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Women from the Austin music scene talk about how the Texas abortion ban is impacting their lives.
You’ll hear from music publicist Adrienne Lake, membership manager at The Recording Academy Amanda Garcia Davenport, Cassandra Shankman, aka DJ Cassandra, event producer Cheyenne Doer and songwriter, rapper and producer Qi Dada, who is one-half of the Austin hip-hop duo Riders Against the Storm.
The full transcript of this episode of Pause/Play is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Miles Bloxson I’m Miles Bloxson.
Elizabeth McQueen And I’m Elizabeth McQueen. And this is Paws Play, a podcast about live music, why it matters, and what comes next.
Miles Bloxson This season, we’re looking at how different global and local changes are impacting Austin’s live music scene.
Elizabeth McQueen In our last episode, we talked about climate change.
Miles Bloxson And for the next two episodes, we’ll be exploring how recent changes to some of the laws in Texas are affecting our scene, and specifically how they’re impacting women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Elizabeth McQueen Initially, we thought this would be one episode, but then we realized that each topic needed its own episode because these are intense, important, and complicated issues.
Miles Bloxson In this particular episode, we’re going to explore how Texass ban on abortions is impacting women in our scene.
Elizabeth McQueen And in the next one, we’ll look at how proposed restrictions on drag performances and the ban on gender affirming care for minors is affecting members of the LGBTQIa plus community.
Miles Bloxson In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade, which allowed states to create and enforce their own abortion laws. This triggered a law that was already on the books from 2021 that made nearly all abortions illegal in Texas.
Elizabeth McQueen We asked our good friend Sergio to help us understand the abortion ban.
Sergio Martinez-Beltran Yes, my name is Sergio Martinez Beltran, and I’m a national correspondent with NPR, and I cover immigration now, but used to be at the Texas Newsroom, which is a collaboration of public radio stations in Texas for two years. Sergio was covering the legislature when Roe versus Wade was overturned, and he told us what the law means for women in Texas. It’s very simple. Abortions are basically banned in the state of Texas unless the women is at risk, like her, life is at risk. There are no exceptions for rape or incest like in other states. It’s pretty much if the woman is about to die, then an abortion could happen. If she has a chance of not dying, then they have to continue with the pregnancy.
Elizabeth McQueen The law also says that if a woman is at risk of, quote, substantial impairment of a major bodily function, then an abortion can be performed. But that wording is not well defined in the law.
Sergio Martinez-Beltran In December of 2023, a pregnant woman named Kate Cox challenged Texass abortion law. A medical doctor had told her she had a non-viable pregnancy, and so she needed to have an abortion, and she sued the state to try to get the care she needed. A court said yes initially, and then the appeals process continued. And, takes the Supreme Court pretty much said that she, you know, they understood her concerns. But what the evidence presented by the doctor was not clear. So long story short, Kate Cox could not receive treatment in the state, so she had to leave the state of Texas and get the abortion somewhere else.
Elizabeth McQueen So abortions have become extremely rare in Texas.
Miles Bloxson According to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services. In 2021, there were over 50,000 abortions provided in our state.
Elizabeth McQueen In 2023, there were 62.
Miles Bloxson The nearest place to Austin where a woman can get a legal abortion is either 550 miles away in Wichita, Kansas, or 590 miles away in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
Elizabeth McQueen And for some Texans, this is a big win. This is our governor, Greg Abbott at the rally for life in 2023.
Greg Abbott All of us are united by the truth that our creator endowed us with the right to life. And there is no freedom more precious than life itself.
Greg Abbott But this is my sad reality.
Greg Abbott For millions of children, we’re losing their lives every year in Texas before they were even born. But not any more in Texas.
Greg Abbott Because of your decades. Decades of advocating for life.
Greg Abbott Abortion is no longer legal in Texas.
Miles Bloxson We wanted to know how this law was affecting women in the Austin music scene.
Elizabeth McQueen We heard stories of women canceling shows because they had to travel to New Mexico to get an abortion, or of women helping other women get access to abortion care. But it was hard to get people to talk to us on the record.
Miles Bloxson But some women did feel comfortable speaking with us about how these abortion laws are affecting our music scene.
Elizabeth McQueen The first woman we spoke to was Adrian.
Adrienne Lake I’m Adrienne Lake. I’m the co-owner of Daydream Believer Creative with my partner Charlie Faye, and we are music consultants and we work with music businesses, nonprofits and artists. And we do just a little bit of whatever anybody needs. A lot of consulting, some PR they even, produced a video here and there, you know, you name it, we probably do it.
Miles Bloxson We asked Adrian how she felt when the Texas abortion law came down.
