The Pro-Choice Generation

Dedicated to the factual presentation of information about abortion and related topics along with correcting misinformed and unfactual abortion-related information. We are the Pro-Choice Generation!

[prochoicegeneration]

On NIFLA v. Becerra

So the Supreme Court ruled against the state on the case NIFLA v. Becerra, which focused on the Constitutionality of California’s FACT Act, a law that required crisis pregnancy centers/pregnancy resource centers to either disclose to patients that they were not medically licensed, or if they were licensed, to let patients know that state-subsidized birth control, abortion, and pre-natal care are available for eligible individuals (text of the bill itself here, if you’d like to read it).

Now that we’ve lost, I’m seeing so many misinformed comments that think that this case was relating to the free speech rights of these organizations to lie to their patients about medical facts.

And that’s just not it, at all.

If our side had won the case, it would not have meant that crisis pregnancy centers would suddenly have to adhere to medical ethics, follow HIPAA requirements, be trained in the OB/GYN field, be trained in ultrasound technology, or tell patients only information that has medical and scientific backing.  If our side had won the case, it would still be legal for these places to advertise themselves under “Abortion Services” in online listings/directories/search engines, it would still be legal for them to lie to a patient about how far along in her pregnancy she is, it would still be legal for them to tell her abortion causes breast cancer and infertility, that a week-old embryo is fully-formed but just itsy-bitsy and cries out in painful, silent anguish during abortion, that condoms fail 70% of the time, and so on and so forth.

A ruling in our favor would have changed none of that, because that’s not what the FACT Act dealt with.

The free speech issue raised by NIFLA was whether their right to free speech was infringed upon by having to, in their words, “advertise for something they morally oppose” by telling patients about the availability of abortion.  It was about literature, posters on the walls, and possibly in billboard advertisements.

That’s it, period.

And yes, it’s a massive blow to the pro-choice community and it only helps serve to embolden these religious-backed, anti-abortion organizations that are well-documented to engage in manipulative and deceptive practices.  But the Supreme Court didn’t rule today that “it’s Constitutional to lie to women.”  Even if we’d won, that’d still be the case.

[prochoicegeneration]

Why Planned Parenthood Is Truly Important

Planned Parenthood is incredibly important . . . but maybe not for the reasons you think they are.

It’s not because Planned Parenthood provides healthcare to low-income patients- other FQHC’s (federally qualified health centers) also do that, and while they currently cannot absorb Planned Parenthood’s patients, they could, with time and resources, grow and proliferate to accommodate the volume of Planned Parenthood’s patients that currently outstrip their resources.

It’s not because Planned Parenthood is better able to provide a wider range of services, dispensed or provided on-site and same-day, even though that is undoubtedly true.  With investment in training and resources, other places could strive towards and reach those numbers, too.

It’s not even because Planned Parenthood provides abortions- only 35% of all U.S. abortions are performed by Planned Parenthood, with independent clinics performing 60%, hospitals 4%, and the last 1% by physician’s offices.  Indeed, of Planned Parenthood’s 612 operational clinics, only 27.9% offer both medication and surgical abortions, and 41.2% don’t perform abortions at all.

So why, then, is Planned Parenthood important?  What does it do that other organizations and clinics cannot do?

Planned Parenthood is important because it has name recognition, and because it is national.

At a time when there are over 3,000 (some sources say 4,000) “crisis pregnancy centers” in the U.S. that routinely present themselves in such a way as to make women think they are legitimate healthcare providers, Planned Parenthood’s greatest achievement is that by name alone, people know they can go there for actual reproductive healthcare.  Typing in your city name and the word “abortion” into Google will produce results for CPC’s, and realizing that some of those results are CPC’s requires 1) knowing that they even exist, and 2) knowing how to effectively screen them (given that checking websites or calling often doesn’t clear up the confusion).  By contrast, no matter what city or state you’re in, people know about Planned Parenthood.  They might not have heard of their local abortion clinic, ever, but they’ve heard about Planned Parenthood- even if through the wild and outlandish claims against them in the news- they’ve heard.  In 48 of our 50 states, even if there’s only one and even if it’s hundreds of miles away, there is a Planned Parenthood, with a national number and an online chat feature.  And even if they cannot actually give you an abortion, every Planned Parenthood facility can refer you to somewhere that can.  Furthermore, as Lori Freedman notes in her book Willing and Unable: Doctors' Constraints in Abortion Care: “Planned Parenthood is often the only clinic able to survive in the most politically hostile communities because of the organization's national philanthropic resources.”

So yes, it’s true- STD testing and treatment, contraception, and well-woman checks like breast exams, pap smears, etc. all vastly outnumber abortion when it comes to Planned Parenthood’s services.  They do incredible non-abortion work, including even beyond patient services to educational campaigns, outreach, and, through their Action Fund, political organizing and lobbying.  But make no mistake- Planned Parenthood’s greatest asset will always be the fact that people nationwide know of them, and know that they are a reliable place to get birth control and abortion.

[prochoicegeneration]

Yes, Elective Abortions Are Sought In The Late Second Trimester

(This post originally appeared here)

When I originally started compiling this list, the outrage over the House’s passage of a 20-week abortion ban had been subsumed by the fresher outrage of their proposed 6-week abortion ban.  I let it languish in my drafts, only to find the issue renewed now that the Senate is planning a vote today.

