Abortion Is Healthcare - Blog Posts
Original thread:
https://mobile.twitter.com/DianaMiller5/status/1522278413096132609?cxt=HHwWgoC53deJnKAqAAAA
Note, I am finding these threads on the twitter feeds of ICU nurses who are now dreading the horrors that Roe falling will bring to their hospitals. This, on top of the horrors that they’ve seen and continue to see because of the pandemic. They were already exhausted and hanging by a thread.
I’ve said it before, and I will say it again.
If you want Roe v Wade overturned, but don’t support:
Comprehensive sexual education in schools
Easy and affordable access to contraception
Access to adequate and affordable prenatal care
Paid parental leave
Subsidized childcare
CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program)
WIC,
Then you don’t actually care about reducing abortions or protecting children. You just want to punish women for having sex.
roe v wade got overturned..
i am so fucking angry that roe v wade got overturned. the GOP is winning and i can't fucking stand it anymore. i am turning 18 this year and i will try my best to get those assholes out of legislature. vote blue or this country will fall.
PREACH!!
As an AFAB (still identify on the feminine part of the gender spectrum) person who got SA’d on multiple different occasions (5, 7, and 11 years old for the cases where I or the perpetrator weren’t fully clothed, there were other occasions though, but they didn’t really affect me as much) And tend to fear falling in love with people, even if I trust them: Being pregnant is scary in any case, whether you want to keep the pregnancy or not, it’s terrifying.
To any ‘pro lifers’ (more so pro-birth) or people who are confused or uneducated about pregnancy and birth:
•Pregnancy puts the person’s life at risk, and permanently affects the body even after the baby is born.
•non viable pregnancies can be mentally and physically devastating for people involved, and should be aborted for the pregnant person’s safety.
•Non viable pregnancies include: if a newborn is guaranteed to die after birth, stillborns, fetuses with severe defects, the pregnant person definitely not going to survive giving birth (such as children that are pregnant, people with severe health issues, some intersex and trans people, etc), and more
•if abortion was only allowed if the pregnancy was caused by SA/R@pe, many people who were SA’d/R@ped wouldn’t be able to get abortions anyway, because most SA/R@pe cases don’t get reported, aren’t brought to court, are deemed false by court, etc.
•There is a difference between life and personhood. Plants are alive, but don’t have personhood. A human corpse isn’t alive, but has personhood. A fetus is technically alive, but isn’t a person.
•if you think abortion is murder because a fetus has life, then farming is murder, picking mushrooms or roots is murder, taking antibiotics and getting vaccinated would be murder because bacteria and viruses are alive.
•Abortion is healthcare. An established life of a person is more important than a fetus with no personhood or consciousness.
Have some memes for your travels:
the "I believe in abortion only in extreme situations" people (especially women) truly baffle me because I genuinely consider "a human has another human growing inside of them and does not want to" to be a very extreme situation. to me that feels so deeply like an extreme emergency situation. I know this has been said before but it's incredible to me that this does not feel innately horrifying and "extreme" to everyone.
Legitimately, if my mom told me she considered aborting me, I'd ask, "Why didn't you?" with a completely straight face.
Here’s the original thread from Twitter but I want all my followers protesting the recent supreme court decision to stay safe.
[Image description: A screenshot of a tweet from Rh3t0ric (@avglibsoc) that says ‘In lieu of Roe V Wade being overturned, I’m going to compile a thread of any protest advice I can find’ followed by an infographic illustrating the following:
PROTESTING SAFELY
What to Wear:
-Nondescript, solid color clothing; cover identifying tattoos.
-Goggles & mask
-Heat resistant gloves
-Emergency Contacts written down
-Tie your hair up
What to bring:
-Water for drinking & tear gas
-Snacks
-Cash/change & ID
-Bandages & First Aid supplies
-Washcloth
-Earplugs
-Protest signs
DON’T BRING:
-Cell phone without first turning off Face/Touch ID, going into airplane mode, and disabling data
-Jewelry
-Anything you don’t want to be arrested with
-Contact lenses
/end image description]
Continues to be true.
Everyone needs to know that over turning abortion is rooted in racism. No they don't want black and brown women to suffer (anymore than usual). They want more white women to be forced to carry to full term so that they (white people) don't loose the numerical majority and become a minority in America.
But please know, black and brown women will be affected by this. Black and brown women have some of the highest cases of maternal death during child birth. Experiencing complications more frequently which is a direct side effect of the racist health care system. White Republicans don't care about that the real goal is for them to increase the population of white people through any means necessary.
Please look up The Birth Dearth by Ben J. Wattenberg. (Spoiler alert its eugenics. It's all eugenics.)
Here is our girl Jane Elliot talking about it.