Adrienne Lake It was like a punch to the gut. You know, on on one hand. This is what’s been happening. We’ve seen these restrictions happening with, you know, the queer community and, voter suppression. And, so the war on all these folks and now the war on women, no bodily autonomy. And that’s that’s absolutely devastating. So when it happened, there were a lot of conversations in person and online, people saying they were packing up and leaving, hearing men saying, well, it’s time for that mastectomy. And, actually hearing women saying, you know, I guess we’re going to have, you know, surgery to make sure that we aren’t forced into a bad situation. And that was before the Kate Cox situation. And so we just recently watched all those fears be completely validated.
Elizabeth McQueen Can you describe what that felt like, seeing that situation unfold?
Adrienne Lake Well, again. Just completely. Devastating. It’s really hard to wrap your head around these people in charge of controlling other people’s lives and bodies, and they know nothing about it, and they don’t care. They don’t even care if it’s a situation where, you know, the child was wanted. But there are medical issues. They don’t care if the mother’s life is at risk. It’s about control. And these types of things affect the creative class and people who struggle financially more than anybody else. Fortunately, as artists and as people with a platform including, you know. Venue owners, talent buyers, etc. etc. we can do something about it. We can make our voices heard. And I do think that it is our obligation to do that. Back when I was a talent buyer, I thought, wow, what a gift it is to have these actual and figurative platforms that we can make statements and do good for the community and hold benefits and spread awareness and, you know, get out the vote organizations. So that is one good thing that we have going for us. That in the fact that, I think we’re really blessed to have a great community here in Austin, and it’s nice to know that if something happened, you know, we know that there would be a community that would have our backs.
Elizabeth McQueen And then our friend Amanda Garcia helped us get a group of women from the Austin music scene together to talk to us about their personal experiences with the Texas abortion ban.
DJ Cassandra Hello? I’m DJ Cassandra. My name is Cassandra, and that’s also my deejay name. So I’m also a DJ and a composer and educator as well, living here in Texas, in Austin, Texas.
Amanda Garcia Davenport I am Amanda Garcia Davenport. I am a membership manager at the Recording Academy, and I’m also a mother and a wife and a music fan.
Qi Dada So my name is Kidada. I’m one half of Writers Against the Storm musical hip hop duo, and I am a mother and I am a wife. I’m a producer, and I really enjoy, elevating the spiritual notion of women in the world.
Cheyenne Doerr Yes. Hello, my name is Cheyenne Doerr I am, now an independent publicist and live event producer working mostly in the music entertainment, culture spaces. I’m also a member of the Recording Academy and work with Amanda on a group in. It’s a global nonprofit called Women in Music. We just launched our Austin chapter, and I am currently splitting my time between Austin and just generally Central Texas in LA. So half and half these days.
Elizabeth McQueen We started out by asking them how they felt when the Texas abortion ban went into effect.
DJ Cassandra You know, it’s just that, feeling when your throat, like, drops into your stomach, kind of like. Oh, explicit word and oh, explicit word for everybody. I know all the women in this city and state. And it was just like, okay, that at first. And then, all right, how are we going to fight this? How are we going to come together? And then it was honestly like, ever since that like 2022, it’s just been like really empowering, honestly, and like a really beautiful community connection that I don’t think would have happened before. Like, I mean, it was there before, but I think it’s even more and it’s like, you know, a lot of women having these conversations like off the record and, you know, being brought together and talking about it and being like, oh, you stand for women’s rights. You stance, you. Okay, I get you.
Miles Bloxson Amanda. What about you? When you heard the news.
Amanda Garcia Davenport Very similar that, like, drop in my stomach. Really scared for a lot of women in my family, in my community, and scared for myself because at the time, my husband and I knew that we probably wanted to have another baby, but we hadn’t yet. So that was really scary. I guess a little bit of background before I had my first daughter, I had a miscarriage and didn’t know how common it was and immediately found out because this like circle of women came to me that were like, me too, or, you know, that happened to me and I just learned how common it was, and it really helped me be able to kind of speak about my experience to other women that later on that had that happen to them. When I had my first daughter, I had really amazing pregnancy. I felt like I was superhuman, and then I had a really scary birth where we had to be rushed into, an emergency C-section. So going into like thinking about pregnancy again and then also knowing that I was over 35, which is considered geriatric, I knew that there was risk associated and that complications could happen just given the history that I had experienced already. So it was really scary when everything went down, and I knew that I was lucky enough to know different people within different organizations, and I felt confident that my doctors would always take care of me or help me find proper care if needed. But terrifying. And then also empowered at the same time, because then, like knowing that I already had a daughter and making sure that like, it was my job to protect her and to have her set up for. Whatever she needed to get through. So very, like opposite. But all at the same time.
