Former ‘Roe’ attorney Gloria Allred on NDAs, empowering victims and a world without legal abortion

Back in the 1960s – before Gloria Allred became one of America’s
most prominent women’s rights attorneys – she says she was raped at
gunpoint. She became pregnant and had a back-alley abortion that
nearly killed her. “It did teach me a lesson,” Allred tells Art of
Power host Aarti Shahani. “And the lesson is that abortion should
be safe, legal, affordable and available.” In conversation with
Shahani, Allred explains how that traumatic life event changed her
worldview and preceded her decades-long career in civil rights law
(10:20). She explains why she uses a cheeky sense of humor to get
what she needs (4:30) and how she’s represented some of the most
famed names in women’s rights, including “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade
and O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson (14:35). Plus,
Allred defends a long-standing practice she’s been criticized for:
negotiating non-disclosure agreements (26:20).