Then and now, though, I’ve became increasingly frustrated by the discussions I see- enraged in equal measure by the ignorant comments (”You shouldn’t wait until 5 months to decide!”) and well-meaning ones (”All abortions at that stage are on wanted pregnancies that had problems they couldn’t detect until then”).

Here’s what we know: the vast majority of abortions (98.7%) take place before 21 weeks (and of those, again, the vast majority-95%-take place before 16 weeks).  Fetal anomalies are often undetectable until later on in a pregnancy (and sometimes will simply be monitored at the first signs to watch and see if things turn [further] south).  Thanks in part to the various state and federal bills that have been proposed and passed, many, many brave women and couples have come forward to share their personal stories of difficult decisions to terminate pregnancies they desperately wanted.  In fact, as my research has shown me, these inundate the Internet- it’s tough to weed through all the doomed pregnancy stories to find those of late-term abortions performed on healthy pregnancies.  Whether that’s because the former outnubmers the latter or because one is far less likely to get backlash sharing tragic tales, it’s hard to say.  Jennifer Lincoln, M.D., states that elective abortions at or after 20 weeks make up 0.3% of all abortions, but it’s unclear where that statistic is coming from.  A 1999 U.S. News article (indeed, so old it can only be found online in an archived version) titled “When Abortions Come Late In A Pregnancy” by Marianne Lavelle purports to have done in-depth interviews at 18 late-term clinics (out of the 79 available, 31 to whom they reached out), stating that only 9.4% were done for medical reasons and that some 90% were nonmedical.  Those numbers remains incredibly frustrating, however, given it article’s nature as a survey and not a published study.  One of the few published studies we do have, Diana Greene Foster and Katrina Kimport’s “Who Seeks Abortions at or After 20 Weeks?”, notes in its conclusion that “But data suggest that most women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment.”  (Indeed, in the Turnaway Study, from which Foster and Kimport culled their data, “Women who were seeking abortion care for a fetal abnormality or demise were not eligible for the study.”).

Given the glaring lack of research on the topic, I wanted to create a collection of stories shared online by women who have considered, sought, or undergone late second-trimester abortions.  These stories are scattered on various websites and  occasionally reported on by major publications (using pseuonyms for the women in question).  Although this list was sparked by the 20-week ban, I’ve included stories all the way down to 16 weeks precisely because delays in access can easily turn a pregnancy discovered at 16 or 18 weeks into an abortion at or beyond 20 weeks.  Of course, the list compiled is hampered by my own Google search abilities (and whether the content uses easily searchable phrases like “X-week abortion”)- it’s by no means meant to be exhaustive (though I will gladly update with additional links should they be provided to me).  Due to the anonymous nature of most of the postings, I cannot guarantee if two or more stories might be from the same woman, shared across multiple online platforms.  And a warning: they can be tough to read.  In the best cases, it’s a pregnancy discovered quite late and immediately terminated.  In others, there’s pain and complications, regret, abuse, rape, pressure and coercion-by-ultimatum.

A final note: regardless of how you feel about late(r)-term abortion, I’d suggest reading these stories.  They are not meant to to prove anything other than the fact that they do, indeed, happen, and to fill the void with a richer and fuller context surrounding those abortions which receive either dismissal or hyper-focus (depending on what point is being made).  It never hurts to learn more about the situations, motivations, thoughts, and feelings of women getting abortions.

16 Weeks

• I Was Fourteen When I Had My Abortion . . . by anonymous on My Abortion, My Life

• Learning To Forgive Myself by Louise Smith on Exhale Pro-Voice

17 Weeks

• 2nd Trimester Abortion . . . My Story (Long) by lana_x on BabyCenter.com’s Community Forums

• I've Always Known That I Don't Want Children by Anonymous on My Abortion, My Life

17 Weeks and Going To Clinic in an Hour by JessicaTheFirst on Reddit’s Abortion Subreddit

18 Weeks

• I Had a Late Term Abortion by prochoicechick on Reddit’s TwoXChromosomes

• I'm 23 Years Old and Have Had 5 Abortions . . . by jamie on My Abortion, My Life

• A Medical Abortion At 18 Weeks on Pregnancy Choices Directory

• Terminating Next Week At 18 Weeks by deanna_g on BabyCenter.com’s Community Forums

• 18 Weeks Pregnant - Need Abortion by Cookiesandcream123 on Mums Net

• Abortion At 18 Weeks: Sharing My Experience by t-hrowaway9298450 on Reddit’s TwoXChromosomes

• 18 Weeks And 6 Days: A True Story By A Pregnant Teen by StillAlive on Mind Your Mind

• Wanting To Have An Abortion At 18 Weeks by Klarisa on Experience Project

• I Had An Abortion at 18 Weeks And I Don’t Regret It by Therealsupermum on Paper Blog

• I Couldn’t Tell Anyone by Reia anonymous on Exhale Pro-Voice

• Ayah Fae by moon beam on Exhale Pro-Voice

• My Surgical Abortion At 18 Weeks (Long Positive Story) by rekt-mist on Reddit’s Abortion Subreddit

19 Weeks

• Growing Up I Was Never The Girl Who Played House . . . by Brooklyn on My Abortion, My Life

