“yeah can I get drinks?”

“absolutely, do you want honey bun or just drinks?”

“uuuuuh hold on”

*fishes something out of my pocket*

“mikey what do i do?”

“get the honey bun. youll need the energy in the coming days”

*stuffs it back in my pocket*

Several things have happened at once:

Last year I thought I got out from under years worth of emotional, physical, and (most prevalent here) financial abuse. My father took out several dozen credit cards and loans in my name and did not pay any of them back, and as they are "my" loans, my wages are, as of this year, being garnished to pay off the debt (upwards of $40,000 US). Given that I'm liable to wind up unhoused if the garnishment continues for more than a few months (and it is expected to continue for at least five years), I am attempting to file for chapter 7 bankruptcy. Due to the garnishment, I am unable to pay the lawyer in question handling the filing.

Car shat the bed. Even if I only fix the bare minimum, repairs wound up $700 more than I expected. Due to the aforementioned garnishment I am going to be in the red, and will only have less money to fix it with from here on out.

I can't even charge any of this as debt before filing because due to my ongoing bankruptcy case that would constitute fraud. I pay up front or nothing until this mess is over with. The car needs to be fixed before the filing goes through as well, because the minute it does my bank account will be emptied and anything I have that's considered an asset will be liquidated to pay off creditors, including the money that would have been used to cover repairs. Ironically, I will be permitted to keep my car.

I have $1900, and currently need $2638. If I can just get my feet under me to where I'm not pissing away any savings I get into a debt hole created by my father, I have a steady enough job that I'll be able to take care of myself, but I'm in a very dangerous position right now with a lot of things that are time-sensitive, and resources I otherwise would have been able to turn to are about to be gone.

For example, emotionally, I genuinely think less of someone who buys into stupid conspiracies about organ donation. I think that morally, if you are unwilling (unwilling, not medically unable) to donate organs, you should not be an organ candidate. I don’t think you should be able to say ‘If I’m dead I want all of my organs to rot, even if they could save lives. But I also want to benefit from other people’s sacrifice.’ Fuck you.

But I do not believe it would be ethical (or practical) to legislate that. I think it would be a horrible ethical violation and medical coercion. I recognize that, even as I’m disgusted by people who would let someone die when saving lives would cost them nothing.

But what I want to highlight is the political bloc who were most effective against the law, and led to its defeat: community healthcare workers who were on the frontlines, whose careers very often were at that intersection of drug abuse and child suffering. 

Their argument wasn’t primarily about the parental rights of the mothers, or about the criminalization of substance use disorders. Instead, it was about what public health policies work in the real world, and what policies cause more harm. They argued these women would be afraid to access resources for harm reduction during pregnancy. This would result in heavier drug usage during pregnancy than if they were able to access harm reduction strategies and resources. There would also be an increase in abandoned infants, babies who are very sick and need immediate medical help. Fear of punishment wouldn’t help anyone.