“And that’s the rub: Our progress infuriates these men. And anything that eases our suffering or improves our lives makes them hate us exponentially more.”
This. I like how you cut through bullshit to get at the core of it. For a long time I thought that people who were antiabortion just really believed that fetuses were real babies. Then I started talking to some of them, and it became clear what they really believed was that consent to sex was consent to pregnancy, so it was really about policing women’s sexuality. Why does it matter so much to men that women might get abortions? Do they care about babies? Or do they want women pregnant and barefoot so they can’t divorce as easily or make more money than men or just threaten fragile masculinity in general? I’ve seen some crazy comments by men who are threatened . . . By other men wearing a skirt. Of course a woman who can avoid pregnancy is a threat.
Do y’all know about aid access? They mailed me abortion pills this month. I am not even pregnant, and I told them I just want them on hand as one man in Texas wants to take it from everyone and will if he gets his way. It was 105 euros, ($119) I just spoke to a woman I know today that spent 600$ for the same medication, mostly because she was frightened about her pregnancy getting too far along, and being unable to access them at all. That pisses me off. Aid access has a dr in the Netherlands that prescribes and the pharmacy is in India. Took 10 days from when I ordered it, until I could pick them up from the post office ( I had to sign for the delivery, and I wasn’t home during the day) I was so happy with how easy it was.
I mean it's an economic issue for men, too. According to Google, on average, raising one child in the U.S., parents can expect to spend between $1200-1400 per month, for 18 years, but most likely longer, given housing costs. And, if the child has special needs or chronic health issues, that average increases and can extend for the duration of that child's life. These smug ignorant men who think they're owning the libs or punishing women are (to use Hillary's word) deplorable.
We can no longer look at these people as judges or legislators or politicians. I'm done with that. They are soldiers of a fanatical ideology meant to subjugate and oppress women and girls, hell-bent on turning this country into a theocracy. That's what they are -- soldiers.
Jessica Valenti! I am so proud to join your amazing group of readers! Actually..... it makes me proud to become a paying subscriber. I don't want to miss a syllable of yours!
Yes, it's the sneers on their faces and in their voices that generates the most anger and rage in me.
It's the smugness, the sense of superiority and control, expressions I thought I had long erased from my memory banks. But apparently, I had just mentally filed them away in an archived folder and they have all re-emerged.
I am 80 and so came of age before both Roe and the Pill, back at the beginning of second wave feminism.
The memories that bubbled out of my archives were of all those men who so cavalierly refused to hire me, refused to approve a mortgage, or even a bank account - those men who felt perfectly entitled to explicitly say "no you can't have this because you can get pregnant".
And then they would almost literally pat me on the head, call me a girl, and usher me out of their offices.
And as much as I don't want to feel these feelings all over again, I somehow feel compelled to do so. And so I remain on Twitter and occasionally engage with yet the newest and latest generation of these men, who may well respond and tell me to "just keep my legs shut" and stop being a slut.
We can't afford to look away. But we can prevail and today's youth will accomplish it. I watched last year as my grandchildren, newly eligible to vote, rose up en masse to resoundingly win the bellwether referendum here in Kansas.
Should they have to fight this fight all over again? Of course not. Will they do it and do it well? Hell yes.
"men who so cavalierly refused to hire me, refused to approve a mortgage, or even a bank account - those men who felt perfectly entitled to explicitly say "no you can't have this because you can get pregnant"."
This attitude is alive and well today in Silicon Valley in California.
Accidentally misgender someone and all Hell will break lose, but ask a woman if she is planning to get pregnant in the next five years during a job interview? No one will care. Try taking it to a lawyer to see if someone will take this on. Even if you offer to pay a lawyer, and you have a recording, unless you can prove that multiple women have experienced the same thing, no one will care.
Abortion using mifepristone is one of two drugs to induce abortion. The other is misoprostol. The Texas ruling involves only mifepristone. The availability of misoprostol is not affected by this Texas ruling.
I myself don't think women should be taking mifepristone or misoprostol without being under a medical practitioner's supervision. Severe side effects are rare, but severe cramping and bacterial infections are not that rare.
If, in fact, a lot of women are getting access to mifepristone without having access to a medical practitioner and a follow up ultrasound, I would say that there is cause for concern.
