Look at where you get your information. Make sure it’s reliable. Stop causing more pain to people already in a rough place.
[image description: screenshot of a Facebook post by Marisa Dahlman, timestamped Friday at 3:16pm. Date not specified.
Post reads as follows
I performed an emergency surgery several months ago to treat a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. The patient could have died, but we were able to stabilize her and send her home the same day.
She called my office this week in tears asking why we did not reimplant her pregnancy in her uterus, why did we not offer her this option. Because maybe her baby didn’t have to die.
Pseudoscience is invading my operating room and my relationship with my patients. This poor woman had to have emergency surgery, and then grieved the loss of a pregnancy that was never viable, that could have killed her.
And now she is grieving it again because politicians who lack even the most basic understanding of the physiology of pregnancy are dangling untruths in front of her and calling it fact.
In case anyone reading this is wondering, THIS IS NOT A THING. It is NOT POSSIBLE to reimplant ectopic pregnancies into the uterus. These are NOT viable pregnancies, and all the wishing in the world, the magical thinking, the political grandstanding, will not make it so.
End image description]
Hi friends. Quick anatomy lesson, complete with fun pictures.
This is the reproductive system in question.
Interesting, right? I’ve been told it looks like a shark.
In viable pregnancies, a fertilized egg (known as a zygote in biology) implants in the wall of the uterus.
As the pregnancy progresses, the zygote grows. Cells undergo mitosis (where the cells replicate) and differentiation (where the cells take on special jobs and become organ systems). At full term, the zygote resembles a baby we know.
The placenta delivers nutrients to the fetus and helps detoxify wastes. From the placenta comes the umbilical cord, which serves a similar purpose. The fetus’ head presses against the cervix, through which it will pass during birth. The part in the circle are the pregnant person’s internal organs! The uterus smooshes them to make room. It’s no wonder they use the restroom so often!
In an ectopic pregnancy, however, the zygote doesn’t implant correctly.
It can implant in a variety of places (including the fallopian tube, pictured) to which it is not suited.
After it implants, it continues to undergo mitosis (which we talked about earlier). Whereas the uterus is equipped to deal with this exponential growth, other parts of the body are not.
As the zygote grows, it puts immense strain on the organ it implanted in. If it continues to grow too long, it can rupture! The zygote will lose blood supply and will quickly die. The pregnant person will begin to bleed internally without proper medical care. Left alone, it can lead to death of the pregnant person.
This diagram is a little complex, but put very simply, because the zygote hasn’t implanted in the right place originally, it cannot be removed and implanted in the correct one. It won’t be able to fuse correctly with the uterus, or to send signals to develop the umbilical cord and placenta we talked about earlier, not to mention that the rupture causes blood to be diverted from the zygote, effectively killing it before it can be implanted.
Not only is it futile, but it’s unsafe for the pregnant person. Ectopic pregnancies cause blood loss, which is exacerbated by further surgical intervention. Exposure to external environments exposes the zygote to infection, and surgical implantation exposes the pregnant person to infection, which could also lead to pregnancy complication or loss.
To make a long story short: you cannot reimplant an ectopic pregnancy. Please stop trying.
Please reblog this from the person above and not from the TERFs that jumped in after. Thanks :)
TLDR: an “ectopic pregnancy” isn’t a viable pregnancy because as soon as it implantedsomewhereother than the uterus, it became incapable of implanting in a uterus.
An “ectopic pregnancy” is already a miscarriage,just with the side “bonus” of being fairly likely to kill the person having it.
Thank you very much to the person above us who carefully, clearly, and accurately summed this up - I think this is information that should absolutely be better known about.
[Image description: a series of tweets. The first is from Victoria Holmes, @spyturtle96, timestamped 3:06 PM, 04 May 22, with text as follows:
“Adoptees have been saying non-stop for months if not years they’re getting ready for another baby scoop era and no one listened to us. And now "domestic supply of infants” is in a draft and people still won’t listen to us.“
It is tagged ”#adopteevoices".
The next two are from Kim Penn, @kim_penn The first is timestamped 10:08 PM, 02 May 22 and contains the following text:
“I’m a very small Twitter voice, but I am begging my non-adoptee followers to educate yourself about what adoption is, what it does, and how evil and corrupt the adoption industry was and is. Listen to #adopteevoices. And then get your asses in the fight with us to end the system.”
The second is timestamped 9:58 AM, 03 May 22, and contains the following text:
“I promise you, adoption is absolutely NOT the win/win, fucking fairy tale, happy ending you’ve been led to believe. For every #adoptee, our story begins with loss. That’s our baseline. Any "happy ending” without acknowledging that is empty and an illusion.“
It is tagged ”#adopteevoices".
