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 Virginiaandone 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.
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.
I have been going through some health struggles, and it’s been extra hard for me because I really identify with being a person who prioritizes her health.
I have a lot of unhelpful thoughts about why or how or when, but I can think about it all I want, and it really doesn’t matter. All those thoughts are just either negative judgments about the situation or endless chatter that distract me from the task at hand.
When I reflect on it, I’m proud of myself. I accepted the situation, I learned a lot, I’ve asked for help, I’ve gone through a lot of healing and detox already…. I have realized that I have this attachment to “Healthy Person” ego identity. And I haven’t gone the other way to attach to the “Disease Warrior” ego identity either. That’s a lot of growth in the past few months.
Our bodies are both incredibly fragile, and startlingly resilient. I think we might look back in 100 years and wondered how we survived in this toxic mess we currently live in. I’m wondering that now. If you’re going through health troubles, I’m wishing you speedy acceptance, healing, and growth as a person.
I never thought this would have to be something I kept track of again.
When I was 21, I begged someone to listen to me for years about a huge lump in my right breast and pains I was having. I went to the hospital’s free mammogram days, Pink Heels Tours, and any table our health department had about woman’s health. I got the same answer from all of them for years, “you’re too young. There is nothing wrong with you.”
I finally went to my new doctor who I was scheduling a spinal tap thru for my migraines and let it slip that I had lump in my breast that nobody wants to looks at and keeps telling me I’m fine. So she looked and felt. The look on her face and the questions she was asking didn’t make me feel any better. She scheduled me for a mammogram the very next day. I cried all the way home. I just wanted my mom.
The next day at the mammogram, the tech had me point out where I “thought” the lump was and started feeling and got the probe. I tried to read her face, but I was way to nervous. After that was done, the doctor came in and I knew it couldn’t be good. He explained to me that the shape, the shadows, the size all point to it being cancerous, especially since I was having pains in my breast. I was a 4-5 on the BI-RAD scale, and needed to have it removed immediately. I cried all the way home once again.
The surgery came and afterwards, the surgeon explained that he had to take more than he thought because it was bigger than he thought. BUT not to worry as of now, of course, I worried the entire time until I got the results. Thankfully, it was begnin, but he explained that this will happen again and I may not be so lucky next time. I just didn’t expect it to be almost exactly 5 years later and in my other breast.
I know that I cannot afford what I went thru before. The doctor’s visits, the surgery, the follow ups, the mammogram. I work in patient accounting and know that insurance doesn’t cover anything. I haven’t told mom yet cause I know she is going to freak out.
I know no one reads my posts, so this is just like a little journal entry to me. But if you do happen to stumble upon this, just say a little prayer for me please. My anxiety is completely thru the roof right now, so a dark room, my bed and instrumental @taylorswift music is what the rest of my weekend is going to be.
29. Sometimes the menses abound beyond what is natural, which has happened because the veins of the womb are wide and open, or because sometimes they break open and the blood flows in great quantity. And the flowing blood looks red and clear, because a lot of blood is generated from an abundance of food and drink; this blood, when it is not able to be contained within the vessels, erupts out.
31. The cure. If, therefore, the blood is the cause, let it be bled off from the hand or the arm where the blood is provoked upward. Any sort of gentle cathartic ought also to be taken.
34. Let her eat hens cooked in pastry, fresh fish cooked in vinegar, and barley bread. Let her drink a decoction made from barley, in which great plantain root is first cooked, and boil it with the decoction and it will be even better. And afterward boil [the root] in seawater until it cracks and becomes wrinkled, and let vinegar be added and let it be strained through a cloth and let it be given to drink. Let her drink red wine diluted with seawater. And if great plantain root is boiled with the decoction, so much the better.
43. In another fashion, take shells of walnut and make a powder and give it in a drink with seawater. Then make a plaster of the dung of birds or of a cat [mixed] with animal grease and let it be placed upon the belly and loins.
—————
From ‘Women’s Lives in Medieval Europe : A Sourcebook’ edited by Emilie Amt (Taylor & Francis Group, 2010).
As a woman, our uterus is not for us. It does nothing for us. It’s there for our offspring. Every month it prepares itself for our offspring.
The uterus absolutely has benefits for the woman who holds it, I do see where you are coming from but there is more to women’s health than fertility. We benefit from a uterus BECAUSE of the cycles of fertility, but a woman can live a long, healthy life if she cares for her organs even if she never conceives.
With that said, it’s crucial that people understand that wombs (uteri with implanted babies) are special or even sacred places that hold human life. This aspect of female biology is undervalued and scaremongered about thanks to an abortion culture that seeks to demonize children and the bodies they grew in for the sake of abortion profits.
They asked me basic questions over the internet about my health and insurance and then about my birth control history for a nurse practitioner to prescribe a medication. Some states require a video visit but mine didn’t. With my insurance it was free but they said most cost around $6-15 a month without insurance with the appointment costing $15. You don’t need parental permission in most states and they stated the packaging is discreet. I’ll let y’all know when I get my first package but so far, it’s been an easy website to use.
It doesn’t take the place of a physical exam and STI testing and hormonal birth control won’t protect against STIs but you can also buy a variety of sex products such as condoms (male and female), lube, pregnancy tests, and plan B. It also works in most states including Texas where some drs are hesitant to prescribe bc and planned parenthoods are hard to find. You can also get prescription acne medication.
I have worked in women’s health for the past 6 months as a nursing student in the labor and delivery and postpartum unit of my hospital. Any overturn or change to RvsW is a devastation to women’s health.
Abortion will continue but will be more dangerous
This affects women of lower socioeconomic status far more as women of privilege will receive special private care or travel for abortions
This will increase the maternal mother mortality rate AND the gap between woc, especially black women, and white women maternal mortality rates.
