Abortion Saves Lives
On November 6, 2024, a day after Donald Trump’s re-election, a member of Tomorrow Girls Troop protested in front of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.Blurb
On June 2nd, 2022, Roe v. Wade, which protected American women’s lives for almost 50 years, was overturned by the United States Supreme Court. Since then sixteen states have enacted near-total bans, impacting all women’s access to abortion care and placing vulnerable women (low-income, WOC, single-mothers) in particular risk.
Most women who are not trying to get pregnant will not find out they are pregnant until they are at least 5 weeks. A six week ban is effectively a ban on all abortions. There is no reason abortion should ever be banned under the guise of "protecting life" when women statistically die MORE when these laws are put in place. Most everyone agrees on abortion being accessible in the event of an ectopic pregnancy which means that some part of them acknowledges that an embryo is not the same as a human life. Unfortunately, in states where abortions are banned, women with life-threatening pregnancies must wait until they are literally dying and the doctor receives permission, before they can receive care. Some have died in the wait. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, overall infant mortality has risen due to the fact that countless women are forced to carry babies with congenital anomalies to term. Putting their lives at risk and letting everyone be emotionally traumatized. It will take another two years before we learn of the impact abortion bans have had on women’s well-being and mortality. When we die, we must give permission for our organs to be used to save the lives of others. A dead body has more autonomy than a woman who is pregnant. Isn’t that ridiculous? Laws that restrict or ban abortion put women’s lives unnecessarily at risk. Abortions save lives.
TGT is committed to fighting to protect abortion rights for women. If you are based in the United States, please make a donation to the National Women's Law Center or to your local abortion fund.
On May, 2022, at women's march in California.The issue of abortion is very different between Japan and the US.
Issues with abortion in Japan:
Only outdated abortion methods that are burdensome on the woman’s body are available
Not covered by insurance and therefore expensive
Requires the partner’s consent
With insufficient sex education and few contraceptive options available, abortion, which is a burden on women, acts as the main safety net
Why is this happening?
Because there are too few women who support women’s rights in the decision-making arena of law and policy,
There is an indifference to women’s issues
and women’s issues are being used for political purposes
Story
One TGT member tells of her experience getting an abortion as an American living abroad.
1 out of 4 women get an abortion. I'm the person you know who has had one. I hope you learn something from my story.
I started the very first day of 2021 with the first day of my period. This is also considered day 1 of my pregnancy, even though technically... I wasn't even pregnant yet.
Pregnancy is always a little tiny thought that exists in the corner of the mind of anyone with a uterus. We do what we can to prevent it if we don't want it. At that time, I had been using a Paragard IUD (Intrauterine Device) since February 2013. It protected me for almost 8 years through multiple partners. And honestly, I still recommend copper IUDs to everyone. The other important thing to know is that I've never had a predictable period. Since I started recording, I've had cycles that range between 26-36 days with an average of about 30.5 days. So for me, I try not to panic until at least day 37. I actually remember joking with friends about my late period that month, hahaha, it’s always so late and I freak out every month. It’s probably fine though. Following the calendar... 37 days after January 1st is February 6th. We got a test on the 7th and waited to take it the morning of the 8th (morning pee is better?). I didn't like my gut feeling so I left it on the bathroom counter and made my partner check it. It was positive.
This is considered 5.5 weeks 'pregnant'.
The rest of the dates are a blur, but I can definitely guarantee that it would have been impossible to get an abortion before the 6 week mark. I leaned very heavily on my partner and a close friend to do the adulting, to make the appointments, to talk to the doctors, and most importantly, interpret for me things in English when I didn’t quite catch what others were saying. I just went to the appointments and answered the questions asked of me. We went to the local Planned Parenthood equivalent where they had me take another test (still positive) and then talked to me about my options: abortion pill or surgical abortion. They had a little binder with what was basically a powerpoint presentation of the different choices and their pros and cons. At first I wanted the pill so I could go through the process at home. Comfort is key, right? But then after hearing I could get the surgical process and get a new IUD inserted at the same time, I went with that option. Two birds with one stone.
Several days later I was at the abortion clinic where I again tried my best to understand and answer questions. Immediately following the office visit, I was taken to the clinic area to strip off my lower layer of clothes. I laid myself onto the table with those weird leg rest things (stirrups?), and my legs spread wide open. By myself, without fully understanding what people were saying as they inserted the ultrasound stick into my vagina and prodded around deep enough to be able to see into the uterus. They twisted, they searched, they discussed among themselves. I took deep breaths and looked up at the ceiling, doing that thing where you try to not think about what is happening down there, but not being able to not focus on the ultrasound stick (transvaginal ultrasound probe, it is apparently called). After what seemed like an eternity, I was told to get dressed and head back to the office.
