commie dyke

Sometimes a pregnancy half fails. The membranes rupture before viability and an infection sets up shop in the uterus. Medically, the pregnancy has to end; whether the fetus is still alive or not does not matter. If an infected uterus is left unevacuated, the bacteria will eventually spread to the blood stream and it will be fatal. This is fact.

At times the body offers a consolation and goes into labor. It doesn’t seem like it at the time but it is more than a small mercy. When the uterus does not start contracting the patient has to choose: drugs to induce labor or a surgical procedure called dilation and evacuation (D&E). It is like starring in a horror movie where you choose the weapon.

Labor is labor. It hurts and can take days. A premature uterus, especially an infected one, often does not cooperate. Days of both grieving and waiting to grieve break even the strongest. No one has assigned fault, in fact everyone has said the opposite, but the pathways of sadness and self-doubt and blame cut deeper and deeper with each taunting contraction. A brain fuddled by lack of sleep, medication side effects, days without fresh air, and the stench of sweat from the bed sheets cannot possibly reframe this experience. When women tell me they “can’t even get this right” I want to cry.

At the end of the labor there is a baby. Often bruised and macerated. Many find that visual very hard as technically those injuries were caused by their own body. As a doctor you can try to explain it away as predicted medical consequences, which they are, but your words are repelled by a force field of despair. Sometimes the baby survives the infection and the traumatic labor and delivery and then the patient has to decide if she is able to hold her baby until death comes or if she is not. These things shatter people.

The other medical option is a D&E, a surgical procedure to remove the pregnancy through the cervix. It requires more skill, medically speaking, than the labor. You only come by this skill if you have done a lot of second trimester abortions because that is exactly what it is, but harder because an infected uterus has the consistency of soft butter. Your instruments are like a hot knife. You are using a hot knife to remove sharp fragments from a bed of soft butter. Do it incorrectly and you damage the uterus, puncture the bowel, or cause catastrophic blood loss. The fact that your patient is already ill with infection makes every potential sequelae worse.

For example in 2017 there was a big court case in The Netherlands concerning a fine for urinating in public. The woman in question went to court to fight the fine, claiming that is was unfair that there are more public toilets for men than for women, which is true btw. There were 35 public toilets for men and only two for women in Amsterdam at the time and in some city's only one (1) 24/7 toilet is available for women (x) (x).

The woman lost this court case, because the judge, a man, thought that women can also use urinal or that they have to pee in advance(x). Also according to the judge women hardy urinate in public, so there would be no need for facilities. (x)

Let me tell you something shocking: girls can only study up to 6th grade. The future of female students in universities hasn't been decided yet. According to what I've heard they go from house to house and ask for girls and women (12 to 45 year olds) for marriage.

As they are just pieces of crap, I don't really believe that they'd let us have mobiles or use the internet. I really hope this isn't my last post in here! But if it is I want to let the world know of what they've done and what they're doing.

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– Poem written by an 11 year old Afghan girl 

This poem was recorded in a NYT magazine article about female underground poetry groups in Afghanistan. An amazing article about the ways in which women are using a traditional two line poetry form to express their resistance to male oppression, their feelings about love (considered blasphemous), and their doubts about religion. 

One of the best articles I’ve read all year. Here’s the link