Photo of Gerri Santoro, who died in 1964 at 28 years old from an unsafe abortion
I was planning to write about something else today, but then Alito’s odious opinion overturning Roe leaked, and so I’ll have to get to that other thing later.
As Hecate wrote yesterday, NO ONE should be surprised by this. All the women who were completely freaking out November 9, 2016? This is (one reason) why.
Hecate and I have both written about this topic multiple times in the past 5 1/2 years, but now it’s serious. You have to get ready. Right now.
First and most importantly, IF YOU HAVE ALL THE KIDS YOU WANTED TO HAVE AND YOU’RE PRE-MENOPAUSE, GET YOUR TUBES TIED. NOW. DO NOT WAIT. NOT EVEN IF YOU’RE IN A BLUE STATE.
They’re coming for your birth control AND they’re coming for a nation-wide ban. Do you REALLY want to roll the dice that they won’t be successful? With the current makeup of the Supreme Court?
If you think you’ve had all the kids you want, but you’re not 100% and you can afford it, freeze some eggs and have your tubes tied. Do not freeze fertilized embryos – they’re also coming for IVF. Don’t believe me? The Louisiana legislature would like a word.
If you’re thinking you do want to have more kids, just not right now, get an IUD immediately, preferably copper, since they’re effective for up to ten years. Again, do not wait. Not even if you’re in a blue state.
If you’re insistent on shorter-term methods like Depo-Provera shots or the pill, make sure you have a backup method, aka condoms. One, you may want to belt-and-suspenders your birth control, and two, you may not have access to those next shots or prescription refills when you need them. Latex condoms – male or female – should be good for five years if you store them properly, which means somewhere cool, dark, and dry – so NOT in your wallet or your bathroom. Think: linen closet, with a small “immediate use” supply in your nightstand drawer.
Should you stockpile Plan B?
No, although you might want to get one for emergencies (and, stored next to your condoms in your linen closet, it has a shelf life of four years). But please don’t buy dozens.
One, there are women who need it NOW. Don’t pull a TP-and-flour-at-the-beginning-of-the-pandemic on them.
Two, it’s not effective if you weigh more than 155 pounds (although Ella is effective up to 195 pounds).
What else should you do to get ready?
There’s a bunch of information you should look up RIGHT NOW, print it out, and store it in a safe place:
- The laws regarding abortion in your own state.
- Whether your state has any trigger laws on the books for when Roe is overturned or never removed pre-Roe laws banning or restricting abortion that will go back into effect.
- The laws regarding abortion in neighboring states, and their trigger/pre-Roe laws. (The Guttmacher Institute is an excellent source for all of the above.)
- Information about abortion access funds, should you or someone you love need financial help leaving the state to get care.
- Information about how to communicate safely & privately. This is a good primer.
- Information about self-managed abortion.
- Information about how you can get medication abortion drugs online or out of the US (note: you can get these drugs OVER THE COUNTER, aka no prescription required, in Mexico).
A few other things to do:
- Using a period tracker site or app? STOP RIGHT NOW and make sure you delete all your data from it.
- Make sure your passport is up to date.
- If you’re handy and dexterous, you may want to learn how to make a Del-Em.
What did I miss? Share it in the comments.
Image credit: Ms. Magazine.
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hecatedemeter 
I remember seeing this photo as a young child in a magazine. Was it Time magazine? I saw it in a doctors office in the lobby waiting with my mom. She was nobody’s chattel but she was conservative. Makes me wonder if she would still be a Republican if she were still alive today. ~ Crying
Last year I purchased a book, Natural Liberty: Rediscovering Self-Induced Abortion Methods by Sage-Femme Collective (2008). Of course the safest abortion method is with a medical practitioner, but if needs-must, this book has a whole host of information.
Excellent share – thank you! Looks like it’s available on Amazon (which probably also means your local independent bookseller can order it for you).
Post-Roe, unlike pre-Roe, babies have fathers. (They did then too, but it was he-said-she-said as to who the father was, and so traditionally he was let off the hook.) I’m trying to point out in as many ways as possible that while only a woman can bear a child, its father can now be identified and held responsible for its needs until it is an adult. If family values are the point, how could we not insist that fathers be involved? Further, if the child’s DNA proves rape or incest, the father must also face justice. Before the court decides this matter, we need to get them to think about how men’s lives could be changed. They’re acting as though they can punish fallen women with paternal condescension as if this were the Victorian era. We need for randy politicians and wanton judges to think about what banning abortion could have meant had DNA testing been available in their frat boy days, and what it could yet mean to them today. They have skin in the game too. It might put the discussion into a new light.