This gives r@pists increased rights and power over victims because many states allow paternal rights to them and they can threaten to report her if she gets an abortion.
Pregnancy is a risk and having cared for 2 women who lost their uteruses and one almost losing their life and went to the ICU for weeks, adoption is not a valid alternative. Every pregnancy increases risks for multiple conditions and complication so her subsequent pregnancies are more dangerous.
Many laws in red states ALSO attack and strip protection and welfare for pregnant women and children. Food stamps haven’t increased since 2009 meaning people are getting even less money due to inflation. The income level requires to receive healthcare for children has remained the same as well meaning less children qualify for it. Many times they’ve tried to disband free school lunch, public education programs, and public libraries. Children literally aren’t being cared for in these states. They also limit insurance coverage and affordability of birth control and plan B. They ban comprehensive sexual education.
The foster care system is full and adoption of a child placed there is unlikely. Abuse and trauma is common in the system unfortunately. They are regularly treated as subhuman and thrown out when they turn 18 with no support.
Late term abortion is and has always been a medical indication only. These are tragedies where wanted infants are very unlikely to survive or the mother’s life is at risk. Many anti abortion laws tried to ban the safer practices for late term abortion and they depend on people to be horrified by the idea of healthy late term abortion. That’s also why they attack and limit chemical abortion. They want death as a punishment.
Also the propaganda they put out about how abortions are done and abortion clinics selling parts or targeting certain ethnicities are lies. There are even states who require ‘abortion education’ for people getting abortions and they are often full of exaggerations and falsehoods.
It’s just that I have both endo and PCOS so every time I’m confronted with fucking “unnamed mysteriously vanishing womb disorder” or what the fuck ever in a female character I yell at the tv for ten minutes about how this was a perfectly good opportunity to bring awareness to these WILDLY UNDERDIAGNOSED and poorly understood conditions that affect 4-20% (PCOS) and 10% (endo) of reproductive age women globally
Oh I can’t have kids! But I’m never in pain nor do my periods or perhaps lack thereof come up in the script at all, my skin is perfect I’m not insulin resistant or hirsute everything is 100% fine except I magically can’t have kids like OKAY maam no literally no woman has that experience and it definitely came out of a writers room of 10 men who think the ability to have a child or not is completely fucking divorced from any other aspect of a woman’s health. Being naturally infertile is not usually a medically neutral position it’s not benign. Theres always a reason and it’ll have wider implications for your general health. Primary ovarian insufficiency puts you into early menopause and you’re more at risk of osteoporosis and autoimmune diseases, not to mention your quality of life is trash if you’re untreated. If it’s endo then your life is pain but also medical trauma and an honorary medical degree since no one is gonna fucking listen to you, if it’s PCOS your whole endocrine system is having a flap and you’re at higher risk of T2 diabetes and associated risks like cardiovascular disease etc. not to mention other causes I haven’t mentioned here. It’s all so fucking stupid. Does black widow have incontinence? Does Robin have crippling periods? Does Betty have way too many androgens that are wreaking havoc on her body? Are these female characters human?
Hi! Wanted to share an important experience I had recently that I think you should know about, especially if you’re a fellow petite trans guy or similar!
I just got an awesome gynecologist who works with all sorts of people, including trans guys and such. She made me feel very safe, comfortable, and heard! One of the things she asked me during my visit was if I had anyone in my family who has/had Osteoporosis- a condition that makes your bones weak and brittle.
I had no idea why that would even matter, but both of my mom’s parents did, and I found out later that my mom has Osteopenia (sort of a halfway point between healthy bones and Osteoporosis). My doctor nodded and then explained that since 1) Osteoporosis runs in my family, 2) I am a trans guy taking weekly testosterone, and 3) I am petite at 5′0″ and 100-110 lbs, I should get a bone density scan done. Huh??? Why???
Did you know that estrogen actually protects your bones by suppressing reabsorption of the bone itself?? It works with the osteoblasts needed to create new bone! She explained that those of us with smaller bodies naturally have less hormones, and thus less estrogen to begin with, and when you start taking testosterone for a long time, it stops the estrogen, which stops protecting your bones. Damn!!!!
Now, because studies on trans bodies, especially over long periods of time, are in a growing field, we become part of the data. There’s not a lot to read on the subject yet, just like the similarities between being on testosterone and going through menopause.
My doctor looked at me in all my confusion and said,
“I bring all this up because I have a couple of trans male patients who have developed Osteoporosis by the time they’re 30.”
Let that sink in. (I’m almost 26.)
The scan took all of 5 minutes, completely harmless, got to keep all my clothes on. A few days later and I get a result that my pelvic bones are fine, but that my spine has “MINOR Osteopenia” and that I should do the following things to prevent worsening:
Take Vitamin D3
Take Calcium (preferably with food, but supplements are okay too)
Do weight-bearing exercises (“In regard to weightbearing exercises, we think the best is walking and/or running, hiking, and yoga. Swimming or biking is not recommended as a weightbearing exercise.”)
While this looks like a simple “eat better, get more sunshine, exercise more!” bit, (which I guess it sort of is??) it’s also… a little scary? Research on trans bodies has never before led me to this possible conclusion, and I wanted to make sure other people knew about this possibility as well, so they can ask their doctors questions to stay healthy!!
If for no other reason than spite, trans bodies have to keep living!!! STRONG BONES, LACTOSE INTOLERANCE BE DAMNED!!
This is confusing to me; I was taught that osteoporosis is much more common in women than men. I would think that transitioning would make it less likely, not more. Huh.
Because your body is still female. Women get osteoporosis after menopause because the drop in our hormones. When you take T, you’re essentially doing something similar to menopause, and if you take Lupron for “puberty blockers” it DOES make you go through menopause. It’s literally because you’re women.