Using only misoprostol is harder on a woman's body (from all reports) than using both drugs. We need both drugs to be available and there is no reason to not allow either of them. While yes, everyone - not just women taking these drugs - should have access to a medical practitioner for any kind of bad drug reaction - whether it's Sudafed or Mifepristone - why a follow up ultrasound if there are no symptoms to warrant it? And when women have no doctors locally who are allowed to prescribe the drugs - well, they either get the drugs through the mail or suffer a forced birth. So I don't see the cause for concern. A lot of people are using drugs that used to be by prescription and are now over the counter - without cause for concern. Two that I take are Flonase and Prilosec (the generics of them). I'm sure there are many more out there. Even Plan B is available over the counter now.
I am not suggesting that we accept this ruling on mifepristone.
"why a follow up ultrasound if there are no symptoms to warrant it?"
I am not a medical practitioner. But a follow up ultrasound is recommended as the standard of care. Furthermore, I would not want to be that unfortunate woman with no doctor locally with severe cramping and a bacterial infection. It is simply incorrect to say that this drug has a very low risk of side effects. Especially if taken in the second trimester, the risk of complications goes up. If you don't know the gestational week of the pregnancy before taking mifepristone (or misoprostal, or a combination of the two), there's a possibility that the pregnancy could be further along than one thinks. And complications go up with these drugs as the pregnancy advances.
ACOG (the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology) says that in-person follow up is not necessary if the medication abortion is uncomplicated. And bacterial infections are rare enough that antibiotic prophylaxis is not recommended. They also state telehealth is safe and appropriate for medication abortion and estimation of gestational age by last menstrual period is sufficient in most cases so ultrasound may not be needed at all in most cases for patients seeking medication abortion. Of course, each patient is unique and having a consultation with a medication abortion provider either in person or via telehealth is recommended to ensure that medication abortion is safe for them and also to review warning signs/symptoms to present for follow up.
As someone who has had an abortion by mifepristone, and had some adverse side effects, I do not agree with the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. How do you know if an abortion is uncomplicated? You don't know until you have severe cramping and are running a temperature. In that circumstance, if you are not under a physician's care, the only option is urgent care or the emergency.
Urgent care and er are fine. The point is, you having a bad experience is clouding your judgement. Making extra appointments and consultations mandatory creates a barrier to care for some women. I would rather have serious cramping and a bacterial infection then an unplanned pregnancy. Pregnancy itself has become very dangerous, it makes you very vulnerable to poverty and abuse. On top of the physical danger of pregnancy. (High mortality)
The rate of complication requiring immediate emergency care for a second trimester abortion using mifepristone is estimated to be approximately 1/ 200 in a California study. This is considered to be an underestimate. The risk with a mifepristone abortion goes up with the gestational age of the pregnancy. It is estimated that about half of women incorrectly determine the gestational age of their pregnancy by more than three weeks. Therefore, without a doctor's supervision, it is likely that many women will attempt a medical abortion in the second trimester where the risk of significant complication is about 1/200.
Severe cramping and a bacterial infection not a big deal? A bacterial infection can escalate to sepsis. Moreover, cramping and bacterial infections are not the only potential complications from a medical abortion. Another potential risk of medical abortion is hemorrhage.
Women should be informed of the risks and have a plan with a care provider so that if a serious infection or hemorrhage develops, they can immediately be seen by a doctor who knows how to manage the infection or hemorrhage.
Sad to see that so many women have been falsely led to believe that the "abortion pill" through the mail provides ultimate sexual freedom and freedom from all medical risk due to an abortion.
This is a false promise.
I can't help but think that some of this overselling by the FDA of the "non-risk" of medical abortion is due to the desire to minimize gynecological care costs.
What a sorry state women's reproductive healthcare has reached.
Urgent care or ER are options people have used for many things, including miscarriages, snake bites, broken arms, etc etc etc. No one is saying people shouldn't have access to medical care and a physician, whether they are carrying the fetus to term or they choose an abortion; but even if they don't, it doesn't mean they should not be able to take the abortion drug mix that includes mifeprestone. I am sorry for your experience. But many women haven't had those side effects. And again - if they don't have a physicion, that's why urgent care and ER are there. I don't think we are that far apart.
In this original post, it states that taking mifepristone and misoprostol is just a matter of taking a few pills.
My point here is not to weaken access to chemical abortion. My point is to ensure that women have the best information possible regarding their reproductive health.
Someone else commented that the AGOG says that women can take mifepristone and misoprostol without an ultrasound followup.
I happen to have been in an early trial of mifepristone and misoprostol in Canada in the mid 1990s. I had two ultrasounds, one before, and one after, and access to a physician during the entire process. While overall, I thought this was an acceptable procedure, I couldn't imagine doing it without being under the care of a physician.
I'm not usually one to recommend documents from the Heritage Foundation, but after this conversation started, I thought I would look to see what the Heritage Foundation had to say.
