When I heard the news of Roe being overturned, I felt I needed a plan. I am a woman still in her childbearing years. I have an amazing daughter but I know I do not want any more children.
I also live in Ohio – a red state. The very same day Roe was struck down Ohio’s Heartbeat Law went into effect, making getting an abortion in our state nearly impossible.
The first step in my plan is to get an IUD. I am currently on the pill and I’m not going to lie – I have occasionally forgotten to take it. I don’t want to take any chances.
The next step is to get a new passport. I let my passport expire a few years back and didn’t really have a need (or the money) to renew it. I don’t know what the states bordering Ohio are doing, but Canada is only an hour away from my home in Toledo. Seems like that would be a safe bet if I ever needed an abortion.
The trickiest part of this whole equation is my six-year-old daughter. What will this country and this state look like as she gets older?
My husband and I have actually talked about moving because it’s not just Roe – it’s everything. This is absolutely heartbreaking to me. My family has called Northwest Ohio home for 170 years.
Are you making post-Roe plans?
If I lived in ANY part of the USA, I’d be making plans to leave. I’m baffled constantly why anyone with any choice visits there, much less lives there. This goes treble for red states, but even relatively liberal areas like CA or NY look like Saudi Arabia or Iran compared to anywhere I’d consider actually living (e.g. New Zealand, France, relatively few others).
I’m in a sanctuary state, and am at the stage of my life where a pregnancy would be…quite a surprise. But I have children and this stupid decision from a bunch of Bronze-Age patriarchal b.s. would definitely affect them.
I look at the red states, aka “stupid states” in absolute horror.
Illinois was historically a destination for people seeking abortion before Roe vs. Wade. It’s still legal here and both politicians and healthcare providers are looking into increased access to provide for people in other states.
But there are other places as well. Here is a link to some resources that will help.
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/abortion/it-still-legal-me-get-abortion
If you’re driving through red states or rural areas to get to a healthcare provider, I would recommend staying to the interstate highways as much as possible. Be careful about the speed limits if you get off the interstate, especially if you have out of state plates. Don’t have to do anything unusual, just the normal travel precautions. This isn’t the kind of journey you want to have interruptions on. So just take a deep breath and drive.
IUDs are great. Get one before your state decides they are abortifacients. (There should be a law against politicians practicing medicine without license.) I switched from pills to a copper IUD when I had breast cancer at 35 and my only regret was not getting it sooner.
Also consider keeping some mifepristone around (and make sure to renew it before it expires).
I’m post-menopausal in a very blue county in a blue state. Locally they expect to have to deal with people coming from out of state, so I increased my donations to Planned Parenthood. Other AFAB people in my immediate family are trans-masculine, but some risk is still there. If it looks like a national ban is going to happen I’ll recommend they consider at least IUDs if not hysterectomies (which is in any case the first step in FTM lower surgery).
In 1999, I got a vasectomy. All men should do it. The world we are leaving to children is going to be such an appalling hell-scape that it may be immoral to have kids, anyway.