I just found out yesterday that Vermont guarantees the right to contraceptives & sterilization in their constitution. I feel so dumb that I got excited about NH HB606 when we could have just gone to Vermont. (HB 606 will still help women who can’t go out of state for whatever reason but how was I so uninformed??)

Also the link claims to contain a list of providers that will do sterilization procedures on people who are 21 years old regardless of their family status, so they presumably would help trans people who want to be sterilized who don’t have a medical condition like 606 requires.

VT constitution guarantees "That an individual's right to personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine one's own life course and shall not be denied or infringed unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means."

18 V.S.A. § 9493: (a) The State of Vermont recognizes the fundamental right of every individual to choose or refuse contraception or sterilization.

https://www.pagingdrfran.com/resources

**I have seen Courtney Jones, Concord NH & while she was obsessed with giving me a hysterectomy (yay!) she was not at all helpful with perimenopause & she told me to my face that my vomit level migraines were not due to my menstrual cycle at all until neurology did then she pretended she had been saying that all along, so don’t see her-she’s a gaslighter.**

#TransHealthcare #childfree #VT #hysterectomy #TubalLigation #BirthControl #vermont #WomensHealthcare #vasectomy #DrFran
#ReproductiveRights

‘It’s the #sanest #choice’: #Young #Americans are now turning to #sterilisation.

#Trump has #flipflopped on his #stance towards a #nationwide #abortion #ban – but some Americans are preparing for the worst and taking #control of their #bodies by considering #vasectomies or #tuballigation

#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Conservatives #Extremism #Fascism #Religion #Hategroups #RepublicanParty #Hate #Bigotry #Discrimination #Misogyny #Transphobia #ThePartyOfHate

https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/65052/1/young-people-in-the-us-permanent-contraception-vasectomy-tubal-ligation

Misogyny in medicine is focusing more on what a man might WANT than what a woman NEEDS.

I NEEDED a hysterectomy and was told I wouldn’t survive pregnancy.

“Informed consent” for surgery looked like this:

“Don’t you want to be a Mom?”
“You may want BIOLOGICAL children”

“What if you meet a man who wants babies?”

“What if he leaves you because you can’t bear his children?”

“Men went their OWN babies - what if you can’t do that?”

“You will feel like less of a woman.”

Brought boyfriend in to try and change their minds. Them to him:

“Will you still love her if she’s BARREN?”

“Do you want kids?”

“What if you change your mind & want kids - will you LEAVE her?”

Him: “Save her life what I want doesn’t matter” (he understood the assignment)

The assumption through the entire process - as I got sicker and sicker - was that I should WANT to risk my life for the CHANCE to bear a child.

That if I didn’t WANT that - I would change my mind when I met the “right man”

Apparently the “man of my dreams” will be so spectacular and the love so all consuming that I will be all too happy to put my life on the line to give HIM babies.

Needless to say I found that incredibly offensive. I was dying. I was incredibly sick. I needed surgery.

This is NOT “informed consent”. This is misogynistic and patriarchal bullying.

Informed consent would have been ensuring I knew it wasn’t reversible and would mean I could never have children. Letting me know risks of complications. Risk of prolapse. Risk of early menopause

None of that was covered. It was ALL about men and babies.

I actually did have a severe post operative complication that I was woefully unprepared for because “informed consent” failed me.

We must do better. Women need autonomy over their body. Inform us. Work with us.

Don’t put the needs of a man before of our own. Don’t treat us like incubators.

We are MORE than our ability to bear children. I lost my womb at 24 and I’ve never felt like less of a woman, less of a person. I’ve never regretted it.

Medicine needs to do better

One of the worst parts was that when I ended up having a complication - I was gaslit & ignored again. Told I didn’t know my body AGAIN. I needed my boyfriend to get them to even run tests.

Now - decades later - I’m still dealing with issues from the surgery and complication.
I can never know how different things might have been had they acted faster - but I DO know I was never able to fully trust the medical profession again.

My article on this is below - and I’m working on a future one about informed consent (or lack thereof)

🧵 1/2

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/my-most-dangerous-er-experience-and


#reproductiverights #reproductivehealth #prochoice #womensrights #womenshealth #misogyny #patriarchy #obgyn #hysterectomy #tuballigation #endo #endometriosis #chronicillness #mybodymychoice
#fuckthepatriarchy #ableism #discrimination

I’ve devastated but not surprised by the volume of replies from women who had to fight to get a medically necessary hysterectomy or tubal ligation.

I’ve written about my own personal experiences - but now looking to write a broader article on informed consent and bodily autonomy.

One thing that seems obvious to me is that men face considerably less pushback when they request a vasectomy - whereas the sometimes insurmountable pushback women have to deal with.

I’ve spoken to women who had uterine or ovarian cancer and were encouraged to keep the organs “in case they wanted children”. Even after they said they didn’t.

I’ve yet to hear of ANY man with testicular cancer being told he must keep the testicle so he doesn’t become “less of a man.” The cure rates are higher if you remove it - so that’s what they do.

This highlights two painful realities

1) 1) Men are trusted to know their bodies - we aren’t.

2) Men are “allowed” to choose to be child free. We are incubators.

Did you need to fight for a tubal or hysterectomy? Were you successful in getting the surgery?

Poll 1 of 2

#reproductiverights #reproductivehealth #prochoice #womensrights #womenshealth #misogyny #patriarchy #obgyn #hysterectomy #tuballigation #endo #endometriosis #chronicillness #mybodymychoice

How ob-gyns are handling more requests for sterilization after ‘Roe’ was overturned

#abortion #tuballigation #vasectomy #womensrights

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5025682