• A Surgical Abortion At 19 Weeks And 6 Days on Pregnancy Choices Directory

• I Was Almost 19 Weeks Pregnant on Pregnancy Choices Directory

• A Medical Abortion At 19 Weeks on Pregnancy Choices Directory

• 19 Weeks by prettycityy on Experience Project

• Having a late term abortion next week. I am terrified and would appreciate any advice or insight on Reddit’s Abortion Subreddit

20 Weeks

• I Had An Abortion At 20 Weeks Yesterday by chibnit on Reddit’s Abortion Subreddit

• The 20-Week Abortion Ban Is Designed To Hurt Poor Women by Jennifer Wright for Harper’s Bazaar

• So I am 20-22 weeks by BaddyVelvet on Reddit’s Abortion Subreddit

21 Weeks

• The Doctor Said To Me: 'Couldn't You Just Go Through With The Pregnancy?' by Zoe Gillard for The Guardian

• Need An Abortion In Texas? Don’t Be Poor as reported by Carolyn Jones in The Texas Observer

• I Had One - My Story by AnnMarie C on Exhale Pro-Voice

• Need Support- Appointment tomorrow, later term by neverhavetoo on Reddit’s Abortion Subreddit 

• The truth about later abortions, according to someone who actually had one as reported by Amanda Michelle Gomez for Think Progress

22 Weeks

• A Surgical Abortion At 22 Weeks on Pregnancy Choices Directory

• Considering Abortion At 22 Weeks . . . Please Do Not Judge! by Anon (1562411) on Net Mums

• My Abortion Experience (22W) by Violet337 on BabyCenter.com’s Community Forums

• Abortion At 22 Weeks by Soon2B2 on eHealth’s Forum

23 Weeks

• My Experience With A Very Late Term Surgical Abortion by shameissues on Reddit’s TwoXChromosomes

• I Never Thought I’d Regret My Abortion At 23 Weeks So Much on Whisper

• My Abortion Experience At 23 Weeks 6 Days by NICKEL☮POLIS on BabyGaga.com’s Community Forum

• I Had A Second Trimester Abortion At 23 Weeks And 5 Days by sadpandam8 on Reddit’s TwoXChromosomes

• Surgical abortion at 23 weeks; 21 F by TigerlilyFawn on Reddit’s Abortion Subreddit

24 Weeks

• My Easy Way Out: A Guest Post by Mel Walters on Abortion Gang

• An Abortion at Nearly 24 Weeks published by Chris Bodenner in The Atlantic

28 Weeks

• What It Was Like to Get a Later Abortion by Beth Vial for Teen Vogue

• Later Abortions and Reproductive Justice by Steph Harold for Abortion Gang

•  After Tiller* (at the 51-minute mark, the receptionist fields a call from a 19 year-old woman who is 28 weeks along.  The woman explains that she has a 3-year old son and is currently in college but can’t afford daycare for two kids and would have to quit school if the pregnancy continues, and that adoption is not a feasible option for her).

* Two other women also appear in the video but without specifying how far along they are; at the 50-minute mark, the doctor decides against providing an abortion to a French woman named Michelle who has called in.  At around the 58-minute mark, a patient with two existing children describes being delayed multiple times due to trying to raise the money and getting the money, only to realize she was then at the point where the price had risen again (not to mention another delay due to someone close going into the hospital); she explained that she hadn’t done any prenatal care and had been drinking.

[thatfeministkilljoy]

I used a hanger.

It was 1971. I had given birth to four live babies within 2 ½ years. I had no prenatal care for the first three births. We were very poor, very ignorant.

I was just 20 in May, 1966, when my first son was born two weeks early, 7 ½ pounds. I wasn’t ready to be a mother, but I fell in love with him instantly.

My young husband told me he’d heard that new mothers couldn’t get pregnant while they were nursing. He was wrong. In February, 1967, my second son was born, two months early, 3 ½ pounds. He lived 36 hours in an incubator, since his lungs weren’t developed. “At least you have your firstborn!” people said, trying to console me.

We used a diaphragm after that. It hurt and slipped around, annoying my husband no end. My third son was born in January, 1968. He was barely 3 pounds, and lived only 24 hours in an incubator.

They asked if I wanted to see him before taking him away. As I held his little body my husband lost it and swept everything off the hospital tray table onto the floor in a fit of rage.

The funeral home attempted to have him buried beside his brother, with just a marker on his grave, but failed. My two infant sons don’t even lie side by side in a graveyard somewhere in North Georgia.

We used an IUD after that. It, too, was uncomfortable, and I never knew if it was inserted correctly. My daughter was born in December, 1968.

Looking back, I now realize I was in mourning during that pregnancy. My maternity clothes were brown and black. I tried to endure the pregnancy without thinking about the baby inside, always expecting the worst outcome.

But this time would be different. After learning I was pregnant, we moved to Central Illinois, and I finally hooked up with a gynecologist. Dr. H. carried a pager on his belt. He saved me.

My daughter sailed past her 28th week, into her 8th month, and beyond. I was so relieved. Came the day when Dr. H. said he’d induce labor in 2 more weeks.

She had other plans. He was in church when his pager summoned him to the hospital after my water broke. She was all of 7 pounds, and breathed on her own right away. I was ecstatic.

