Oh wouldn’t this be tragic if word of this spread out everywhere possible?
Oh no…my hand slipped…
Remember if you live somewhere where this is an option you need, you need to be keeping a healthy stock of pregnancy tests and using them regularly to catch the pregnancy early enough. It is incredibly common for people to only find out well past 10 weeks. Of course that can be expensive so look for the paper strip type that doctors use, not the bulky plastic types typically advertised for home use if you can. And dont fall for marketing gimmicks with pregnancy tests, they all work about the same, you don’t need a digital screen and if in doubt do another test tomorrow.
(Also do your test first thing when you wake up for best results)
I would HATE for anyone in Texas to ACCIDENTALLY read this…
The dollar store carries pregnancy tests and they’re just as accurate as the ones from the pharmacy, fyi
Having worked in a doctor’s office, can confirm we just used cheap plastic OTC pregnancy tests and the dollar tree has them sometimes for $1.
As a further reminder– (loosely) once the sperm hits the egg and you become “officially pregnant”, pregnancy is calculated by going back to the date of your LAST period.
So if the date of your conception is March 29, but you got off your period March 01, congrats! You’re now 1 month/4 weeks pregnant. That’s how pregnancy is calculated.
And you absolutely cannot find out the day you conceived that you’re pregnant, because it takes at least 2 weeks before your body makes enough HCG to be perceived by a pregnancy test– so that’s another two weeks.
Which means you could have sex, become pregnant, wait the two weeks to test, and be ‘six weeks’ pregnant. That’s right– if you do everything right, and find out you’re pregnant literally as SOON as possible, you can already be 6 weeks pregnant.
“The Texas Heartbeat Act prohibits abortion when there is a detectable heartbeat, which may be as early as 6 weeks into a woman’s pregnancy.” This is why this act is genuinely evil. You could be ‘two weeks out from the date you had the sex that got you pregnant’ and be 6 weeks pregnant.
It’s not likely, but it’s incredibly possible. If you miss a period, it hurts NOTHING to check immediately. Don’t wait. Waiting a single month after your missed period to test could mean you’re suddenly 10 weeks pregnant– or more.
Actually, hang on, I want to talk more–
I went to the aidaccess website. For some states, they can mail the medicine to you directly without a prescription. For others, they’ll do an online consult with a doctor to prescribe and then mail you the medicine.
The cost can be from $110-150.
When you first start the consult, you see this.
We want to look at the second option. Because these are shipped internationally, and as sited on the website due to covid delays, the medicine takes three to four weeks to reach you.
If you find out you are pregnant at six weeks, you must order immediately in order to do a pill abortion at home under the ten week window. However, it gives you the option to buy in advance. Both mifepristone and misoprostol tablets usually carry a 2-year shelf life. The price isn’t THAT much higher than Plan B.
I researched that on my own– the shelf life thing– but was incredibly pleased to see the aidaccess website got into it as well.
[Image text: Advance provision 1. If you live in a place with a very restrictive abortion law, it can be helpful to have the medicines for a medical abortion in advance case of a future unwanted pregnancy. In this case you should contact us again immediately when you find out that you are pregnant so that we can give you the proper guidance. Please check the expiration date when you received the medicines (most can be kept up to 2 years after receiving the package as long as they are kept at room temperature and in their original and undamaged blister packs. It is likely that they can be kept for even longer but their effectiveness cannot be guaranteed after that point.
2.If you want the medicines because you had unprotected sex less than 5 days ago, you can still use emergency contraceptives!]
The aidacess website walks you through EVERY PART OF THIS.
If you have $150 to spare, this is potentially live-saving medication. If your current plan is to drive out of state, stay for three days at a hotel to maybe get an in-person abortion after listening to a heartbeat etc, please consider that cost versus this cost. It has a shelf life of two years. I’m considering buying some right now.
I am incredibly moved to know this option exists and am currently about to share it with every social media site I can.
A lot of people in the US are super worried about the Supreme Court axing Roe v. Wade, but what they might not know is that some states have laws in place that will protect the right to reproductive choice and abortion if that happens. One of these states is the state of Illinois. In 2019, a law was passed that protects abortion rights within the state even if the federal right to an abortion falls. This means that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, abortion will still be a protected right in Illinois. Even before Roe, Chicago was a haven for safe abortions- you just called and asked for Jane.
