Sometimes I Gotta Complain

Use Crisis Pregnanacy Centers as the clinic location the service was preformed at!

For example, here are a list of crisis pregnancy centers in the Austin area that do not provide abortions, but do harass women out of getting medical care!

Pregnancy Help Center of Williamson County

Agape Pregnancy Resource Center

Pflugerville Pregnancy Resource Center

Austin Pregnancy Resource Center

Heart of Texas Pregnancy Resource Center

TruCare Pregnancy Center

Austin LifeCare/TheSource

And here’s the link to the reporting website: https://prolifewhistleblower.com

Call to action for all U.S. radical feminists

From Elizabeth Hungerford's Facebook:

This is an unprecedented opportunity to share women’s concerns about gender identity overriding sex in the educational context. The Department of Education is literally requesting your input. They have never before requested public comment regarding gender identity!! Tell ‘em #sexmatters too!!

All feminist groups should be making a massive call to action. 🚨🗣🗣🗣

Written comments are due via email by JUNE 11, 2021 at 5pmET.

I strongly encourage you to share this information and start talking with your friends about how YOU will respond. I’m looking for model comments and will share if I can find some. Or I’ll make some. Stand by...but start TALKING!!

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Background: OCR is conducting this hearing pursuant to Executive Order 14021, Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free from Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, Including Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity, published in the Federal Register on March 11, 2021 (86 FR 13803), which directs the Secretary of Education to review the rule entitled “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance,” published in the Federal Register on May 19, 2020 (85 FR 30026), and other agency actions that are or may be inconsistent with governing law, including Title IX, and the Executive order. This hearing is also a step toward fulfilling the directives of Executive Order 13988, Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation, published in the Federal Register on January 25, 2021 (86 FR 7023).

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To Submit Written Comments: OCR welcomes written comments on the topics for this public hearing. You may send your comments by email to [email protected]. Please do not send comments or other material to other email addresses for OCR or the Department as those materials will not be considered part of the record for this hearing.

Written comments must be received at [email protected] by 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on June 11, 2021, and include the subject line “Written Comment: Title IX Public Hearing (topic of the comment).” The email may include the name(s), occupation, city and State, organization/affiliation (if any), and email address of the person(s) submitting the written comment, along with the comment. Those wishing to maintain their privacy can submit a comment without including personally identifiable information.

https://linktr.ee/Allqueer

As a white person, there's nothing for me to add on to the video itself, but if you ever considered yourself an ally to POC and specifically movements like Black Lives Matter, share this information with your followers.

"Global struggles are everyone's struggles." - no matter the cause, no matter the country.

https://iradvocates.carrd.co

The female reproductive system is actually extremely hostile towards embryos

Our species have hemichorial placentas, designed to weed out all but the fittest embryos. We develop thick endometrial linings from a ridiculously young age in order to aggressively protect ourselves from what is essentially a ruthless parasite that is literally sucking our blood; every time we have a period our body is shedding blood and tissue so that it can efficiently eject embryos deemed unworthy, which is most of them

On top of that, there is only a 12 hour window each menstrual cycle during which we can conceive - over the course of a year, there is less than a week of time in which we are in danger of conceiving. Which is why it is perfectly normal for a healthy couple to go 12 months or more without getting pregnant. 

Scientists believe to “fully grow” a human, it would actually take 18-21 months, to equate the development of other primates’ babies.

 http://www.livescience.com/22715-pregnancy-length-baby-size.html

People make it out to be that pregnancy is beneficial to both parties but in reality it’s literally a fight for resources. The fetus wants the nutritious blood and will literally inflict damage onto the carrier if it’s not getting enough nutrition (which is why its important for pregnant people to get plenty of nutrients like calcium because the fetus will literally leech calcium from your bones and cause osteoporosis if its not provided with enough) and practically tries hoarding resources for development, while the carrier will try to distribute things evenly.

“The person carrying it”

“The carrier”

“Pregnant people”

…You can say woman. You can say female. You can say the mother. Why is this unnecessary neutral language used even in clinical, scientific, medical discussion about women’s anatomy and reproduction? There’s no debate or mystery about whose bodies are creating fetuses and carrying them. “People” don’t have babies - females do. Women do.

“carrier”/“carrying”

That treatment is not unusual for women either. Not quite so overt, but one that dogs the lived experiences of women. Being a mother, true, is not universal but the concept of motherhood haunts women’s lives. Assumptions that you will have children, that you will want children, that you could be having children any minute now. Pressures to have them. Assumptions that a woman between oh let’s say 25-mid 40s in the US could potentially be pregnant or maybe wants to be pregnant. and maybe should be treated as such when it comes to medical treatment. Or at least that she wants to be thinking about her fertility. That’s outside of medicine too. If I have to hear or see another add for that “why not check your fertility even if you’re not trying to get pregnant, so you can plan for the future” company, that will be too soon. The little bits of culture popping around the idea that women’s attractiveness and value as a partner are correlated with her fertility, waning as she gets older. Reminders in your 30s that you are supposed to be figuring out if you want kids right now, everywhere.

A lot of people in the US are super worried about the Supreme Court axing Roe v. Wade, but what they might not know is that some states have laws in place that will protect the right to reproductive choice and abortion if that happens. One of these states is the state of Illinois. In 2019, a law was passed that protects abortion rights within the state even if the federal right to an abortion falls. This means that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, abortion will still be a protected right in Illinois. Even before Roe, Chicago was a haven for safe abortions- you just called and asked for Jane.