Cheyenne Doerr Qi Dada
Qi Dada When I heard the news, nothing about me was shocked because I feel like I come from and represent a community that’s always used to having the laws not apply to them anyway, so they’re always trying to find solutions just in case the ball drops. Because a lot of these women I know, the workers in the birth space and in social justice spaces are always looking for solutions outside of the system, just in case they decide that the laws are going to be different and they’re used to the laws being different for them anyway. So they’re always finding resources and collecting knowledge and sitting with people who have always sat outside of the structure to be able to provide the care necessary, should should institutional care not be available. So it’s kind of a complicated thing where obviously, like no one wants you’re once you’re protective measures in the institutions to be stripped from you, not when you work and provide taxes and, you know, do your best to vote and secure yourself in a complicated relationship with your country. Nobody’s looking for that. And the amount of women that I see fighting on both sides of it is really phenomenal to me that are not trying to separate, regardless of their philosophies are ideologies and not trying to separate the fact that we are all in need of each other because this reality. Is is so incredibly complicated and can sway one way or another. So it’s imperative that we all know where to lean and how to lean when situations become really abrupt.
Cheyenne Doerr Yeah, I, I would say kind of to Qi point, you know, I wasn’t necessarily shocked when the specific Texas law came into play. I remember exactly where I was when row was overturned and my two female roommates and I, like, had a good cry and hugged each other. And it was just like, are we really in this right now? And so obviously, of course, when the Texas thing, you know, just stamps the the realness of all this, it’s crazy that guns have more rights in this state than women, honestly. And just the fact that people that are deciding these things have no idea the first thing about what they’re honestly talking about. In many cases.
Elizabeth McQueen Coming up after the break, you’ll hear how these new laws impact women performers.
Miles Bloxson Welcome back to Pause Play. In this episode, we’re hearing how the Texas abortion ban is affecting women in the Austin music scene. And all of you ladies have a place in the Austin music scene. And, you know, music scene’s beyond Austin as well, right? How do you feel like these new laws impact women performers like as a whole?
Qi Dada I definitely feel like women performers are always kind of in a special box. Like even if you’re talking about not just music athletes like performers. It’s complicated because you’re already your track of career already indicates that you have to make choices about whether or not you’re gonna comply as a mother, or are you going to continue being an artist? And so I feel like these laws and the way that they’ve played out complicate that even further. So now, I have to be concerned about whether or not my safety, even if I do choose that route, is in place in a situation where I’m already getting pushed because it’s always you’re always kind of like following a carrot, almost. You’re just like, it’s just a little bit further, just a little bit further, but a little bit further, a little bit further. And so you’re always trying to balance when is the right time. And then now you have to balance whether or not it’s safe for you to do so. Just as a whole lot of other level of stress as a woman, because you’re already having to choose your career in a family because we’re in a construct that isn’t prioritized care.
DJ Cassandra I would love nothing more than to have a kid and still have a career in music as a performer. But just like you said, it’s so difficult and it shouldn’t be that way. We should be able to have what we’re born able to do, you know, and be able to do that, you know, and we have to fight to do that.
Miles Bloxson Do you have kids yet?
DJ Cassandra No, I don’t. And honestly, if I were to have kids, I don’t know, that would make me want to move out of Texas because I would be worried about if something happened in my pregnancy. I would not want to be here to do that at all because it is terrifying reading the stories and everything.
Cheyenne Doerr I’ve always been on the fence, honestly, about whether or not I want kids, especially when I think about wanting to do that. In theory, if I were to in Texas, where my family is, but yet not feeling like it’s a safe place to kind of do that, especially with the risks that go into pregnancy and everything, that’s kind of already been shared. And when it comes to, you know, the idea is if I needed an abortion, I’m so grateful that I have an amazingly supportive mother who was like, if you need to do that ever, you just tell me not to tell anyone else. We’ll go pretend we’re taking a vacation somewhere, you know? And I realize, like, how also very lucky and privileged that is because so, so, so many women in this state and other states where this is in place do not have that support system, do not have the means. So like, what do they do? You know, do they die? Do they have a baby. They can’t or not ready for. It’s just really that’s that part of it really gets disheartening obviously. So.
Elizabeth McQueen I wonder to like, do you guys find that these laws, do they make their way into like the work that you make, not just how you approach your career or how you think about like family planning, but like the actual stuff that you do always.
