Pro-Choice is Pro-Life and Pro-Life is not Anti-Choice or even Anti-Abortion.

Semantics can be interpreted in many ways. I choose Life and I choose Choice. Abortion does have negative repercussions in many cases, but so does a dysfunctional family. Whatever your personal view is I respect it because I know that this is such a personal experience, I would never claim to own your choice or your life. Anti-Choice is Anti-Life, and the opposite of Pro-Freedom!

Amy Ray: I'm Amy from the Indigo Girls and I'm Pro-Choice, Pro-Woman, Pro-Family and Pro-Life.

Emily Saliers: And I'm Emily from the Indigo Girls. I'm Pro-Woman, Pro-Life, Pro-Choice and Pro-Family.

Jodi Leib: Can I have a few minutes? I'm Jodi Leib. I host the show Talk It Out. I interview musicians, mostly, and some actors. What Talk It Out is all about is bringing musicians to the forefront of leadership. I think a lot of people who love music don't necessarily trust politicians. They sometimes don't have anyone to turn to. So, I've been interviewing bands and musicians and artists so that people like me have someone to listen to. That's one reason I'm among all of us here today. Can you talk about the musician's role in our society? Is being a voice of your generation something that you've decided to take on as a responsibility? What guides you to be so vocal about your views?

Amy Ray: We're just activists really. We became musicians at a young age and we've been singing together for a couple of decades. Activism is part of what we are. It's not necessarily that every musician has to be an activist, I think every citizen needs to be engaged in their community. I think that means being active and standing up for what you believe. As a musician, it's more about being a human. There are some great leaders out there, there are some great politicians, there are some great activists. There are some great leaders right now and we just need to amplify what they're saying.

Jodi Leib: Who are they?

Amy Ray: Gloria Steinem. We heard her today. She's been around so long, and she's still so relevant, and vibrant for young people, and for old people, and everybody in between.

Jodi Leib: She's so enlightened, isn't she? Do you see the light around her?

Amy Ray: Yes! Yeah. She listens to what young people have to say.

Emily Saliers: And you know, Kerry is a Pro-Choice candidate. We have differences on other things, but he is a Pro-Choice candidate, you know? There's a lot to be said for that.

Amy Ray: Yes!

Emily Saliers: And being a Catholic, you know, and coming out with the Church's stance on that. It's all that craziness, and to have him stay true to his vision is admirable.

Amy Ray: It's true.

Jodi Leib: Thanks for being here. Is there anything you want to say about any rights or gay marriages, or anything that is important to you?

Amy Ray: It's all important.

Emily Saliers: Yeah. The Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment is sweeping the nation state by state. There is a really terrible backlash against gay people right now, and it's really something we're fighting for to certainly not let these things go to the public to vote on. We would never have had the Civil Rights Movement achieve what it did if it was for people to vote on.

Jodi Leib: It makes me so angry, because this Amendment is Anti-Constitution. It's Anti-American. It is a Hitler, Nazi, McCarthyism thought process, and I cannot believe it is taken seriously.

Emily Saliers: People need to get out there and vote!

Jodi Leib: It's shocking that America has resulted in this.

Amy Ray: Yeah. We need to vote.

Jodi Leib: We need to wake up, and get out of the shock and the darkness and wake up and vote, and stand up for humanity.

Emily Saliers: People need to make a connection between a vote and how peoples' lives are changed, and they really are.