OK of mifepristone and misoprostol without a follow up ultrasound was only approved in 2016.
It seems that there are a long list of possible adverse effects including sepsis. It doesn't seem like the decision to OK this drug without a proper gestational age assessment and ultrasound followup is based on the based available clinical evidence.
The fight for abortion was to ensure that women did not die alone in some backroom abortion clinic or by giving themselves a "coat hanger" abortion.
Telling women that they can take mifepristone and misoprostol without potential adverse side effects, and without a physician's supervision is misinformation and a step backward for women.
Thank you, Jessica, for writing this in a concise factual way that conveys your anger and frustration but leaves a little window for hope. This news makes me want to cry for our country but we all have to collectively come together, support each other and continue the fight. You are my #1 source for abortion rights news and I can’t thank you enough. ❤️
That feeling of despair is physical and mental. It literally hurts. And just over and I very again since November 2016. That was the first but they have kept coming with such fierce rage toward women it can lead to hopelessness. But finding community with other women and rising every day to keep fighting fuels me. As you say- our rising power scares men and this is their backlash and power grabs. We wont let it stand
A day of despair before picking myself up for the next fight. Well said. With this last (I pray) gasp of the ignorant, frightened male dominated political and social culture, I hope I can limit it to one day.
It's a cliche, but true... the cruelty is the point. The more women can be humiliated and confined to a biological box, the better. Mark my words, birth control is next.
So I have been thinking about 6 week bans and I wonder if there’s a device “someone” could carry to mask any sign of “cardiac activity”. Science gave these goofballs an unearned wedge. Maybe science can mask the fallout until we develop a better solution.
that's an interesting technical question. And it could work so long as the legality remains just with the doctor and not the woman. The doctor can remain innocent and the woman is not at risk.
Of course they are quickly trying to change that and charge the woman also.
Medication abortion removes that whole issue of course, particularly now that women can stockpile it.
You summed it up for me. I often wonderWHY they hate us so much. But the truth is they hate everyone and everything better than they are, more beautiful, more happy, more fun, more accomplished, just anyone better. It’s a tough price to pay for just being oneself.
“And that’s the rub: Our progress infuriates these men. And anything that eases our suffering or improves our lives makes them hate us exponentially more.”
This. I like how you cut through bullshit to get at the core of it. For a long time I thought that people who were antiabortion just really believed that fetuses were real babies. Then I started talking to some of them, and it became clear what they really believed was that consent to sex was consent to pregnancy, so it was really about policing women’s sexuality. Why does it matter so much to men that women might get abortions? Do they care about babies? Or do they want women pregnant and barefoot so they can’t divorce as easily or make more money than men or just threaten fragile masculinity in general? I’ve seen some crazy comments by men who are threatened . . . By other men wearing a skirt. Of course a woman who can avoid pregnancy is a threat.
Do y’all know about aid access? They mailed me abortion pills this month. I am not even pregnant, and I told them I just want them on hand as one man in Texas wants to take it from everyone and will if he gets his way. It was 105 euros, ($119) I just spoke to a woman I know today that spent 600$ for the same medication, mostly because she was frightened about her pregnancy getting too far along, and being unable to access them at all. That pisses me off. Aid access has a dr in the Netherlands that prescribes and the pharmacy is in India. Took 10 days from when I ordered it, until I could pick them up from the post office ( I had to sign for the delivery, and I wasn’t home during the day) I was so happy with how easy it was.
I mean it's an economic issue for men, too. According to Google, on average, raising one child in the U.S., parents can expect to spend between $1200-1400 per month, for 18 years, but most likely longer, given housing costs. And, if the child has special needs or chronic health issues, that average increases and can extend for the duration of that child's life. These smug ignorant men who think they're owning the libs or punishing women are (to use Hillary's word) deplorable.
Pregnant women and mothers need to form a union and go after the government as their Employer.
Preach!
We can no longer look at these people as judges or legislators or politicians. I'm done with that. They are soldiers of a fanatical ideology meant to subjugate and oppress women and girls, hell-bent on turning this country into a theocracy. That's what they are -- soldiers.
Jessica Valenti! I am so proud to join your amazing group of readers! Actually..... it makes me proud to become a paying subscriber. I don't want to miss a syllable of yours!
Yes, it's the sneers on their faces and in their voices that generates the most anger and rage in me.
It's the smugness, the sense of superiority and control, expressions I thought I had long erased from my memory banks. But apparently, I had just mentally filed them away in an archived folder and they have all re-emerged.
I am 80 and so came of age before both Roe and the Pill, back at the beginning of second wave feminism.
