President Trump, keep your filthy, sell out, misogynist hands off my birth control! Hello friends, I’m here today with quite a bit of fury. The Trump administration has decided that effective immediately they are rolling back the Obama-era ACA amendment that required employers to offer birth control as part of their insurance policies. This was done in the name of “pressures” from religious groups, aka he got a big fat paycheck for selling out our access to affordable birth control. It was estimated by the Obama administration that the amount of people paying for birth control fell from 20% to 4% in only two years, after the decision to add this policy in 2014. This rollback is an attack on persons with uteri, trans* women, and especially people with chronic conditions and I will NOT tolerate it.
As a person with a uterus I’m about to get personal for a moment. I have a history of anemia, caused by being prone to iron deficiency. I started birth control about five years ago due to my extremely severe and irregular menstrual cycle. It is genetic and the only thing that helps is birth control. I used to suffer once every month-ish (remember I said irregular) with cramps so bad I would vomit and couldn’t walk, leaving me to crawl to the bathroom humiliated. I would be left so weak from my heavy bleeding and iron deficiency that I would regularly pass out and have had several occasions where I simply woke up on the floor. However, more often than not it was a break from the pain and I welcomed it. I am not going back to that hell, my body can’t handle it and my mental health can’t bear it.
I come to this conversation extremely privileged because I have access to free birth control at all, it is provided to me by the insurance my family uses through my dad’s work. If his employer decided to strip that right away from me I would be screwed by adding another financial burden to myself and probably my parents as well. My sister who fears this administration preemptively got an IUD and after this rollback I’m starting the conversation to make an appointment to get one as well.
The prospect of an IUD that is affordable and lasts longer than this administration will, is the only idea and comfort I can think to provide to those of you reading this that have a uterus and are scared. To trans* women and nonbinary individuals that rely on birth control for hormones, I am so sorry. I am so sorry this administration does not think of you, I am so sorry that I do not have answers for you. If anyone has any answers or ideas please comment them below.
This is the time to make noise, this is a matter of life and death for some people. Those with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) require hormones to regulate their cycles (on top of many other very difficult symptoms) and DRASTICALLY reduce their risk of developing endometrial cancer. This is an attack on reproductive health and I encourage you to contact your representatives to demand protections from this fascist administration.
Until next time, this is BiFuriousBlogger signing off, stay furious.
Image credit: Me, taken on my phone yesterday.
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