Here is an entry article to read about as well
Not to be an obligatory Donation link post, but while we’re at it…
Planned Parenthood
NARAL Pro-Choice America
EMILY’s List
The National Abortion Federation
Center for Reproductive Rights
if you’re interested in donating, all of these orgs fight on a federal level to help ensure Women’s rights & Women’s right to choose. They aim to expand access to and provide resources about abortion, & elect federal officials who will support abortion rights
the best thing that we can do right now to fight for abortion rights is donating to your local abortion fund, especially in states with “trigger laws” or laws that will immediately take harsh measures to shut down abortion rights as soon as roe is overturned. If you don’t know your local abortion fund or states with trigger laws, here’s one in Texas, one in Louisiana, one in Georgia, one in West Virginia and one in Mississippi (all states with such “trigger laws”). There’s so many more beyond the handful i just listed here but times like these are the time to donate and support the incredible work that these organizations do for their communities.
I don't want to scare people, but if you are able to get pregnant and you live in a red or purple state in the US, you need to start making an emergency contingency plan for a complete ban on abortion in your state now. It is increasingly likely that Roe v. Wade will be nullified this summer when the Supreme Court decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health is announced, allowing states to set their own laws on abortion. If/when this happens, 23 states have the legislature in place to ban abortion and 29 total are hostile/lean hostile towards abortion and are likely to ban or heavily restrict it, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Only 16 are confidently pro-choice.
If you live in a state that is likely to repeal, are able to conceive, and especially if you are sexually active, you need to have a plan for avoiding pregnancy and a plan for if that plan fails, and the time to make it is now, not this summer when everyone around you is panicking.
Birth control access shouldn't be affected by this decision, but look into longer acting and more effective methods, like IUDs (99.995% effectiveness typical and perfect use) and subdermal implants (99.995% typical and perfect) over things like the pill (99+% perfect, 91% typical) or condoms alone (98% perfect, 82% typical) that are less effective and easier to lose access to, and use both a barrier method like a condom and a hormonal method if you can. Planned Parenthood has a list of methods sorted by effectiveness here. Plan B lasts about a year, and is considered effective for 72 hours after sex but drops exponentially in effectiveness as time passes: if you don't reliably have a spare $50 and access to a pharmacy that stocks Plan B or ellaOne, buy a back up Plan B when you're able to to ensure you can take emergency contraceptives as soon as possible for the best results.
Start tracking your cycle now: medication abortions are the only ones that can be self managed and are only possible up to 11 weeks after the start of your last period. Not after conception, after the first day of your last period. The effectiveness of medication abortion drops after 8 weeks pregnant, and some sources will say it's only effective up to week 10. If your next period is late and there's even a miniscule possibility you could be pregnant, take a pregnancy test immediately (the dollar store ones are the same as the expensive pharmacy tests). Don't wait to see if it shows up a couple weeks late or if next month's comes: by the time you reach your first missed period, you're already considered 4 weeks pregnant, and you need as much time as possible to coordinate an out of state abortion or a self managed abortion. Waiting for two missed periods puts you at 8 weeks pregnant, almost at the point where you need to start altering dosages for medication abortion to be effective. Don't cut it that close: it's better to waste a dollar on a test than have to seek out a second trimester abortion.
Have a plan for how you will get an abortion, both within the first 10 weeks and after. For early abortions, you will be able to self manage. Plan C, Aid Access, medicationabortion.com, Women on Web, and Women Help Women can all help you obtain the medications you need or information about how to use them, either by mailing them directly or by connecting you to resources: bookmark these.
For abortions past 10 or 11 weeks, things are more complicated, but they are not hopeless. You need to have a plan, though. Do you know where the nearest abortion clinic in a pro choice state is? Do you know how much that abortion will cost and how you will get that money, both for the clinic costs and the cost of travel, accommodations, and two to four days of lost wages? Do you know if they do in-clinic abortions (the only option after 10 weeks) or just medication abortions? What's the latest they can go? Look into local abortion funds or access support organizations. More will emerge as need increases, but scoping them out now will save valuable time and give you peace of mind. Some of the resources linked in the last paragraph may be able to help connect you as well.
Again, I'm not trying to incite panic here, but things are not looking good when it comes to abortion access in the United States, and you need to be prepared. Time is of the essence when it comes to abortions, even without restrictive bans, and having information and a plan before you lose access and especially before you get pregnant buys you time.
I’m again at a loss for words, and turning to those who know better. I keep thinking of Gloria Steinem’s dedication in her memoir, ‘My Life On The Road.’ I had the honour of listening to her speak about this book when she came to Melbourne in 2016. Her dedication is still one of the most perfect and fierce I’ve ever read:
‘THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO:
Dr. John Sharpe of London, who in 1957, a decade before physicians in England could legally perform an abortion for any reason other than the health of the woman, took the considerable risk of referring for an abortion a twenty-two-year-old American on her way to India.
Knowing only that she had broken an engagement at home to seek an unknown fate, he said, “You must promise me two things. First, you will not tell anyone my name. Second, you will do what you want to do with your life.”
Dear Dr. Sharpe, I believe you, who knew the law was unjust, would not mind if I say this so long after your death:
I’ve done the best I could with my life.
This book is for you.’
✊❤️