The memories that bubbled out of my archives were of all those men who so cavalierly refused to hire me, refused to approve a mortgage, or even a bank account - those men who felt perfectly entitled to explicitly say "no you can't have this because you can get pregnant".
And then they would almost literally pat me on the head, call me a girl, and usher me out of their offices.
And as much as I don't want to feel these feelings all over again, I somehow feel compelled to do so. And so I remain on Twitter and occasionally engage with yet the newest and latest generation of these men, who may well respond and tell me to "just keep my legs shut" and stop being a slut.
We can't afford to look away. But we can prevail and today's youth will accomplish it. I watched last year as my grandchildren, newly eligible to vote, rose up en masse to resoundingly win the bellwether referendum here in Kansas.
Should they have to fight this fight all over again? Of course not. Will they do it and do it well? Hell yes.
"men who so cavalierly refused to hire me, refused to approve a mortgage, or even a bank account - those men who felt perfectly entitled to explicitly say "no you can't have this because you can get pregnant"."
This attitude is alive and well today in Silicon Valley in California.
Accidentally misgender someone and all Hell will break lose, but ask a woman if she is planning to get pregnant in the next five years during a job interview? No one will care. Try taking it to a lawyer to see if someone will take this on. Even if you offer to pay a lawyer, and you have a recording, unless you can prove that multiple women have experienced the same thing, no one will care.
Factual article about the Texas ruling on mifepristone:
https://apnews.com/article/abortion-pill-lawsuit-mifepristone-misoprostol-kacsmaryk-74cb1c4cfab2c04f6cf2696151bc86ef
Abortion using mifepristone is one of two drugs to induce abortion. The other is misoprostol. The Texas ruling involves only mifepristone. The availability of misoprostol is not affected by this Texas ruling.
I myself don't think women should be taking mifepristone or misoprostol without being under a medical practitioner's supervision. Severe side effects are rare, but severe cramping and bacterial infections are not that rare.
If, in fact, a lot of women are getting access to mifepristone without having access to a medical practitioner and a follow up ultrasound, I would say that there is cause for concern.
Using only misoprostol is harder on a woman's body (from all reports) than using both drugs. We need both drugs to be available and there is no reason to not allow either of them. While yes, everyone - not just women taking these drugs - should have access to a medical practitioner for any kind of bad drug reaction - whether it's Sudafed or Mifepristone - why a follow up ultrasound if there are no symptoms to warrant it? And when women have no doctors locally who are allowed to prescribe the drugs - well, they either get the drugs through the mail or suffer a forced birth. So I don't see the cause for concern. A lot of people are using drugs that used to be by prescription and are now over the counter - without cause for concern. Two that I take are Flonase and Prilosec (the generics of them). I'm sure there are many more out there. Even Plan B is available over the counter now.
I am not suggesting that we accept this ruling on mifepristone.
"why a follow up ultrasound if there are no symptoms to warrant it?"
I am not a medical practitioner. But a follow up ultrasound is recommended as the standard of care. Furthermore, I would not want to be that unfortunate woman with no doctor locally with severe cramping and a bacterial infection. It is simply incorrect to say that this drug has a very low risk of side effects. Especially if taken in the second trimester, the risk of complications goes up. If you don't know the gestational week of the pregnancy before taking mifepristone (or misoprostal, or a combination of the two), there's a possibility that the pregnancy could be further along than one thinks. And complications go up with these drugs as the pregnancy advances.
ACOG (the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology) says that in-person follow up is not necessary if the medication abortion is uncomplicated. And bacterial infections are rare enough that antibiotic prophylaxis is not recommended. They also state telehealth is safe and appropriate for medication abortion and estimation of gestational age by last menstrual period is sufficient in most cases so ultrasound may not be needed at all in most cases for patients seeking medication abortion. Of course, each patient is unique and having a consultation with a medication abortion provider either in person or via telehealth is recommended to ensure that medication abortion is safe for them and also to review warning signs/symptoms to present for follow up.
As someone who has had an abortion by mifepristone, and had some adverse side effects, I do not agree with the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. How do you know if an abortion is uncomplicated? You don't know until you have severe cramping and are running a temperature. In that circumstance, if you are not under a physician's care, the only option is urgent care or the emergency.
