Abortion Rights and Access Megathread

30 comments

1. [https://www.onlineabortionresources.org/](https://www.onlineabortionresources.org/) is an information resource- since abortion is still legal as of writing, perhaps not necessary yet, but worth sticking in the bookmarks. They’re associated with r/abortion (which is a support subreddit).

   If you go to this subreddit, heads up that this is usually where people will talk/vent about their experiences and feelings, both positive and negative, so it could be triggering for people that are sensitive about ex. miscarriage or child loss talk.

2. I don’t think I have been this scared in a long time – I nearly threw up last night reading the headline when it broke. I knew this was coming when Trump was elected – saying “I told you so” has never felt so vile.

3. All women should be allowed to decide to abort or not. Those who choose it should have access to safe abortion procedures.

   I don’t think I could ever look at a woman who was just told her baby would have 0% chance of survival after birth, and tell her she still had to go through the whole pregnancy and labor.

   Making it illegal won’t make it go away. It will just make it unsafe.

4. It’s awful. It feels like a big step towards increased fascism, as it kicks women’s rights backwards 50 years and treats potential humans are more important than actual living people.

   As a woman of some means who lives in an abortion-protecting state, I think it’s time to get my guest room nice and cozy & inviting.

5. Honestly for me, abortion discussions always seem (for some reason) to revolve around sanctity of life vs autonomy. While I generally agree, I actually think of it differently

   To me, abortion is a reflection of the real world we live in. In a world that – has free and high quality healthcare, no sexual assault, perfect and reversible contraception, sufficient social safety nets and enablement for all types of mothers, etc – only then can you even start talking about limiting abortion.

   However we aren’t even close to that world, and we have to be very clear that the outcomes of an unwanted kid is really, really bad for the kid, mother, and likely society as a whole.

   So the question should really be – how do we create a world in which abortion is very likely to not be necessary?

6. I’m fucking enraged and I can’t believe I’m 50 and STILL protesting this shit! We’re going backwards as a nation and it’s insane to me how close we are to being Gilead at this point. I’m so thankful I live in a very blue state. I’ve already made it clear to my friends in red states that I’m a resource if they need it.

7. I am pro-choice 100%. It’s a person’s health right and ultimate freedom. No matter the circumstances and moral disagreements, people need to have the right for a safe abortion.

8. I would encourage everyone to read about the [Decree](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decree_770) in Romania that forbade abortion and contraception. I would also recommend to give this as resource to those who think that forbidding such a right will go in the right direction. The first law that was restored after President Ceausescu was killed, was the right to abortion.

   I would also encourage everyone to watch [Children of the Decree](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgZJ-IV8Et0&t=8s) documentary. The truth is much more gruesome, but the documentary emphasized it enough.

   Taking the right of bodily autonomy from women was done before and it hasn’t worked. More than 10.000 women died for their right to their own body and many more were left disabled or sterile.

   We will never have restrictions or forbidding abortion, based on this past.

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10. I find it seriously upsetting that anyone would want to restrict these.

    The fact that access is so few and far between is damaging to the most vulnerable in society as well which is the worst part

    This is a very necessary medical procedure for a plethora of reasons and frankly I don’t consider anyone to be pro life unless they support it seeing as without it, plenty of people, including children are likely to end up seriously I’ll if not dead due to backstreet abortions being tried out

11. Abortion is completley wrong. Not for any specific religious reason. But my core principle is the individuals ability to choose. Even if I 100% disagree. So I’m pro choice. Plus I’m all for the death penalty. So it would feel hypocritical if I was against abortion. I was a woman who had unprotected sex and got pregnant and so I was faced the choice. And I could never live with myself if I had aborted. It’s simply a consequence of my own actions and I’ve overcome alot of shit to adjust. Not recommended. But mainly, I’ve just known too many women who had an abortion, or multiple abortions….the fact that the abortion never bothered/s them, disturbs me. I understand other women have abortions for other reasons. And that’s why I don’t think I would ever take that right away. Because those people who need it, won’t get it if it is illegal. And the people who are callus and uncaring and abort babies every year because they don’t give a fuck, will continue to do heinous things regardless. Anyways. That’s my take.

12. I live in a very liberal state in the PNW. I have been tempted to offer a safe room for anyone needing to come to the state for medical services. I am trying to figure out how to do this safely and legally as I know there are many minors in need of services. If anyone has any ideas, please reach out to me.

13. Let’s see….doctors, good…definitely good. Oh, and patients….you know, ladies, some people don’t realize this, but when you have doctor’s, you might as well have patients. It just makes sense. So…….hmmmmmm……are we forgetting anything…..I just don’t know….OH! I got it! We need to involve a bunch of politicians and judges and stakeless bystanders! Pfweeew! That was almost a catastrophe! We almost went with just doctors and patients. Can you imagine!?!?!?

