Discussion
  • Read More
    SwagPumpinOutMyOvariesKelly Faircloth
    6/27/14 6:27pm

    As an uninsured Texas woman with three kids already I'm fucking glad my birth control implant is good for another year. I should probably get a passport though, just in case we have to take a quick family vacay south of the border.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      KulahanSwagPumpinOutMyOvaries
      6/27/14 6:32pm

      Or... use condoms? They're pretty cheap.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      applesauce69Kulahan
      6/27/14 6:41pm

      sex isn't the same with a condom. it's like eating bacon cooked in the microwave, rather than frying it in a pan. the latter is soooo much better

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    SylvkKelly Faircloth
    6/27/14 6:19pm

    I honestly don't know how anyone can delude themselves into thinking getting rid of legal abortion will somehow stop all abortions ever. Pretty sure abortion has been around since the first person figured out that eating certain herbs induced miscarriage.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      letslipthedogsofwarSylvk
      6/27/14 6:23pm

      Roman histories are rife with it.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      acornSylvk
      6/27/14 6:28pm

      I was just having this conversation my husband on Wednesday. Which is when I also found out that he was under the impression that Plan B was the same as an abortifacient like this....major side eye. Also hilarious in that I've used it a good 4 or 5 times since we've been together and he's been well aware. Not sure if he was under the impression his wife had gotten at least 4 abortions or not. It would be funny except that far too many otherwise intelligent people don't know what the hell they are talking about when it comes to this stuff. Even more disconcerting are the politicians who are creating policy around these mislead ideas. Very upsetting.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    LordBurleighKelly Faircloth
    6/27/14 6:32pm

    You know, I've been looking more closely at right-wing rhetoric around abortion, and though its arguments are couched in language about the sanctity of human life, I've noticed how frequently the issue of having "murder" be "legal" is actually central: I don't think the right-wingers have deluded themselves into thinking that women will get abortions if abortions are illegal, I think it's more that they're offended that the system in which they participate "tolerates" them, and that they themselves thus implicitly tolerate it. It seems to me to be—as always—not about fetuses, babies, or women, but about conservative ideologues themselves: all they actually care about is making it really, baldly, and loudly clear that they themselves don't approve of abortion, and they're utterly unconcerned about the consequences to other people of that declaration.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      acornLordBurleigh
      6/27/14 6:43pm

      And I'd buy or accept that a lot more willingly if these same people were equally vociferous in protesting and decrying the death penalty. You can't have it both ways. A life is a life is a life, and all are worthy and equal of life and only God can decide, or it's not.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      abidabi, THIEF OF JOYLordBurleigh
      6/27/14 6:51pm

      I'd never thought about it like that but I think that's a really good insight. It definitely explains why they don't seem to care that abortion rates aren't tied to whether it is legal or not.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    ballofstressKelly Faircloth
    6/27/14 6:30pm

    The truly sad/infuriating part of this is that we all know that outlawing abortion doesn't end abortion, its ends LEGAL abortions. Which means that women will die trying to rid themselves of an unwanted pregnancy. And it is not that the anti-choicers aren't aware of this fact, it is that they straight up DO NOT CARE. They hate women who exercise their sexuality and believe that they deserve what they get for "not keeping their legs shut". It is utter, heartless, psychopathic bullshit and I'm done with people not acknowledging that women dying trying to end pregnancies is something that these extremists don't intend.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      DashleyinCaliballofstress
      6/27/14 6:56pm

      I was having a lengthy conversation about this right here on Jezebel just the other day. http://jezebel.com/i-revere-abort…

      Even if you put the statistics RIGHT IN THEIR FACES, the anti-choice people will just sing a refrain that making abortion illegal reduces abortions, even though it clearly doesn't. There's lots of proof actually that the opposite is true: giving women access to reproductive services, including abortion, reduces the rate of abortion overall. No organization in this country is responsible for preventing more abortions than Planned Parenthood, and yet.

      AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      FreakyFriendFictionDashleyinCali
      6/27/14 8:26pm

      Also if right wingers want to reduce abortion maybe they should quit trying to make single mothers seem like the devil. I've always wondered if maybe the abortion rate has always gone down a bit as having children out of wedlock becomes more acceptable. I've heard stories about girls in the 50s and 60s being forced to give babies up for adoption because having a baby out of wedlock was considered so shameful, and I think it would stand to reason that there were also plenty of women having abortions simply because of the stigma on unmarried mothers.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    NumberTenOxKelly Faircloth
    6/27/14 6:35pm

    I'm Molly from the article (and from the Jezebel article "I Help Desperate Women, And I Could Go To Jail For It). If you need information about how to obtain or use these pills, contact me at molly.blythe@gmail.com.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      thoughtsrightmeowNumberTenOx
      6/27/14 6:44pm

      I remember that article. You are awesome. :)

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      The Dongs of WarNumberTenOx
      6/27/14 8:05pm

      Are they any sides effects or complications to look out for?

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    ShannonKelly Faircloth
    6/27/14 6:32pm

    As someone who has personally made the choice to have an abortion in the state of Texas, I can say that the entire thing is ridiculous. I understand that everyone has an opinion about it, and that's fine, but I had to jump through a lot of hoops for a procedure that took less time than a pap (literally- when done early on, it takes longer to explain than to have done). They think they are doing some sort of greater good, but this needs to be legal because when women are backed into a corner, they will go to outrageous lengths, especially if they feel that they have nothing to lose. The problem starts with refusing to properly educate people on sex and birth control, worsens when they make it difficult to obtain birth control, and reaches a pinnacle when abortion procedures are next to impossible to obtain safely. It truly makes me sick to my stomach when I hear about what Texas is doing to the women of their state, and I am so happy to not be living there anymore.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      abidabi, THIEF OF JOYShannon
      6/27/14 6:49pm

      I think in some ways it is especially egregious in large, primarily rural states like Texas. I don't know the exact situation there but in most areas like that, any healthcare access is already a significant problem for poorer rural residents who don't have reliable transportation. Further limiting that access because of religious beliefs is terrible.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      MischaMonaeabidabi, THIEF OF JOY
      6/27/14 7:14pm

      My question is who's religious beliefs?

      "Exodus 21:22-25 describes a case where a pregnant woman jumps into a fight between her husband and another man and suffers injuries that cause her to miscarry. Injuries to the woman prompt the normal penalties for harming another human being: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life. Killing the woman is murder, a capital crime.

      The miscarriage is treated differently, however — as property loss, not murder. The assailant must pay a fine to the husband. The law of a life for a life does not apply. The fetus is important, but it's not human life in the same way the pregnant woman is."

      You can read the rest of the article here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-lowery-ph…

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    brachiatorKelly Faircloth
    6/27/14 7:17pm

    Just for perspective. Texas has 24 facilities that provide services. Texas has over 26 MILLION people. So, say roughly half are men. 24 facilities for 13 million women, One provider for every half million people.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      081993Kelly Faircloth
      6/28/14 3:48pm

      In 2012, I had a late term abortion in Texas. I was 21 weeks. I found out I was pregnant at 20 weeks. I was still nursing my two-year-old and hadn't had a period since before he was conceived. I had just split with his father a few months before and it was a domestic violence situation. Immediately after we split, I'd taken a pregnancy test just to make sure. I would have been past the two months mark, but I got a rare false negative. At 20 weeks, I just overnight started to look kind of pregnant. I tested again and was floored to get a positive result.

      The first clinic I went to, I had to walk through crowds of protesters screaming at me that they would adopt my baby. At the clinic I found out that not only was I definitely pregnant, but that it was 20 weeks along, and that they could not perform the abortion, and that the procedure would be $2100 at the ambulatory surgical center. In Houston, the largest metropolis in Texas, there is a single clinic that performs late term abortions. The doctor took a bullet in the 90s and is still practicing. I was in the next week. The worst part? Because of the fucking crazed anti-choice fanatics who, you know, do shit like shoot at abortion doctors, every woman has to go through those doors alone. No support person. On the third day (it's a three day procedure), I was there all day, in great pain, and I couldn't have my mother or a friend there to hold my hand.