We thought we had finally gotten the contraception thing down when I awoke one morning in 1971 knowing I was pregnant again. I knew , too, that I could not go through that again.

Abortion was illegal. Roe vs. Wade wasn’t even on the horizon. We’d both been raised in very strictly religious families. It didn’t even occur to me to go see Dr. H. I couldn’t tell anyone, not even my husband. I knew I had to take care of this immediately on my own.

I’d seen the device Dr. H. had used for a dilation and curettage known as a D&C, the procedure doctors use to remove uterine contents. And I’d heard of hangers being used for abortions. I thought a hanger would make a useful D&C.

I didn’t feel any pain, but I knew I’d punctured the uterine wall when I felt sort of a pop. I was wrong about the hanger, but I still expected everything to be okay.

A week later we were in a restaurant when I began feeling faint. I had a raging fever: 106. Dr. H. said get to the hospital immediately.

They put me on an ice blanket to bring the temperature down. I was diagnosed with a “mysterious” pulmonary embolism, a blood clot on my lung. They didn’t let me see my children while I was in the hospital. After a long week I was finally allowed to go home.

I was lucky. A sustained temperature that high can lead to brain damage and even death.

Dr. H. saw me again in his office a few days later. Of course he knew I’d been pregnant, called it a miscarriage, and did another D&C. He never probed about what happened, I never volunteered.

What he said next told me that he didn’t have to ask. Another of his patients, he said, was experiencing the same “mysterious” symptoms I had had. I knew exactly what he meant.

He offered to do a tubal ligation — tie my tubes. I’d never heard of it. I had no idea there was such a simple procedure that could prevent me from ever getting pregnant again. My nightmare was finally over.

Two years later abortion became legal. My desperate circumstances almost cost my life, and my two beautiful children their mother. But I saw no other options for myself then. I deserved other options.

[pammiejr]

[keithsweatshop]

[jncos]

i’m the nurses who tried to beat up a baby for laughing

[theshrillwitch]

I’m the tiny hands holding the abortion pills

[clocktower3iso]

I’m the baby speaking perfect english

[tk-tako]

@howprolifeofyou

[reproductivejusticeandliberty]

I’m the Regan-esque head turn.

[glassceilingbreakers]

Trapped, the Sundance Festival Award-winning documentary about the assault on women’s reproductive health access premieres on PBS Monday, June 20 at 10pm. 

U.S. reproductive health clinics are fighting to remain open. Since 2010, 288 TRAP (Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers) laws have been passed by conservative state legislatures. Unable to comply with these far-reaching and medically unnecessary measures, clinics have taken their fight to the courts. As the U.S. Supreme Court decides in 2016 whether individual states may essentially outlaw abortion (Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt), Trapped follows the struggles of the clinic workers and lawyers who are on the front lines of a battle to keep abortion safe and legal for millions of American women.

[prochoicegeneration]

Don’t forget to watch this Monday!

[ourprolifegeneration-blog]

What is your view on tokophobia?

It’s a phobia, nothing more, nothing less. Best treated with therapy, people with it deserve to be treated with sympathy seeing as it is a mental issue and not their fault at all.

It is not an excuse for an abortion any more than pedophobia is an excuse for killing infants, however.

[antichoice-compassion]

This is the kind of shit I meant when I said that we (people with tokophobia) deserve better.

[legends-for-choice]

Do these people just think that therapy and medication will magically make phobias and mental disorders disappear overnight? (Or at least over a short period of time)

I’ve been seeing psychologists for over 3 years, been on medication for maybe a year and a half, and my issues haven’t gotten too much better.

Not to mention that things like autism (which is a HUGE factor in me never wanting to be pregnant/a parent) literally cannot be cured because it is a part of my brain and how it works.

-Mod Arceus

[reproductivejusticeandliberty]

Not to mention that not everyone can access mental health care. I’m struggling with depression and anxiety, but live in a place where mental health care is kind of a joke and you’re more likely to be written off as “insane” and/or institutionalized rather than helped to get medication. The casual dismissal of mental illness and phobias along with their impact on the ability to be pregnant is real cute, @ourprolifegeneration. -V

[woman-for-life]

I find it funny that the procedure that takes away somebody’s right to life and them exercising any of their rights in their life is justified with choice.

[reproductivejusticeandliberty]

Except that tons of people willingly choose abortion of their own freewill. Stop talking over people who’ve had abortions. I’m so fucking sick and tired of priests and antis in general telling the rest of us what we do and don’t think. -V

[punesling]

If you regret taking the abortion pill there is possible help.

[reginaeinferos]

No, there isn’t. These are dangerous lies.

[punesling]

You cited no evidence as to it being lies or dangerous, but rather resorted to tactics meant to silence an opposing view point through fear. Here is a clarification of both the abortion pill and the pill that can reverse its effects.

Abortion Pill Procedure The medical abortion (Abortion pill or may be called Chemical Abortion or RU-486) is a two or three step process. During her first visit, the woman is given mifepristone, the drug that causes the death of the embryo. This drug blocks the effects of progesterone, a natural hormone that nurtures the developing fetus. The mifepristone may be administered as a shot or a pill depending on the abortion clinic’s policy.

