I recently went through tubal ligation. This was my choice and was not a choice I came to overnight. In fact I spent five years mulling over what I wanted to do and what was best for my family with a supportive husband who only weighted in to say "I support you in whatever you decide to do." He is a firm believer in "my body;my choice."
Once I was in the doctors office we went over the standard "are you sure you want to do this? Tubal ligation is considered permanent. What if you and your husband divorce or something happens to your children?" My response was with complete honesty. I told the doctor for the past five years I have been thinking about this, for the past five years the idea of having another child turned my stomach, for the past five years I had the view point of if I was to get pregnant right now I would abort. She was convinced and I was ready for a tubal so we went over the next phase of the appointment talking about the procedure, after care, and risk. My doctor stressed the importance of knowing my body and in the event of a rare occurrence what an ectopic pregnancy was, the seriousness of it, and what must be done.
Full steam ahead I wanted my tubes tied. Despite the typical pain after minor surgery and being annoyed I was high as a kite on pain medication I was trilled. In my blissful selfish ignorance I was relieved that the days of a remote possibility of being in a position of needing an abortion or medical procedure on my reproductive organs and not having access to one because of religious fundamentalists were behind me. Oh boy was I wrong.
A couple of days after my surgery I was starting to feel better, not all doped up my mind was focused, I picked up my laptop and started to scan the news sites to see what I missed. I read an article about new measures being proposed to restrict abortion. Currently my family is stationed on the Ky/TN boarder so reading about Tennessee's constitutional amendment for the upcoming election caught my attention. http://www.motherjones.com/...
I started to think about the what-ifs and the personhood fight so I read more news articles and legislation. Finding a great deal of ambiguity in what I was reading I decided it was time to go straight to the source. Down the pro-life rabbit hole I went reading the movements blogs, chat forms, and webpages (containing a plethora of misinformation, junk science, and righteous ignorance). The more I read the more terrified I became. Some groups who are pushing for personhood laws believe a fertilized embryo that results in an ectopic pregnancy is a life and should have legal rights. Some Catholic hospitals will treat an ectopic pregancy but only by removing the Fallopian tube when there are other less invasive safer options depending on the case.
Here are two of the websites that really scared me:
Warning if you are prone to headaches caused by the extreme pro-life movement have Ibuprofen on hand for the first website. It is full of junk science and lies.
http://www.personhoodinitiative.com/...
http://www.catholiceducation.org/...
I defiantly was shaken out of my selfish blissful ignorance. I must remain vigilant in the fight against radical pro-life legislation. I ask myself on the off chance that I do suffer from an ectopic pregnancy will I still have access to proper medical care? As a pro-choice feminist I still have to worry about the rights of other women across this nation. As a mother of three boys I ask what happens if a woman they love needs access to reproductive health that has been limited? The struggle continues.
“It is time to renew the battle for reproductive rights. We have been outmaneuvered, outspent, outpostured, and outvoted by a group of single-issue activists. It has taken them nearly two decades to turn back the principles of Roe. Let's make sure it takes us a shorter time to replace protection for reproductive choice.” ~ Sarah Weddington