Urgent care and er are fine. The point is, you having a bad experience is clouding your judgement. Making extra appointments and consultations mandatory creates a barrier to care for some women. I would rather have serious cramping and a bacterial infection then an unplanned pregnancy. Pregnancy itself has become very dangerous, it makes you very vulnerable to poverty and abuse. On top of the physical danger of pregnancy. (High mortality)
The rate of complication requiring immediate emergency care for a second trimester abortion using mifepristone is estimated to be approximately 1/ 200 in a California study. This is considered to be an underestimate. The risk with a mifepristone abortion goes up with the gestational age of the pregnancy. It is estimated that about half of women incorrectly determine the gestational age of their pregnancy by more than three weeks. Therefore, without a doctor's supervision, it is likely that many women will attempt a medical abortion in the second trimester where the risk of significant complication is about 1/200.
Severe cramping and a bacterial infection not a big deal? A bacterial infection can escalate to sepsis. Moreover, cramping and bacterial infections are not the only potential complications from a medical abortion. Another potential risk of medical abortion is hemorrhage.
Women should be informed of the risks and have a plan with a care provider so that if a serious infection or hemorrhage develops, they can immediately be seen by a doctor who knows how to manage the infection or hemorrhage.
Sad to see that so many women have been falsely led to believe that the "abortion pill" through the mail provides ultimate sexual freedom and freedom from all medical risk due to an abortion.
This is a false promise.
I can't help but think that some of this overselling by the FDA of the "non-risk" of medical abortion is due to the desire to minimize gynecological care costs.
What a sorry state women's reproductive healthcare has reached.
Urgent care or ER are options people have used for many things, including miscarriages, snake bites, broken arms, etc etc etc. No one is saying people shouldn't have access to medical care and a physician, whether they are carrying the fetus to term or they choose an abortion; but even if they don't, it doesn't mean they should not be able to take the abortion drug mix that includes mifeprestone. I am sorry for your experience. But many women haven't had those side effects. And again - if they don't have a physicion, that's why urgent care and ER are there. I don't think we are that far apart.
In this original post, it states that taking mifepristone and misoprostol is just a matter of taking a few pills.
My point here is not to weaken access to chemical abortion. My point is to ensure that women have the best information possible regarding their reproductive health.
Someone else commented that the AGOG says that women can take mifepristone and misoprostol without an ultrasound followup.
I happen to have been in an early trial of mifepristone and misoprostol in Canada in the mid 1990s. I had two ultrasounds, one before, and one after, and access to a physician during the entire process. While overall, I thought this was an acceptable procedure, I couldn't imagine doing it without being under the care of a physician.
I'm not usually one to recommend documents from the Heritage Foundation, but after this conversation started, I thought I would look to see what the Heritage Foundation had to say.
https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/BG3603.pdf
OK of mifepristone and misoprostol without a follow up ultrasound was only approved in 2016.
It seems that there are a long list of possible adverse effects including sepsis. It doesn't seem like the decision to OK this drug without a proper gestational age assessment and ultrasound followup is based on the based available clinical evidence.
The fight for abortion was to ensure that women did not die alone in some backroom abortion clinic or by giving themselves a "coat hanger" abortion.
Telling women that they can take mifepristone and misoprostol without potential adverse side effects, and without a physician's supervision is misinformation and a step backward for women.
Thank you, Jessica. For now, that is all I can say because my rage has me unable to put my thoughts into words.
Thank you, Jessica, for writing this in a concise factual way that conveys your anger and frustration but leaves a little window for hope. This news makes me want to cry for our country but we all have to collectively come together, support each other and continue the fight. You are my #1 source for abortion rights news and I can’t thank you enough. ❤️
That feeling of despair is physical and mental. It literally hurts. And just over and I very again since November 2016. That was the first but they have kept coming with such fierce rage toward women it can lead to hopelessness. But finding community with other women and rising every day to keep fighting fuels me. As you say- our rising power scares men and this is their backlash and power grabs. We wont let it stand
A day of despair before picking myself up for the next fight. Well said. With this last (I pray) gasp of the ignorant, frightened male dominated political and social culture, I hope I can limit it to one day.
It's a cliche, but true... the cruelty is the point. The more women can be humiliated and confined to a biological box, the better. Mark my words, birth control is next.
So I have been thinking about 6 week bans and I wonder if there’s a device “someone” could carry to mask any sign of “cardiac activity”. Science gave these goofballs an unearned wedge. Maybe science can mask the fallout until we develop a better solution.
that's an interesting technical question. And it could work so long as the legality remains just with the doctor and not the woman. The doctor can remain innocent and the woman is not at risk.
Of course they are quickly trying to change that and charge the woman also.
Medication abortion removes that whole issue of course, particularly now that women can stockpile it.
You summed it up for me. I often wonderWHY they hate us so much. But the truth is they hate everyone and everything better than they are, more beautiful, more happy, more fun, more accomplished, just anyone better. It’s a tough price to pay for just being oneself.