I then found out, belatedly, that the doctor wasn’t able to find an embryo. I was clearly pregnant, but they couldn’t see anything. I was sent home with a letter that I was to carry around in case of emergency. Possible causes included the embryo being too small to see, an ectopic pregnancy, or miscarriage. They told me to come back in a week+ so it would have some time to grow. Or something else happened. That’s not ominous at all.
Fast forward to the night of February 19th, technically seven weeks pregnant, bleeding dark brown chunks, and in excruciating pain. The people who know me know that I have a fairly high pain tolerance. I have had tattoo artists compliment me on how well I handle pain. That night I could barely walk. I thought it was a miscarriage and so I wanted to wait it out. Listen, comfort at home! I can deal with pain, but I want to be in my home and curled up on my own toilet while sobbing, ok? Anyway, I was outvoted by my partner and friend who insisted on taking me to the hospital. We took a taxi to the nearest one where I was referred to a different hospital with an emergency ob-gyn. At a certain point, I had to be piggy-backed because I kept doubling over in pain and not moving. By the time I got to the hospital however, the pain had subsided considerably (for some reason my body thinks that doctors = be on best behaviour). The waiting room was practically empty since at this point it was probably around 3am. There were blood stains on one of the chairs that no one had had the time to clean up yet. My partner bought us some hot chocolate from a vending machine and I was called in. By myself, again.
After having my insides probed again by the ultrasound stick (this time more aggressively to get all the angles), they finally found the embryo growing in one of my fallopian tubes. You can even see it in the photo and the measurements that were taken. At this point it was large enough to have "a heartbeat" or in better words, it had "cells that learned to buzz together".
I did a Google and Google said, "Ectopic pregnancy is an acute emergency if not timely diagnosed and treated. Timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment can reduce the risk of maternal mortality and morbidity related to ectopic pregnancy." Cool ok. I’m here in time right? The doctor confirmed everything and told me that if I had waited any longer, the embryo could have ruptured my fallopian tube and caused internal bleeding. But at the moment, it was a good size and could still be treated with Methotrexate (MTX). I had my blood drawn, waited for the results, signed the papers, and got a shot of MTX in the butt. To be honest, I wasn't super clear on what was happening that night. By the time we got home it was almost 6am.
I spent the next day in bed, feeling very sick, and throwing up a few times. MTX is a drug used to treat cancer, it stops unwanted tissue (including an embryo) from growing. Eventually the tissue gets reabsorbed into the fallopian tube and your body just deals with it. I had to go back to the hospital several more times for them over the next couple of weeks to draw blood and monitor the hCG (pregnancy hormones) as it went down.
About a month later, that was it. Life went on. Was I sad? Not really? There were a lot of mixed complicated emotions I had to work through. In the end, I had a medical need and it was treated. In fact, an abortion is statistically 13 times safer than pregnancy. It has been years since this event and though I am in my thirties, I still have no desire to have children. An embryo at conception, at 6 weeks, at 7, 8, 9+ "life" is never going to be equivalent to the literal human being that it is attached to. The embryo in my fallopian tube and me? Not the same thing. If that was the case then fertility clinics would be burned down for being a baby murdering factory. There is no reason abortion should ever be banned under the guise of "protecting life" when women die MORE when these laws are put in place. Plus, most everyone agrees on abortion being accessible in the event of an ectopic pregnancy which means that some part of them acknowledges that an embryo is not the same as a human life. When we die, we must give permission for our organs to be used to save the lives of others. A dead body has more autonomy than a woman who is pregnant. Isn’t that ridiculous? Laws that restrict or ban abortion put women’s lives unnecessarily at risk. Abortions save lives.
Imagine I had an ectopic pregnancy in a state which has banned abortion. First of all, getting an appointment just to see a doctor would have taken much longer. Maybe I get one in time and I find out it’s ectopic. An ectopic pregnancy, thankfully, is an exception and I am allowed to get an abortion. However, I can only get the abortion once my life is in danger. Wtf does that mean? Well, in states where abortions are banned, doctors do not have the freedom to act at the speed which is necessary to save lives and protect the health of women. I’m at the hospital in the middle of the night, already in pain, but they can’t do anything. Actually, I have to wait days in pain for the embryo to grow larger and larger until it ruptures the fallopian tube and I start heavily internal bleeding. Then the doctors have to talk to hospital lawyers and get the OK to perform an abortion, all while I’m bleeding out. Now the abortion is a much more complicated surgery than a normal one. Once the procedure starts, it’s very possible that the fallopian tube currently housing the embryo needs to be removed. So now I’m down 50% of my baby-making supplies.The recovery process is long and arduous. And also now I’m probably thousands of dollars in debt. Hooray for the American health care system!!
But listen. Even if the embryo in my body wasn't threatening my life, I still would have ended the pregnancy. Everyone deserves that right.
Abortion rights must be protected worldwide. If you learned anything and you are based in the United States, please make a donation to the National Women's Law Center or to your local abortion fund.
See [this article] for debunking of pro-choice talking points.