In a typical medical abortion, the woman is instructed to take the second medication, misoprostol, two days later, which causes cramping that expels the embryo from the uterus. The FDA requires that this be taken by mouth, but many providers instruct the patient to insert it into the vagina. This drug is usually taken at home, without direct medical supervision.

The last step is to determine if the abortion procedure has been successful. In the case of an incomplete or failed abortion, a surgical abortion is often necessary.

Abortion Pill Reversal

Abortion Pill Reversal is a medical procedure designed to reverse the effects of the first abortion pill medication mifeprestone and allow a woman to carry the pregnancy to term. This is a relatively new procedure which has succeeded in a small number of cases. Progesterone, the medication used in the Abortion Pill Reversal process, is safe for pregnant women and their babies. There are no known risks to the health of the mother or the baby. Progesterone has been safely used to support pregnancies for almost sixty years. In fact, the largest study ever conducted on the safety of progesterone in pregnancy revealed that women who receive progesterone during pregnancy are actually less likely to deliver babies with fetal abnormalities.

The Pregnancy Clinic is now offering Abortion Pill Reversal. Because this procedure is not successful 100% of the time, if you have not begun your abortion and have any doubts about your decision, you should not proceed with the abortion. If you do proceed with an abortion pill and then change your mind, you may be able to successfully reverse the abortion pill procedure.

Abortion Pill Reversal is safe and confidential but extremely time sensitive.

http://www.pregnancyclinic.org/Abortion/AbortionPillReversal.aspx

[heartandstride-deactivated20190]

No, it doesn’t. Like only prolife sites have said it can but really no. You yourself didn’t even add a site to back up your own claims. 

Also, The Pregnancy Clinic is a Crisis Prengnacy Center and those tend to be pretty much full of lies from what I’ve seen.

But I guess you are looking at what @reginaeinferos is saying. So here you go again.

http://www.snopes.com/abortion-reversal/

*Points to note

WHAT’S TRUE: Some doctors have claimed that medical (not surgical) abortions can be halted or “reversed” through a new procedure.

WHAT’S FALSE/UNDETERMINED: That the referenced procedure is safe and works as described, or that a demand for such a procedure exists to any meaningful degree.

A September 2015 study published in the journal Contraception approached “abortion reversal” from a clinical perspective, identifying a host of flaws in the concept and its execution. Following a “systematic review of the literature on the effectiveness of medical abortion ‘reversal’ treatment,” researchers found that evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of the procedure was worryingly scant:

From 1115 articles retrieved, 1 study met inclusion criteria for abortion reversal, and 13 studies met criteria for continuing pregnancy after mifepristone alone. The one report of abortion reversal was a case series of 7 patients receiving varying doses of progesterone in oil intramuscularly or micronized progesterone orally or vaginally; 1 patient was lost to follow-up. The study was of poor quality and lacked clear information on patient selection. Four of six women continued the pregnancy to term [67%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 30–90%]. Assuming the lost patient aborted resulted in a continuing pregnancy proportion of 57% (95% CI 25–84%). The proportion of pregnancies continuing 1–2 weeks after mifepristone alone varied from 8% (95% CI 3–22%) to 46% (95% CI 37–56%). Continuing pregnancy was more common with lower mifepristone doses and advanced gestational age.

As that study noted, the initial study on which the claims rested was of “poor quality” and involved incomplete data. But most telling was the final sentence: “abortion reversal” procedure success rates hinged on low initial doses of mifepristone and stage of pregnancy (and coincidentally, those factors are also linked with intervention-free failures of medical abortion). Study author Dr. Daniel Grossman explained to Slate that:

In the “exceedingly rare” case in which a woman might take one pill and then decide she wants the pregnancy after all, there’s no research to show that progesterone shots will help her save it, he explained. Mifepristone “by itself is not an effective abortion regimen,” he said, and so many women who just take the first pill will not miscarry if they simply don’t take the second. If he had a patient who changed her mind halfway through, he explained, he would recommend doing nothing and monitoring the pregnancy to make sure it’s continuing normally.

The Atlantic reiterated the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists [ACOG]’s stance on the procedure, underscoring that it presented false hope to patients considering abortion while maintaining an easily-explained illusion of efficacy (commonly known as “confirmation bias”:

What’s puzzling about this measure, regardless of one’s opinion on abortion, is that the progesterone dose appears to be completely unnecessary. Women who only take the first pill already have a 30 to 50 percent chance of continuing their pregnancy normally, according to ACOG. The limited evidence we have suggests that taking progesterone does not appear to improve the odds of fetal survival by much. The abortion pill binds more tightly to progesterone receptors than progesterone itself does, one reproductive researcher told Iowa Public Radio, and thus the hormone surge is unlikely to do much of anything.

As Cheryl Chastine, an abortion provider at South Wind Women’s Center in Kansas, put it recently, “Even if these doctors were to offer a large dose of purple Skittles, they’d appear to have ‘worked’ to ‘save’ the pregnancy about half the time.”

In an undated statement [PDF], the ACOG similarly cautioned:

Available research seems to indicate that in the rare situation where a woman takes mifepristone and then changes her mind, doing nothing and waiting to see what happens is just as effective as intervening with a course of progesterone. Progesterone, while generally well tolerated, can cause significant cardiovascular, nervous system and endocrine adverse reactions as well as other side effects.