The final three are a Twitter thread from Laney (followed by three Chinese characters), @Lane_Xue, timestamped 8:55 PM, 03 May 22. The first contains text as follows:
“My parents faced reproductive, economic, social, & political injustice. I was relinquished because they could not keep me & I’m an adoptee. I am not a fucking (chess pawn emoji). Do not use my family separation to justify your desire to control others reproductive health care.”
The second contains text as follows:
“Abortion is a reproductive decision.
Adoption is a parenting decision often made by poor, young, economically disenfranchised people not given the resources or support to raise their children.
Do not conflate the 2 to justify feeding the adoption industries demand for (baby’s face emoji).”
The third contains text as follows:
“Do not fucking ask adoptees if they’d rather have been aborted. Adoptees are already 4x more likely to attempt suicide than non-adopted people.
The reason someone needs an abortion is none of your business.”
All three are tagged “#adopteevoices”.
After the final tweet there is a link to ncbi.nlm.nih.gov with the beginning of a title, “Risk of Suicide Attemptin Adopted and Nonadpoted Off…”
I did my thesis on eugenics and forced sterilization in Canadian history (indigenous specific) and the next cis woman to say that men should collectively be forced to get vasectomies for points on some kind imaginary scoreboard of rights is getting sent a copy of the records I had to sift thru of men, mostly indigenous, racialized, developmentally disabled, or poor men, being sterilized against their wills and often without their knowledge.
I once again must remind people that “don’t like abortion, get a vasectomy” isn’t the gotcha you think it is, and that reproductive justice means supporting people who are targeted by the state both for forced birth AND for sterilization and child apprehension, as they’re linked closely.
a few things to keep in mind as you talk about the current situation with roe v wade:
women are not the only people who can get pregnant, and therefore are not the only people who get abortions or the only people affected by restrictions to abortion access — sincerely, a man with a uterus
the recent legislation against trans people transitioning, particularly as it relates to trans men and transmasc people, has been justified by the politicians supporting it using the argument that transitioning jeopardizes our reproductive potential, which they see as more important than our actual lives. if you support the legislation against us or have been silent about it, you cannot claim to be fighting for reproductive rights. you don’t get to only care about it when it affects you — if you let them get away with that rhetoric against trans people, you give them the power to use it against you. if you can’t stand in solidarity with us, you will end up standing against yourself
please don’t forget us in these conversations, and don’t be silent about the attacks on our bodily autonomy
all of this is connected — criminalizing transition, overturning roe v wade, it’s all working toward the same goal. if you care about one part of it, you have to care about all of it, or any efforts against it willfail
if you don’t care enough about us to fight our oppression for our sake, do it because you cannot fight against your own oppression without fighting ours too
Free Period: Our OB/GYN Expert Weighs in On New Law for California Schools
Period products will be provided free of charge in public schools across California starting next school year as part of new legislation recently signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom.
The Menstrual Equity for All Act will require public schools with students in grades six to 12, community colleges and the California State University System to provide the free products in the 2022-2023 academic year.
We asked Alice Sutton, MD, obstetrician/gynecologist at UC San Diego Health, to explain the importance of providing free period products to this population of young women and how a comprehensive approach to women’s health is critical, especially for underserved students.
Question: What are some benefits to having tampons freely available in schools?
Answer: Students experiencing a lack of access to menstrual products, education, hygiene facilities, waste management or a combination of these, may skip school if they don’t have adequate sanitary products, or they may improvise with items, such as paper towels that are not meant for menstrual hygiene.
Period poverty causes physical, mental and emotional challenges. Having menstrual products available in school will help students concentrate on their studies and keep them in class while meeting their health care needs.
Q: Are there concerns about whether there’s enough support in schools to help young women who are menstruating?
A: Young women who are experiencing painful or heavy periods often don’t know that there are safe and effective treatments for these issues. Sometimes the discomfort is bad enough that they miss class or extracurricular activities.
Having a nurse, teacher, coach or other trusted adult in a young women’s life in the school setting provides support and could steer her towards making an appointment with an OB/GYN to discuss options for management, such as lifestyle interventions and medications.
Q: Besides providing tampons, what else should schools be doing to support reproductive health in young people?
A: Appropriate education about the menstrual cycle, tailored to their age-level should be provided. At an even more basic level, some students may not come from homes where they have a parent who they can ask for advice, and so school may be the place where they can find a trusted adult who provides them with accurate information and can point them to appropriate resources.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends a first reproductive health visit between the ages of 13 and 15. It is a good time to establish care and have a first visit where the adolescent has the opportunity to discuss concerns privately with a doctor. Gynecology visits at this age are tailored to the patient. Topics that might be covered include normal anatomy and normal menstruation, healthy relationships and consent, immunizations, physical activity, substance use including alcohol and tobacco, eating disorders, mental health, sexuality, contraception and pregnancy prevention and sexually transmitted infections.