    Ladies, I will now accept your gratitude on behalf of all men. /s

14. I posted this elsewhere and quite a few people have said it was helpful. Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy of Rewire News Group sat for an interview with Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa of the Gaslit Nation podcast. These are four of the smartest analysts I know of, and they’ve all been bringing insights into the intersection of creeping authoritarianism and reproductive freedoms. This is one of the best, most helpful and well explained conversations you will hear about abortion rights and access as well as the broader agenda of the GOP and SCOTUS to overturn other so-called settle law cases. You can listen without a subscription here: [https://youtu.be/6cJ46hPSQh8](https://youtu.be/6cJ46hPSQh8) If you prefer to read, you can access the transcript here, and you can also download the podcast episode from this link: [https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2022/4/27/jessica-pieklo-imani-gandy](https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2022/4/27/jessica-pieklo-imani-gandy)

    I thought I knew everything about this topic, but I learned a few new things from this conversation. Something I’ve realized is that I know quite a few people who don’t identify as pro-choice or anti-choice, but it’s because they lack a good understanding of what’s actually at stake. Approximately 70 percent of Americans do not want to see Roe v. Wade overturned, but there are powerful forces working to ensure this is just the first (well second, after the Voting Rights Act was gutted) of several reinterpretations of constitutional rights. This is so much bigger than reproductive rights and access.

15. So. I woke up this morning and see that Roe v. Wade is going to be overturned.

    My first thought was ‘Blessed be the Fruit.’

    My second thought was ‘Glad I’m post-menopausal.’

    Then I stopped joking with myself and really got down to the meat & taters of such a totally back-assward decision.

    I see the following outcomes of once again allowing the states to either ban or allow a woman the bodily autonomy to decide if she wants to carry a pregnancy to term:

    -I see a lot more dead girls, who will try stupid stuff to be not-preggo and end up not-alive.

    -I see a lot more child abuse, as girls who are forced to ‘Mom’ will take out their resentment on the unwanted child.

    -I see a lot more abandoned children, because resentful Mom’s are going to bail at their earliest opportunity.

    -I see a lot more drug/alcohol addicted/damaged newborns – kinda ties in with outcome #1 above – stupid stuff to try and not be preggo, but won’t actually kill either the child or the walking womb.

    -Women now have less bodily autonomy than a corpse.

    I also see this as only the beginning of eroding the rights of woman, taking the US back to that glorious time when men were Men, and women were Cattle.

    This country hasn’t been free for the common man for a long time, and the common man is finally being shown the horror behind the curtain. Welcome to the Corporate God-States of America.

16. Pregnant women have fewer rights to their own body than a corpse does. That is just fucked up.

17. I’m just tired and feeling very sad about the state of things.

    Growing up, I thought we’d overcome so much and that we were finally on the road to real greatness. A cool future lay ahead, one of progress and of problem-solving humanity’s issues and of scientific discovery and of equity and of peace. The world wars happened before me, civil rights and women’s rights were well established and getting better every year. Gay rights were getting better, too! And there were people who wanted to fix healthcare and heal the ozone layer and end fossil fuel consumption! People were learning to support each other! Oh man, I couldn’t wait to see how much better we could be. We were going to meet the last big problems head on and then sit back and enjoy the heck out of our newly hatched modern world.

    This…this isn’t that world.

    It’s going the wrong way.

    It’s a slow car crash and I don’t know how to turn the wheel any harder and it doesn’t matter anyway because there are absurd forces pulling it so much harder in the opposite direction.

    My inner young dreamer is tearing apart, one terrible event at time.

    I’m so sad.

18. Crazy to be living through the collapse of our democracy!

19. I am so fucking angry, but it did finally push me to cut off a manipulative ex who responded to the news with “it doesn’t really matter yet” and then told me to “find someone else to be angry at” when I told him that his comment was massively downplaying how concerning this is.

    So, there’s that, at least?

    But jfc I am so fucking angry right now.

20. I’m in tears as I type this, because powerful men STILL have the ability to tell women what to do with their bodies. We’ve been their property, their child brides, their play things, their scape goats, their domestic slaves, their punching bags for far far too long. We will never have equality so long as they are allowed to pass legislation around our most intimate decisions.

    When do we stop this nonsense and stand up and say enough is enough? I’m prepared to strike, as an employee, as a consumer, as a wife, as a mother, and as a caregiver. I will not stand and allow someone to tell me that I don’t get a say in what happens to MY body. I will stand for every woman that has ever needed or may ever need an abortion.