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-760-progesterone.aspx?activeingredientid=760&

Here’s something that says what it does and what it can do. This site does mention that is LIKELY UNSAFE to use during pregnancy. And it also says it’s possibly ineffective for stopping miscarriage.

Miscarriage. Most research suggests that applying progesterone into the vagina does not reduce the risk of having a miscarriage during the first trimester in women at high risk for miscarriage. Also, injecting progesterone and another steroid hormone into the muscle after undergoing a test used to diagnose birth defects (called an amniocentesis) does not seem to reduce the risk of miscarriage or preterm delivery.

Says nothing about fetal anomalies.

Although multiple web sites carried news reports about “abortion reversal” procedures, that information was apparently published without additional corroboration of its claims. Medical literature on the concept of “abortion reversal” indicates that the procedure carries a success rate similar to that of “doing nothing and waiting,” and its outcome hinges solely (or largely) on the initial dose of medication and gestational age (factors that are independent of attempts to interrupt a pregnancy termination). The intervention also carries “significant cardiovascular, nervous system, and endocrine adverse reactions,” risks not associated with the likely equally effective course of “doing nothing.”

From any perspective, the claims made about “abortion pill reversals” seem inherently dangerous. The procedure appears unlikely to prevent medical abortions from proceeding to completion, and the issue addressed by “abortion reversal” is one probably better handled via thorough counseling prior to abortions rather than through a risky and unproven medical procedure that is seemingly no more effective than doing nothing at all.

I’ve seen this so many times. 

Mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone needed to maintain the pregnancy. Because this hormone is blocked, the uterine lining begins to shed, the cervix begins to soften and bleeding may occur. With the later addition of the second medication, misoprostol, the uterus contracts and the pregnancy is usually expelled within 6 to 8 hours.

If pregnancy is continued after taking these medications, there is a high risk of fetal deformities.

Also, like the article of the girl dying of birth control. Literally there is no medication that is 100%. Life yeah, everything medical related whether it is procedure or medication isn’t 100% safe. Even the article said it was very rare for something like what that girl had.

Guess what? We use progesterone for birth control too; sometimes the natural stuff sometimes synthetic. For people like me, who have in the past had issues with periods. I have nexplanon, which releases a synthetic type of progesterone. I’ve been fine; heck with it, I’ve never felt better.

[reproductivejusticeandliberty]

Since @punesling decided to reply rather than reblog so I can’t address them, yes, this. Since they thought my blog name affected my ability to give accurate information, you as someone with a blog full of religious content, I’m not sure where you as the pot are qualified to call the kettle black. I linked you to an article containing information from the ACOG and other reputable sources, I did not simply talk out my ass. You, however, linked to a crisis pregnancy website whose words are based on a faulty 6-person study, the findings of which were debunked by the sources in the link.

You can claim CPCs are as “pro-woman” as you want, but they have a long and colourful history of lying to patients, and this time is no different. The success rate of a medication abortion failing is dependent on the stage of pregnancy and amount of misoprostol ingested, while taking extra progesterone can cause cardiovascular, neurological and endocrine problems. If you were really so pro-woman, you wouldn’t advocate for something that isn’t proven to work more than just doing nothing and carries the risk of harm to health.

-V

[proudly-pro-choice]

They should be ashamed of themselves for putting out false information that can hurt others.

-Allie

[proudly-pro-choice]

Hey, is it normal to feel guilty about tokophobia/gender dysphoria? (I can't tell which it is or if it's both or what) I aggressively don't want kids, or at least I don't want to be pregnant with them, the thought makes me feel sick... But I feel like I'm "wasting" my uterus by not having kids? Does that make any sense at all??

pregnancy mention tw, dysphoria mention tw, food mention tw, long text post 

Hi friend!

For starters, I’m really sorry you’re dealing with tokophobia/gender dysphoria. I know how much those suck, and I hope this finds you okay!

To answer your question: I haven’t actually talked to many people about this, so I don’t know how “normal” it is, but I can tell you this is something I struggle with too. 

I’ve never wanted children, and I used to really struggle, because I felt awful for having this “gift” that I would never use, don’t want (never mind the fact that for me, this would not be a gift). Even now, I don’t feel guilty per se, but I get really angry, because it’s like, what the fuck is the point of this uterus? 

Having studied reproductive rights, and social justice things more extensively now though, I would imagine that we’re not the only ones dealing with this. For starters, if you’re assigned female at birth, you’re prepared, and told about the wonders of mommyhood from the day you’re born. By ten, kids of all genders have more than likely heard about “one day, when you’re a mommy” (I remember being like 7, and having my cousins tell me that I would never be happy in life, because I didn’t want kids, and that’s the “best and happiest” thing a woman can do). By 15, most people have seen some “I got pregnant on accident, but kept my baby and it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done!” movie/story, as well as the “I want to have a baby so bad, but I can’t, but this person can, and I’m really sad/jealous, but wait, what joy they’re giving me their baby!” movie/story (bonus points if you watched the movie on lifetime or we when you stayed home sick from school, and there was nothing else on tv-if you don’t live in the us, then bonus points for watching it on whatever your cheesy over the top movies tv station is in the same scenario, lol). 