Now, safe abortion access is the law of the land in IL, and there are several groups who can help you. This post is long, but I think it’s worthwhile. Even if you don’t read all the way through it, maybe save it for later. You or someone you know might need it. If you want to stop now, the TL;DR is this:
f you’re a minor and you can’t tell your parents, get a waiver of notification from the IL Judicial Bypass program.
Schedule your appointment.
Contact abortion funds to get financial aid. Your home state might have s fund, and the Chicago Abortion Fund can help.
Secure housing for the procedure through the Midwest Access Coalition or by talking to the intake staff at the clinic of your choice.
I’d like to start by saying that the closer to home you get your abortion, should you need one, the easier it will be for you… probably. It depends on your individual situation AND your safety. If I still lived in Indiana and I needed an abortion, I’d probably leave to get it done, even though there are abortion providers in Indiana, because Indiana is super hostile and there’s lots of clinic protestors- for example, when I was taking my GRE my senior year at Notre Dame, the testing center was in this little strip mall in Mishawaka next to Planned Parenthood. Despite the fact that the PP in Mishawaka does not provide abortions, there were protestors who yelled at me for going in there. I wasn’t even going to PP. I’d like to say that I said something devastatingly cool but I just ran in flustered. Point being: It really, really would have sucked if I was there for healthcare instead of a standardized test for graduate school. And that’s a very tame, mild situation! Real abortion clinic protests are often much more devastating!
ANYWAYS. The less you have to travel, the easier things tend to be, if it’s safe to get an abortion where you are and if your state will have protected abortions if Roe is overturned. If you’re not sure what might happen in your state in that case, this map has a clear, succinct overview of the legal status of abortion in each state and all US territories. You will want to click through to that link, because this image isn’t interactive.
[ID: a map of the US with states and territories sorted by their legal protections for abortion into four categories: expanded access in the case of Roe v. Wade being overturned, protected, not protected, and hostile. IL is highlighted.]
So let’s say you live in any of those red states. (Yellow and blue are safe- abortion access is protected there.) Let’s say, worst case scenario, Roe gets overturned and you get pregnant and you want to terminate. You will be able to do that in IL, and it’s relatively easy to do that in Chicago for a relatively low cost and with the benefit of a robust support network of people who want to reaffirm your reproductive choices.
First, if you’re a minor and you don’t want to tell your parents because it’s not safe for you to do so, get a judicial waiver of parental notification. The IL ACLU has a judicial bypass hotline. This will come at no cost to you. Do this ASAP, because it takes time to get it set up! You can do this by calling the hotline at 877-442-9727, texting 312-560-6607, or emailing [email protected].
Next, you need to get an appointment set up. You could get a referral from someone local to you, but this can be tricky- 87% of counties in the US don’t have an abortion provider, and google can lead you to a crisis pregnancy center. They will not help you. If you have a local Planned Parenthood, call them. Even if they don’t provide abortions, they can refer you to someone who can. If you’re coming to Chicago, which this post… kind of assumes you are… you can call any of these groups to talk about your options and what clinics can help you. I recommend starting with FPA or PP; those are two actual clinics. MAC and CAF are funds- they can direct you but they can’t schedule an appointment for you.
You might want to shop around and see which clinic costs the least, and is the most practical for you to get to. FPA has a lot of patient resources, as does PP. Don’t be afraid to ask for financial assistance. The people staffing those organizations have extensive networks and deep compassion for their patients- if the clinic can’t help, they might know who can.
Once you’ve made an appointment, now’s the time to start gathering financial aid. Some insurance, including IL Medicaid, covers it. If yours does not, or if the copay is still too much, this is where abortion funds come into play. Many states have their own abortion funds for state residents, so you might have to look around to see who can help you. I’d start with the National Network of Abortion Funds.