DJ Cassandra I like pretty much most of my sets, unless it’s like I’m being hired to play, you know, only these artists, this genre or whatever, pretty much always include a lot of, femme artists. And there are not a lot of DJs who do that. And I wish there were more because there’s a lot of different genres, different artists, different women in Texas, Texas songwriters, Texas musicians, and they should be celebrated and played. And so it’s like, I want to include them. I also want to hire mostly women for things. And that, you know, was always like a yeah, but now it’s like a yeah, like we want to support this community, you know, in Austin, you know, I mean, however much I can whenever I travel. But mostly Austin, I feel like that’s the same way whenever I get hired for events, gigs, whatever, it’s women wanting to hire me to portray that as well, you know? And so it’s just, yeah, that weird like, oh, wow. This is I’ve never felt it so strong here, which is a reason why I just can’t leave because I’ll go somewhere else and it’s just like, I, it’s maybe it’s because I’ve been here a long time, but I do feel that really strongly. More more than ever within the last two few years, you know, a couple of years.
Elizabeth McQueen Almost like the current state of things has made everyone kind of lean more into like. Depending on each other, hiring each other, promoting each other. Yeah, that kind of thing.
DJ Cassandra Yeah, yeah, a lot more. Yeah. Than it has ever been.
Elizabeth McQueen And how about you, Shane?
Cheyenne Doerr I think, you know, especially kind of in the world. I’m in with the work I do, spotlighting great stories and people that get me really excited working with certain non-profits like Future Front Texas, which, you know, from the jump, have been throwing events and doing a lot to really raise a lot of awareness around this and bring people together and show that, like, you know, we still have each other. We are going to fight for the things that we need. And it may not take it may not happen today, tomorrow in a year, ten years. But you know, there’s a lot of people that are not giving up and trying to make this state a better place.
Qi Dada I had a concert that I recently produced. Right. And all of the focus on that show was maternal health, birth workers, people who are in and around that environment that know quite a bit. And for me, it was really imperative was I became a mother. And I think I again, to emphasize like the call per se. Didn’t necessarily come from what went down in legislation because, again, these communities have always been like, I don’t know what applies to me and what doesn’t. And so I’m going to create my own solutions. So like that show came from, you know, after birthing my child and really getting immersed in that world and really seeing what these women were about and what they were doing and how, well, you know, just the solutions that they kept coming up with, the resources that they had, the brilliance and the the energy that they they were providing, the information, they were like, oh, no, we we got this. And I was like, more women need to know where they can go to feel that. And so like that program, for me, it was like a bat signal, if you will, so that people know, like, yes, this is happening. I understand, you know, the fear. It’s legitimate. I understand the concern is legitimate, but they’re women who’ve battled all that fear in them that have battled all these programs out here, these legislations, and understand that it can go either way at any point in time. And they have their own systems and, you know, structures in place to carry and catch women when needed, when things are not in your favor. And also, you know, it’s all it’s all right. I’m not going to get on my soapbox, but it’s oh, I’m not gonna do it. I’m not gonna do it.
Miles Bloxson But that’s all.
Qi Dada Right. But that’s what it’s for. So, you know, a lot of these women understand the colonialist construct, the misogynistic colonialist construct and what it’s based on, and it’s based on debasing human lives. The only way for you to get super rich super fast is to be unconcerned about life is to obliterate care, including the planet, etc. but you have a chain of command of what that is and you know, people of color, women, etc. they’re not at the top of that. These women have used their imaginations, saw something greater than them to have the kind of confidence to be like, I’m on par, if not greater, than the system I’m in, so I can create solutions for myself regardless of where the wind blows with you. And I think that’s really powerful. And I just wanted to highlight women who took the time to deconstruct themselves and to educate themselves and to listen to alternate sources and to learn and care for the human, for the feminine body, to the degree that they have. You know what I mean? Just like whatever degree of care, care so important to a healthy society. And so I really wanted to make sure that people understood that that existed, that you didn’t have to stay in this relegated space waiting for the other shoe to drop, or having to exist in fear because the shoe did drop. Like all of this exist for you too. And and you have a, what they, they call hush harbors. They used to have these things called hush harbors where you would secretly go and care for yourself. But it’s not so hush. It doesn’t have to be so harsh. Is is perfectly fine. You’re well within your right to find solutions for yourself.
Miles Bloxson Do you all know any women that have left Texas, like musicians or artists, because of the new laws that have been put in place?
DJ Cassandra Oh, yeah. Yes. I’m not going to say their names, but yes, I do like quite a few. And I know one specifically is a good friend of mine who is on her way to leaving like two moving outside of Texas because of that. And she’s an incredible singer songwriter, and she wants to have a family, and she does not want, you know, to have the worry here. And it’s like, okay, well, all right, great. We’re going to lose some incredible women, you know, in Texas because of this. And it’s like, what? Why? You know.