      If it had happened one year later, it would have been illegal. I would have been a single mother with a toddler, newly fled from a man who terrorized and abused me, working full-time at a job that barely covers things and has no paid maternity leave, and then I would have been forced to give birth to another child. I would have had to have given my existing child to my mother, or risked neglecting him while I cared for a newborn alone. I would have had zero income while recovering from the birth, then I would have had to have put the newborn in daycare with my existing toddler while I returned to work. I would have had to have somehow paid for this childcare while my ex refused to pay child support (he still has never paid for his one child).

      Fuck them, the people who made it illegal. No one goes through a three day abortion lightly, for the sake of "convenience." I chose life. I chose the life of my toddler, who would have suffered more than anyone else if I'd been forced to give birth.

      Reply
      <
      • Read More
        Cuke Bum081993
        6/30/14 9:41am

        I'm glad that you were able to secure a better future for you toddler and yourself, but so saddened to know that similar situations are now happening to women, and they don't have the 'luxury' of the apparently at least sometimes painful, three-day-long freaking event that you went through. And I know that's why you mentioned it, but I just had to post and repeat.

        Reply
        <
      • Read More
        usedtobehere081993
        6/30/14 1:44pm

        Christ. I'm so sorry you had to go through all that by yourself. I hope things are better for you now.

        Reply
        <
    • Read More
      kaileyv617Kelly Faircloth
      6/27/14 7:21pm

      Certainly MIFEPREX/Mifepristone (what is commonly referred to as the "abortion pill" used together with Misoprostol/Cytotec is more effective (95-98%) than misoprostol alone, Misoprostol by itself is about 80-90% effective, and generally pretty safe do to for women that don't have other options. I would typically NOT advocate for a woman who as access to a legal abortion to choose to do this in a medically unsupervised way, Women all over the world use it to terminate pregnancy successfully (and more safely) in countries where abortion is illegal or difficult to access (much like we are seeing in TX).

      To use misoprostol ONLY for an abortion - a woman must generally be in the first trimester and obtain 12 200mcg pills of Misoprostol/Cytotec. She will start by placing 4 pills under her tongue to dissolve for one hour. after one hour she will swallow any remaining medication. 3 hours later she will take 4 more pills in the same way, and then again 3 hours after that. If a woman doesn't have bleeding or cramping after the 3rd dose of misoprostol, she should repeat the method in a few days time (3 or so).

      visit womenonwaves.org or womenonweb.org for more information about using misoprostol to induce abortion at home. this information may one day be useful to you, or a loved one, or someone you know if they are otherwise unable to access a physician who will provide a safe and legal abortion.

      Reply
      <
      • Read More
        Cestrumnocturn1kaileyv617
        6/27/14 11:12pm

        ru486 is 600 mg of mifepristone and 400 µg of misoprostol. Methotrexate has also been used with misoprostol for ectopic pregnancies.

        Reply
        <
      • Read More
        kaileyv617Cestrumnocturn1
        6/28/14 7:46am

        Methotrexate is hardly ever used for in clinic abortions - it accounts for about 6%. As you stated, it is mostly used for the treatment of ectopic or tubal pregnancies, which, to my knowledge are generally not viable and are not generally considered elective abortions - as if they advance can impose serious life-threatening implications for a woman.

        In US - many physicians follow the NAF/ACOG protocols which only require 200mg of mifepristone instead of 600mg (approved by FDA). In my office (Texas based) we use 200mg Mifepristone and 800mcg cytotec as it is equally safe, as well as MORE effective (95-98%) to use in that dosing than the 600mg mifepristone dosing (92%-95%). Mifepristone alone, will induce abortion in less than 5% of women that take it, and dosing with misoprostol 24-48 hours later is generally needed to help the woman pass the pregnancy. Mifepristone as an antiproglastin, stops the production of the pregnancy hormone and interrupts the growth and development of the pregnancy, causing it to become detached from the lining of the uterus. Misoprostol/Cytotec is used to cause uterine contractions and cervical ripening so the body can pass the pregnancy. Misoprostol is NOT mifeprex or vice versa. It is the two medications taken together that have the greatest ability to induce an abortion safely.

        Reply
        <
    • Read More
      imaginaryfriendKelly Faircloth
      6/27/14 8:08pm

      When you vote GOP, this is what you're voting for.

      Reply
      <