You also need to figure out transportation and housing while you’re in the city to get your abortion. This isn’t super necessary if you’re just coming for the pill abortion, but if you’re coming for a d and c or other surgical procedure, you will be staying for a couple of days. THIS is why I’m writing this up, because abortion funds typically only are able to help cover the financial cost of the procedure. It’s expensive to stay somewhere and it can be absolutely terrifying if you’re on your own! Navigating while you’re in pain from the procedure can be an absolute devil of a time, too! However, Chicago has MAC (contact info above), which is a practicalaccess fund, which means that they help pay for transportation to the city (bus tickets and train tickets) and around the city (volunteer drivers or volunteers who take rideshares with clients), food, aftercare medicine (painkillers, etc.), and housing, and there’s also free access to emotional support staff throughout your stay. This is not just open to IL residents; it’s open to anyone coming to the city for an abortion. ALSO if you go through FPA, they have a partnership with the Hampton Inn a block away from their location where their patients get a discount. If you go that route, just talk to FPA about housing and they’ll hook you up. This can be super helpful if you need some evidence that you’re on a “business trip” or something like that- if you are in a position where you need an excuse for your safety, that might work well.
Hopefully you won’t need this post- but if you do, I hope it helps. Feel free to share it around. If you have anti-choice opinions and you feel the need to share, don’t. This isn’t the space for it; you will be blocked and your comments removed. And then remember that criminalizing abortion won’t stop abortion. It’ll just stop safe abortions. Also, increased access to abortion, funnily enough, tends to be the thing that lowers abortion rates, because increased access to abortion comes part and parcel with increased access to birth control and general health and sex education.
Reblogging this because it’s always relevant… and because an administrative decision by MAC’s incredible leadership means they don’t just do bus and train tickets anymore. They will also help pay for airline tickets if you need to fly. If you are in the US and need to come to Chicago for an abortion, MAC’s got your back.
Also, if you find yourself in a situation where you can’t travel, and you catch it early, you can do a medication abortion at home. This can either be clinician supported through telehealth or it can be a self-managed abortion (SMA). Either way, you can do this entirely online without ever having to go into a doctor’s office or clinic.
Now, this only works early in a pregnancy (up to 11-12 weeks), so if you’re in a situation where you suspect you may become pregnant and you don’t want to be, test early and often if you can. The various help lines can also help you figure out how far along you are.
More resources: https://www.reprolegalhelpline.org/- this link is a good resource for talking about your legal options. If you’re a pregnant person of color, immigrant, or low-income (and using Medicaid) in an abortion-hostile state, I HIGHLY recommend talking through your legal options because you are absolutely targeted by politicians and the US legal system.
You can print these on sticker paper at home if you have it. It’s a good way to get the word out.
As of… thirty minutes ago on Monday, 2 May 2022, Politico got hold of Justice Alito’s draft statement on Roe. It’s not good. We’re probably gonna lose Roe vs. Wade in two months, and that means if you live in a red state, you’re VERY probably going to lose the right to a safe abortion.
I know this is a long post, but if Roe is overturned, it’s not going to stop abortions. It’s just going to stop safe abortions. Abortion access is reproductive healthcare, and a lot of states are going to get really restrictive. Indiana, my home state, has already put a woman in jail for having a miscarriage. Oklahoma lawmakers would rather let women with ectopic pregnancies die than allow lifesaving medical procedures. This is bad, but! Underground abortion networks did exist before Roe vs. Wade, and now we have the internet. We have robust networks in place to help people that the government would rather see dead or imprisoned. Even if Roe is overturned, some states will be safe havens for abortion. Travel to these states can be difficult, but not impossible– that’s what abortion networks and abortion funds are for.
Please save as much of this information as may be relevant to you. And if you’re “pro-life” and feel the need to comment on this post? Don’t. Your opinions and input are neither valued nor wanted. Abortion access is a vital, necessary part of reproductive healthcare.
The fact that Mitch McConnell told USA Today on May 6 that a NATIONAL ABORTION BAN orchestrated by a Republican Congress is “possible” should permanently end any chance of a 2022 GOP takeover of Congress, and if it doesn’t I’m frankly left without any explanation as to how or why.
You know, this situation (re: SCOTUS leak of Alito’s draft on Roe vs. Wade) is dire, but it’s not as dire as it could be. Thanks to the leak, we have a precious gift. We have time.We have it in writing what’s coming and what it’s going to look like, and that means we can organize. We can make plans, we can share information, and we can put pressure on the executive branch to do something. We can make it known that this isn’t what we want– and it’s not. Almost 60% of Americans support abortion being legal. Hell, even most American Christians (63% of the Protestants and 55% of the Catholics) think it should be legal in most or all cases. It’s just the damn evangelicals that are ruining things for the rest of us. (And frankly, they’re ruining everything for everybody.)