Miles Bloxson Wow. I mean, when you were shaking your head, I thought that you were just like. Yeah. Miles, we hear your question, but you’re like, no, we know people.
Amanda Garcia Davenport Yeah, I know somebody who’s had to leave, and has come back. And families that are raising daughters that are leaving because of that. And they don’t want to have to worry about their daughters. I mean, and their daughters are very young and they’re just trying to get ahead of the big stuff if that ever happens, you know, things ever came their way.
Qi Dada Yeah, I not necessarily leaving but not coming, you know, I mean, people won’t come. I had a conversation, you know, the SP 17 bill, for example, you know, deconstructing di all of that is part of this whole package of crazy that’s going on. Who we perceive is crazy. I think it is. And, people won’t come. It was like, I’m not safe there. I don’t know what could happen to me out there. I’m not coming. You know, people who have jobs offered to them. They’re like, I’m not coming. I don’t know, I have no idea. Like, I’m good. And so they, they, they just feel such a high level of risk being able to relocate here. You know, that goes into, you know, women feeling like there’s a high level of risk. As I got leave, I see that happening as well as people wanted to leave. People won’t come.
Miles Bloxson Everyone that we were talking to lives in Texas at least part of the time. And we asked them, why did they decide to stay here?
Qi Dada I don’t believe in running because you should be able to exist the way you need to exist wherever you want to be. That’s what you’re right as an American is supposed to be. That’s what it’s supposed to be. I just believe in your ability to be, to exist as you want, where you want.
Cheyenne Doerr I’m from Texas. I’m from San Antonio. Like Amanda. Yeah. My family is largely mostly in Texas. And, you know, the women, the communities that I’ve spent years and years making. I mean, they’ve shown up for me in more ways than one again and again. Now, I will say a lot of my dear friends are moving away, not necessarily just for these things, but yeah, Texas is home. And, you know, I’ve always seen Austin especially like there is this place of opportunity, you know, like I think that’s what’s always had me coming back and wanting to, you know, support artists and women and just, you know, whenever possible, maybe tie certain events to a cause. Not for a performative look, you know, but just because that’s just what we kind of have to do out here.
Amanda Garcia Davenport Yeah, I mean, I, I grew up here, my family’s here, Texas is home, and somebody’s got to do the work, you know, like, we can’t. I’ll leave. And we’ve considered leaving Austin once we had kids because our family’s not here. And it would be so much easier to be closer to family, you know? But like, the community that we have surrounded ourselves with is so beautiful and so special. And, yeah, we could leave. But then what would happen?
Elizabeth McQueen Kasey, why do you stay in Texas?
DJ Cassandra What was it that you texted me? Something like? It’s like.
Amanda Garcia Davenport Peace, love and Texas.
DJ Cassandra Peace love and Texas women. And that’s why. Because I can’t leave. I want to, and then I’m like. But there’s always that that, mom, we can help that friend that we can help that anybody that we can help. You know, we can’t change it if we leave. And so I think peace, love Texas. Definitely. Yeah. We love it, you know.
Miles Bloxson Peace, love and sex as women.
Elizabeth McQueen Elizabeth I put it on a T-shirt. Peace, love and Texas women.
Miles Bloxson We want to thank Amanda Garcia for bringing us all together, and we want to thank Kidada, Cassandra, Cheyenne, Amanda, and Adrian for being so open and vulnerable with us.
Elizabeth McQueen In the next episode, you’ll hear from members of the Lgbtqia+ community about how proposed restrictions on drag performances and the ban on gender affirming care for minors is affecting them.
Miles Bloxson Polly’s play, The Listener, supported production of Katy and Katy Studios in Austin, Texas. It is recorded, produced and hosted by me, Myles Bloxham.
Elizabeth McQueen And me, Elizabeth McQueen. You can help make this podcast happen by donating at KT. Org or Cut Short. Our executive producer is Matt Riley.
Miles Bloxson Zahra Krim helps write, record and edit this episode. Production assistants by his senior signature.
Elizabeth McQueen Jake Pearlman and Matt Largey also helped with editing and audio production.
Miles Bloxson Stephanie Federico is our digital editor. Michael Manasi is our multimedia editor.
Elizabeth McQueen Special thanks to Todd Callahan and Peter Babb for their technical support and guidance.
Miles Bloxson Original music for this episode was created by the talented Jaron Marshall.
Elizabeth McQueen Other music provided by the talented Jack Anderson and APM.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