By the time you’re an adult, regardless of what your gender is, you’ve more than likely heard about how great parenthood is, and how you should aspire to it, and how not having children is selfish/wrong/immature/avoiding responsibility/a disservice to society because “you’d be such a good parent!” 

Basically, what I’m getting at, is that we’re told from day one that we should aspire to have children, because they’re a gift, and not to do so when you’re able to is to be ungrateful. Then of course, throw antichoicers in to the mix, who would love for us to be breading sows, and it’s not surprising that people dealing with tokophobia and/or dysphoria feel bad for not having/wanting children. I mean, we’re pretty much constantly told about how bad we are for not having/wanting kids, so I think it makes sense that we then feel bad. 

But please know this! You do not owe anyone your uterus, nor do you need to be a parent one day. If you want to be one-fucking awesome! If you do decide you want to be a parent, and you want to adopt, that’s also fucking awesome. Adoption is great, and a completely valid, equally good option to parenthood as birthing is. If you don’t want kids ever-that’s also fucking rad! You can be happy, and complete without having children, and that does not make you selfish/immature/wrong/or any of the other negative, awful shit you’ll (more than likely) be told. It’s really sad, and unfortunate that some people can’t birth kids when they want to, however, that does not reflect on you, or make you bad for not wanting to. The funny thing about gifts, is that different people like different things. Although parenting and giving birth may be a “gift” to some, it is not to everyone, and that’s okay.

 I like to think about it like actual gifts-for me, an amazing new year’s gift, is one of the silent hill games I don’t have, or some kickass coffee. My partner on the other hand, hates horror games, and only drinks coffee on occasion (I know, I can’t believe it either), so these gifts would be shit for them. Or, for their birthday one year, I got my partner our cat, Rose (I knew they had really been wanting a cat, and we had talked about it a lot before), and this was such an amazing gift for them! But, my best friend, she’s severely allergic to cats (I know, pobrecita, she only gets kitty love through pictures), so a cat would be an absolutely horrific gift for her. Does this make either of them bad? Of course not! Should they feel guilty over it? Of course not! I think of pregnancy as being the same way. 

In either case, please know that you’re not alone! I’m always here to talk if you ever need to, and you’re awesome!

~River

[reproductivejusticeandliberty]

Re: cultureshift saying "All humans are equally deserving of human rights". No human has the right to survive by using an unwilling person's body. A fetus does not get this right either. And, you are allowed to kill someone if it's necessary to protect your bodily autonomy (killing in self defense). When it comes to pregnancy, that's the only means you have of protecting your bodily autonomy if you don't consent to the pregnancy, so, yes, it's necessary.

Yeah, well, Cultureshift knows all this, having been told multiple times. Most antis on Tumblr have heard the schpiel before, but they don’t care. You can tell them over and over that legal precendence is not on their side, but they don’t care. You can tell them that they’d be taking away rights that are never taken away, but they don’t care. Antis are some of the most wilfully wrong people I’ve had the misfortunate of encountering.-V

[proudly-pro-choice]

Pro-choice community: Wow, looks like cultureshift has finally gotten the hint that no one on this godforsaken website wants them here.

Cultureshift:

[proudly-pro-choice]

You don’t have to like Ke$ha or her music, but it’s so fucking ugly when I see some of the blogs I previously followed saying that because Ke$ha is problematic, they’re withdrawing their support. She is problematic and her current circumstances do not make her exempt from being called out, but you saying you’re deleting posts regarding her rape is uglier than ugly.

And I’m talking to several members of the pro-choice community, too. As a rape victim, you made me so nauseous, that when y'all reblog our posts I resist the urge to straight up block you.

Rape victims don’t need to be perfect in order to be supported. Do NOT let them get away with problematic shit, but citing that as a reason as to why you’re not supporting them is gross.

-Allie

[proudly-pro-choice]

Hi! There's this discussion homework I have in my uni and my friend who's pro-life thinks that women shouldn't go through abortion because "they will not face the consequences" and "they're just running away from their problems" and I want to punch him in the face. He also thinks that rape victims should go report to police straight away after getting raped because "the law was built to help them" and he suggested that rape victims should extract the embryo out and freeze it instead of aborting

it which is an appalling mess. I’m just asking if you have any factual points of refuting his point on “women who willingly have sex using abortion to avoid consequences” and what do you think about the “extraction of embryo” thing?

rape mention, misogyny mention, gendered language, police mention tw

Hi friend!

Your friend sounds exhausting as hell, so cudos to you for your patience.

The main points that you can make are:

A) Children should not be punishment. Raising children should be something people do because they want to, not something people should be forced to do for having sex. I mean, think about what that says of your parenting views, if you think pregnant people should be forced to have kids, as punishment for having sex.

B) People have sex for reasons other than having kids. People have sex for intimacy. People have sex for fun. People have sex for the endorphin run you get from having an orgasm. People have sex for a million and two reasons, and you random dude, do not get to decide how and why everyone on earth should/can have sex. Sorry, dude. 

C) Having an abortion is not “avoiding the consequences of your actions.” Abortion is looking at your situation (pregnancy) and saying, “okay, so how do I handle this, what are my options, and what’s going to be best for me?” and then making that decision. Abortions are not fun, and thanks to restrictive laws, it can be quite the drawn out process. 