Now, safe abortion access is the law of the land in IL, and there are several groups who can help you. This post is long, but I think it’s worthwhile. Even if you don’t read all the way through it, maybe save it for later. You or someone you know might need it. If you want to stop now, the TL;DR is this:

f you’re a minor and you can’t tell your parents, get a waiver of notification from the IL Judicial Bypass program.

Schedule your appointment.

Contact abortion funds to get financial aid. Your home state might have s fund, and the Chicago Abortion Fund can help.

Secure housing for the procedure through the Midwest Access Coalition or by talking to the intake staff at the clinic of your choice.

I’d like to start by saying that the closer to home you get your abortion, should you need one, the easier it will be for you… probably. It depends on your individual situation AND your safety. If I still lived in Indiana and I needed an abortion, I’d probably leave to get it done, even though there are abortion providers in Indiana, because Indiana is super hostile and there’s lots of clinic protestors- for example, when I was taking my GRE my senior year at Notre Dame, the testing center was in this little strip mall in Mishawaka next to Planned Parenthood. Despite the fact that the PP in Mishawaka does not provide abortions, there were protestors who yelled at me for going in there. I wasn’t even going to PP. I’d like to say that I said something devastatingly cool but I just ran in flustered. Point being: It really, really would have sucked if I was there for healthcare instead of a standardized test for graduate school. And that’s a very tame, mild situation! Real abortion clinic protests are often much more devastating! 

ANYWAYS. The less you have to travel, the easier things tend to be, if it’s safe to get an abortion where you are and if your state will have protected abortions if Roe is overturned. If you’re not sure what might happen in your state in that case, this map has a clear, succinct overview of the legal status of abortion in each state and all US territories. You will want to click through to that link, because this image isn’t interactive.

[ID: a map of the US with states and territories sorted by their legal protections for abortion into four categories: expanded access in the case of Roe v. Wade being overturned, protected, not protected, and hostile. IL is highlighted.]

So let’s say you live in any of those red states. (Yellow and blue are safe- abortion access is protected there.) Let’s say, worst case scenario, Roe gets overturned and you get pregnant and you want to terminate. You will be able to do that in IL, and it’s relatively easy to do that in Chicago for a relatively low cost and with the benefit of a robust support network of people who want to reaffirm your reproductive choices.

First, if you’re a minor and you don’t want to tell your parents because it’s not safe for you to do so, get a judicial waiver of parental notification. The IL ACLU has a judicial bypass hotline. This will come at no cost to you. Do this ASAP, because it takes time to get it set up! You can do this by calling the hotline at 877-442-9727, texting 312-560-6607, or emailing [email protected].

Next, you need to get an appointment set up. You could get a referral from someone local to you, but this can be tricky- 87% of counties in the US don’t have an abortion provider, and google can lead you to a crisis pregnancy center. They will not help you. If you have a local Planned Parenthood, call them. Even if they don’t provide abortions, they can refer you to someone who can. If you’re coming to Chicago, which this post… kind of assumes you are… you can call any of these groups to talk about your options and what clinics can help you. I recommend starting with FPA or PP; those are two actual clinics. MAC and CAF are funds- they can direct you but they can’t schedule an appointment for you.

Family Planning Associates (FPA): 312-707-8988 or use their online schedule tool, found here: https://www.fpachicago.com/schedule-now/ Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF): Phone: 312-663-0338 (note: the helpline is only staffed MWF from 3:30-6:30 PM CST, or email [email protected] Midwest Access Coalition (MAC): 847-750-6224 or email [email protected] Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PP): 1-800-230-7526

You might want to shop around and see which clinic costs the least, and is the most practical for you to get to. FPA has a lot of patient resources, as does PP. Don’t be afraid to ask for financial assistance. The people staffing those organizations have extensive networks and deep compassion for their patients- if the clinic can’t help, they might know who can.

Once you’ve made an appointment, now’s the time to start gathering financial aid. Some insurance, including IL Medicaid, covers it. If yours does not, or if the copay is still too much, this is where abortion funds come into play. Many states have their own abortion funds for state residents, so you might have to look around to see who can help you. I’d start with the National Network of Abortion Funds.

You also need to figure out transportation and housing while you’re in the city to get your abortion. This isn’t super necessary if you’re just coming for the pill abortion, but if you’re coming for a d and c or other surgical procedure, you will be staying for a couple of days. THIS is why I’m writing this up, because abortion funds typically only are able to help cover the financial cost of the procedure. It’s expensive to stay somewhere and it can be absolutely terrifying if you’re on your own! Navigating while you’re in pain from the procedure can be an absolute devil of a time, too! However, Chicago has MAC (contact info above), which is a practical access fund, which means that they help pay for transportation to the city (bus tickets and train tickets) and around the city (volunteer drivers or volunteers who take rideshares with clients), food, aftercare medicine (painkillers, etc.), and housing, and there’s also free access to emotional support staff throughout your stay. This is not just open to IL residents; it’s open to anyone coming to the city for an abortion. ALSO if you go through FPA, they have a partnership with the Hampton Inn a block away from their location where their patients get a discount. If you go that route, just talk to FPA about housing and they’ll hook you up. This can be super helpful if you need some evidence that you’re on a “business trip” or something like that- if you are in a position where you need an excuse for your safety, that might work well.