#5SmartReads - July 13, 2022

Hitha on developments in reproductive healthcare access, Uber, and two movies you'll want to watch

I can’t help myself but watch a show about unscrupulous, scammer CEOs, and Superpumped (about Uber’s Travis Kalanick) was too much for me.

Apparently, so was the company under his leadership, though I don’t know how much I believe its claims that they’ve changed under current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

We’re talking about aggressive lobbying (almost to the extent of straight up bribery), commissioning “research” to support the business model at a macroeconomic scale, ignoring very real public safety concerns and sometimes embracing violence.

The Guardian’s investigation and reporting is well worth your time. As for me? I’m back to using Revel, CURB (to reserve a taxi), and the subway, and hoping that Alto launches in NYC soon.

I haven’t seen RRR yet, but I have watched Naatu Naatu on YouTube more times than I feel comfortable admitting (and tried to learn the dance as well, and failed).

After reading this (an article about a Telugu movie! In VULTURE, of all places), I really need to carve out time to see it in the theater, given the energy this film brings.

“Watching RRR with a packed audience familiar with Tollywood means getting swept up in fiery, frenzied action scenes that defy physics without apology and in fist-pumping dance numbers that invite you to join in. It means cheers and wolf whistles whenever its revered stars, Ram Charan and N. T. Rama Rao Jr., make their entrances — or sing or dance or do practically anything else onscreen. One sequence, the pulsating, passionate musical number “Naatu Naatu,” has resulted in impromptu theater-wide dance parties, especially in Indian cinemas, where the line between appreciation and celebration can be razor-thin.”

I feel like there’s not a whole lot of positive news on the reproductive healthcare rights front, so when I find it, I must share it.

This is one of those stories. Dr. Meg Autry, a Bay Area based OB-GYN and professor, is leading the PRROWESS effort, which brings reproductive healthcare services via boat to states that have banned or restricted abortion.

And as the PRROWESS boat will be docked in federal waters, it appears to evade those state’s restrictions (as there is no federal right to an abortion anymore).

PRROWESS is focused on the most vulnerable people who will be affected by abortion bans, as Dr. Autry states:

“Part of the reason we’re working on this project so hard is because wealthy people in our country are always going to have access [to abortions], so once again it’s a time now where poor, people of color, marginalized individuals, are gonna suffer --and by suffering I mean like lives lost," Autry said.

"The project is being funded with philanthropy and the patients care is on a needs basis, so most individuals will pay little to nothing for services," Autry said.

In more promising news for reproductive healthcare, HRA Pharma (a subsidiary of Perrigo, one of the largest generic manufacturers) is officially the first company to file an over-the-counter birth control medication with the FDA.

Opill was originally approved by the FDA in 1973, and Perrigo acquired the drug from Pfizer when the latter was selling off off-patent and older medications (something that’s incredibly common in industry).

There is a ton of clinical AND long-term data on the safety and efficacy of Opill, which I’m sure is included in the application. Moreover, an immediate review (it could be fast-tracked, as you can argue the overturning of Roe requires access to contraception and other pregnancy prevention measures) could mean Opill is available as soon as next year.

Filed under “movies I will get around to seeing someday”, Mr. Malcom’s List is quite high on my own list. Give me Regency! Give me romance! Give me a diverse cast!

And please give me Freida Pinto, who I’ve been a fan of since her debut in Slumdog Millionaire. Take the time to read this wonderful interview, but I’ll leave you with the answer that just speaks to my soul.

“With Mr. Malcolm’s List and Bridgerton, we’re just showing love and joy in all its forms. With that, of course, comes certain odes that we pay to our culture. I don’t think any of us need to justify our presence in this film. But I wanted to bring in my culture in the form of the clothes that I’m wearing. So there was the paisley print that is so quintessentially Indian. That’s what Pam Downe, the costume designer, and I worked [into] my costumes. There were those hints in Ṣọpẹ’s character, too. He brought Yoruba into one of the scenes. And so what we wanted to do was to — without making it gimmicky, without making it on the nose — really embrace our cultures and keep it all about love.”

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