Information is going to be incredibly important in this fight. Right now, I’d like to talk about demographics, because the majority of this country wants legal access to abortion. The information I’m using comes from a 2021 Pew Research Center survey, which has not been repeated in 2022– so it’s recent enough data to be useful.
The population demography of who does/doesn’t support abortion is fascinating. When you stratify people by gender, age, education, and religion, only one group doesn’t support abortion. Every other demographic group skews pro choice, and it’s usually by a pretty substantial majority. The closest is the 3% majority of adults with a high school or less education- 50% of them say support in all or most cases, 47% say no, and 3% didn’t answer. In every group except evangelical Christians and overall Protestants (because the evangelicals bring that average down), 50% or more of the population supports abortion. It’s not anywhere close to even splits anywhere except at that one education point.
Where we do see major splits is along political lines. Among Republicans, a whopping 78% of conservative Republicans say that abortion should be illegal in most or all cases… but 59% of moderate/liberal Republicans think it should be legal. Since 63% of respondents who said they were Republican or leaned Republican don’t support legal abortion, this should give an indication of the ideological dominance of conservative versus moderate Republicans- basically, that Republicans push further to the right. We kinda knew that already, from… everything… that’s been happening… but it’s important to get data.
Democrats on the other hand, overwhelmingly support legal abortion. There’s even bigger gaps than the Republican ideological gaps!
So what can we do with this data if we care about supporting legal abortions? Frankly, we need to pressure Democratic leaders to grow a damn backbone. Their party overwhelmingly supports legal abortion, and even if Roe is overturned, we could still use this time to push for more states to expand protection and write abortion access into law. We also need to remember: most of the country wants legal abortions. That, if nothing else, should inspire courage and give some hope.
I love this!! For my fellow “prefer to learn by listening” ppl:
Here’s a 30min podcast episode about how you can help members of your community access abortion pills, which are FDA approved and safe and effective to self administer ♥️
It features an interview with the cofounder of Women Help Women/Self-Managed Abortion, Safe and Supported (SASS). They’re also safe and inclusionary for all bodies and identities :) They have secure servers to contact counselors for advice and a secure menstrual tracker app called Euki that teaches about birth control and using abortion pills safely!
Never forget that approx 20% of pregnancies self terminate, potential complications from abortion pills are the same as a regular miscarriage, and these pills being prescription-only has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with regressive puritanical reproductive health policies ♥️
It IS fucked up that we’re losing access to safe clinics. We SHOULD have the right to go to a doctor easily for abortion but even if we don’t: No more scaring each other about coat hangers!!! We don’t have to feel only scared and helpless! We can take care of each other. We should all learn this stuff. It’s basic info about our bodies and our health.
I’ve seen a considerable number of people discussing how lack of accessible, safe abortion will force pregnant trans people on T off of it. That’s a good conversation, and I’m glad it’s happening. I now want to add another dimension to the conversation. Testosterone is not the only medication that is considered unsafe for pregnancy.
An incomplete list of medications that are not considered safe for pregnancy:
-All current stimulant medications for ADHD
-Lithium, for bipolar disorder
-Some medicines to control seizures, such as valproic acid
-ACE inhibitors, for blood pressure
-Xanax and Valium, for anxiety
-Diabetes medication other than insulin
-All pain medication except for Tylenol, which can cause liver damage if overused
Most of these medications can be approved for use during pregnancy if your doctor considers the risk of not using them higher than the risk to the fetus. However, many pregnant people are forced onto medications that do not work well for them because the medication that they use is strongly discouraged. In addition, the changing of medications can wreak havoc on if your insurance is willing to pay for what you’ve changed to- an additional expense on top of the usual financial burden of pregnancy care.
This is hard enough for disabled people to deal with when they are pregnant voluntarily. If abortion is criminalized, then use of medications that may cause defects or miscarriage will likely be considered criminal if there is a miscarriage. This is especially true if there is no exception for the life of the pregnant person.
This only scratches the surface of the problems that disabled people will face if abortion is made inaccessible. For this and many other reasons, maternal mortality and/or morbidity is strongly elevated for disabled people. I strongly encourage you to consider disabled people as a particularly vulnerable group in regards to this issue, and to consider our needs important.
Further reading on disabled people and pregnancy mortality or morbidity is linked below. They refer to all pregnant people as mothers and women, but the data that they have collated is still important.
ALT