    I stand with Sara who had an abortion because of her ectopic pregnancy. She wanted the baby and it broke her fucking heart to have to abort it, but it would have ruptured her fallopian tubes and she’d be in danger of death and/or infertility.

    I stand with Amy who was 16 and got pregnant from her 20 yo bf who promised she wouldn’t get pregnant if she let him fuck her “raw” because he “pulled out”. She cried herself to sleep for months.

    I stand with Nikki who had 3 abortions over the course of 5 years because her father was raping her from the time she turned 12.

    I stand with Alice who had an abortion because she got drunk and the basketball team took turns raping her while she was passed out.

    I stand with Lucy who got pregnant while trying to finish her Masters degree and aborted. She decided children are not going to be a part of her life.

    This is not about, nor has it ever been about the “life” of a fetus. This is about controlling the population and keeping it divided. Divided we cannot stand up together and demand change on behalf of the working class population. Men don’t suffer the same consequences for their part, no one is putting legislation around their penises and reproductive freedoms and they should have NO say over ours. Outlawing abortion will not stop it, it will just create the back door abortion clinics that result in women literally dying for their reproductive freedom.

    There is no argument that makes banning abortions ok either. It’s okay for someone to not want abortions, to believe them to be morally wrong, and to have religious beliefs that say it’s a sin. But you need to understand that your beliefs and feelings don’t extend to everyone. You are not God. You don’t have a right to tell someone else what to do based on your beliefs. It’s a form of slavery to insist women have children they don’t want. It’s inhumane, it’s barbaric, and it’s none of your business. Be pro life and have your babies and let other women make that choice for themselves.

21. Women are going to die. This isn’t going to stop abortions, it’s going to stop safe abortions. We’ve been here, we know what this looks like, it’s dangerous.

22. A mass exodus of intelligent young people to states/nations that can actually provide for their needs.

23. Women must have a choice and reproductive freedom. It is absolutely no one else’s business. Women must live with their choice, whatever it is, but they must have a choice.

24. This will probably be burried but I have a need to share my story today.

    Ealier this year I had what was technically a medically necessary abortion or assisted miscarriage. I say technically because at the time of deciding to schedule the procedure (8weeks) it was not, it was considered an elective abortion. The fetus had a heartbeat, but it was too slow and was not developing, there was almost chance of survival. We had gone through years of fertility treatments at that point and knew the limbo of small odds well. I could not take the heartbreak and anxiety of waiting again. By the time I had the procedure the heart had stopped allowing it to be billed as medically necessary. The procedure allowed my recovery to be half a day instead of the days or weeks a natural miscarriage would have taken. If i even passed it naturally, missed miscarriages are common. It was a heartbreaking and stressful time and i was so happy to not have physical reminder of it all. I thank god my state has abortion at all stage enshired in state law. I can’t imagine waiting the weeks it might have taken to naturally miscarry knowing there was a unviable fetus inside me.

    Abortion is healthcare. Join r/auntienetwork today. I have a guest bedroom in CO ready for any person with a uterus that needs it.

25. The only solution is all women refusing to have sex with any man ever again.

26. “Pro Lifers” (lol) are just idiotic at this point. I’ll hop on a plan to get an abortion and do my best to get funding for anyone else who needs to.

27. I shouldn’t have to get my tubes tied and put myself through the irreversible risk of fucking up my hormones so some crusty white dudes can get off on the idea of women being forced to have children.

    I shouldn’t have to fuck up my hormones and my body with birth control.

    I shouldn’t have to get a hunk of plastic shoved up inside my cervix without any pain mitigation.

    I can’t afford to migrate overseas. I don’t want to leave my family behind even if I could.

    I’m so angry beyond belief and I don’t know what to do.

28. It was already hard to access when I was looking into it. Had to look into going to another state and it was still $500 before the overturn draft.

29. I used to live in AZ and it was difficult to get an abortion without jumping through all of these expensive hoops. I eventually found honeybee health, which provides Misoprostol (medical abortion pills) at reasonable price ($40), and went that route. It worked well and I have no regrets.

30. I’m honestly sick of even seeing pro-choice people “softening” abortion circumstances in arguments by saying it should always be allowed in cases of rape, incest, danger to the mother, etc. YES it should be but ABORTION IS A RIGHT no matter how you got pregnant! Abortion is healthcare, full stop. You don’t see debates over lifelong smokers getting lung cancer treatment because “they knew the risks.” I know these arguments help people who are on the fence about the issue but it takes away from the fact that no woman should have to sustain a fetus without her consent. Ugh this just all makes me so mad and so sad.