Also, there’s a million and one stories from rape victims all about how the cops/police system is not created for them. I don’t honestly even know where to begin, or to break all of that down.

For starters, there’s the fact that if you’re a: 1) Sex worker and/or 2) “Dressed provocatively” and/or 3) Trans and/or 4)were inebriated and/or 5) a poc and/or 6) Not “emotional enough” and/or 7) “Too emotional” and/or 8) In a relationship with the person who raped you and/or 9) Have ever willingly consisted to sex with them and/or10) are married to them and/or11) mentally ill and/or12) disabled and/or13) poor and/or14) homeless and/or15) have a chemical dependency issue

then there’s a good chance the cops will drop your case before it even begins, and honestly, this list can go on. Those are the reasons I can think of off the top of my head, that people have been told “they weren’t raped” for. I have known countless people who have experienced assault and shit, and had cops basically tell them to go home, and “deal.” And those are the best case scenarios. There’s been more than one incident where someone (this is most common among sex workers, and trans woman) goes to a cop for help, only so the cop can then assault them as well. 

To be even more honest though, I was raised on the fact that cops are not friends, are not to be trusted, and in my parents own words “are not to protect us.” So, it’s difficult for me to form “why cops are bad, and not here to protect poc, women, lgbt+ people, low income people disabled people, mentally ill people, etc. 101″ arguments, you know? 

The extraction thing is both fucking creepy, and confusing. Where are the fetus to be stored? What exactly is the point of storing them? What’s gonna be done with them? Where is the money going to come from to store them, and how much is that creepy fucking doctor visit going to cost? 

If you’re looking to make this an ongoing conversation with him, I would just start by talking. You could send him to look through our blog-we do have some pretty kick ass info on here, if I do say so myself. You could have him go through the other prochoice blogs as well, and introduce him to basic femininsm 101. 

If he’s more in to the whole college text thing, you can have him read some of Angela Davis’s work-she’s amazing, and has broken down everything that’s wrong with our police system, and how they are not here to protect/help most people. She’s an intersectional femininst, and so all of her work is approached from a poc, and women’s rights perspective, so her explanations are pretty solid and thorough. 

Anyways, best of luck, friend! I wish all of the emotional energy your way, and I hope it comes around!

~River

[giveashit-aboutearth]

It's okay to have an abortion and still want to be a mom in the future.

[reproductivejusticeandliberty]

Being "personally pro-life" is not a thing

If you support everyone having the right to choose, then you’re pro-choice.

Even if you personally want nothing more than a child and would only choose parenting or adoption, those would be your choices.

Your choice not to abort while supporting abortion access does not make you pro-life. It means that you’re making the best choice for you, and in your case, that choice is not abortion.

You’re only “pro-life” (aka anti-choice) if you want carrying to term to be the only option. Being anti-choice is inherently a political position, not a personal one. -V

[thebreakfastgenie]

Not everyone defines pro-choice and pro-life so rigidly. I agree with you, and I think most people who define them differently do so out of a lack of understanding, but in my experience it’s not terribly productive to tell someone “no you’re actually pro-choice,” especially because the labels carry so much weight and stigma. There are also, I think, different levels of it. For example, you can be perfectly okay with abortion as a concept and support everyone making their own choice but happen to know that you personally would not choose an abortion. You can also be fairly uncomfortable with the idea of abortion, whether for religious reasons or other personal belief reasons or whatever, but know that everyone has bodily autonomy and that some will choose to abort and that that is their right. These are not the same. I think most people who call themselves “personally pro-life” are in the second group, they’re not really okay with abortion but they respect the bodily autonomy of others and know it’s not their place to try to stop anyone else from getting one. I think a lot of these people see pro-choice as meaning having a neutral or positive view of abortion, even if that’s not necessarily true that is how most vocal pro-choice activists feel, I think, plus all “they support abortion!” rhetoric also contributes, and don’t feel comfortable identifying as pro-choice because they have a more negative-but-necessary view on abortion. 

[reproductivejusticeandliberty]

Part of the reason the pro-choice label carries stigma is because we don’t talk about stuff like this. It’s perfectly fine not to be open to a particular option encompassed in being pro-choice. I don’t know if I will ever have an abortion, as I’ve never been in a position where I’ve needed to make that choice, so I can’t say for sure if I personally could. I do know I’m personally not open to adoption for a number of reasons. However, I don’t make amendments to my statement of “I’m pro-choice but not pro-adoption” because it could be a bit of a slap in the face to adoptees and people who choose to adopt and that just adds to the stigma of adoption. As soon as the words leave your mouth, they become political and not personal. They become a judgement rather than a personal sentiment, whether or not that is the intended purpose of not, because they now affect other people, not only yourself. The pro-choice label needs to be destigmatized and part of the way to do that is to point out how you don’t have to insert your personal feelings into the mix if you’ve decided that you support everyone’s right bodily autonomy. If you never will have an abortion, your right to bodily autonomy will be exercised through parenting or adopting out only, and that’s perfectly fine. Being pro-choice doesn’t put any connotation on abortion but neutrality, and if one views it as a negative, they need to understand that it is only a negative for themselves. If they see it as a negative for everybody, then they need to think on why that is rather than speak in ways that contribute to the undue stigma placed on abortion access and harm others. -V