(Mentally ill) Women Are Getting Sterilized After Donald Trump's Victory: 'Only Option' - Newsweek 1/2

It's not a procedure you'd expect a 28-year-old to be planning. But for Lydia Echols from Texas, having her fallopian tubes removed is the price she's willing to pay to ensure her reproductive rights.

Newsweek spoke to five women who have either undergone sterilization procedures or plan to in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump's victory on November 5. They all expressed fear their reproductive choices will be taken from them under Trump's administration.

"If I am to be denied any rights in the next four (or more) years, I will not give them up without a fight," Echols said.

Last week, a 39-year-old from Washington state, who did not want to be named, underwent a bilateral salpingectomy, in which her fallopian tubes were removed.

"I am not happy that I felt forced into a surgery I did not want to alter my body, I feel like the election tied my hands and forced me to be sterilized—that is horrible," she told Newsweek.

The issue of abortion and reproductive rights was a major one in this year's election. Trump, who took credit for the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, removing the constitutional right to an abortion in the country, has repeatedly said that his position is to let the states decide their own abortion laws.

He has also said he would veto a national abortion ban, writing on Truth Social in October: "I would not support a federal abortion ban, under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it, because it is up to the states to decide based on the will of their voters (the will of the people!)"

But this has not quelled the fears of multiple women who, on top of being worried about access to abortion,are also concerned about whether the availability of birth control will be impacted.

'I Would Have Canceled the Surgery if Kamala Harris Won'

The woman from Washington has not told those close to her that she has been sterilized. Since she was a child, she has known she does not want children.

She and her husband, who had a vasectomy in 2021, both felt that they had experienced too much trauma as children themselves to be the parents they wanted to be. She has also struggled with multiple health issues, including polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which made pregnancy risky for her.

But "neither of us wanted to subject me to an unnecessary surgery or jeopardize my health."

"I paid way too much attention to the vitriol Trump repeatedly spit during his previous term," she added, "and am keenly aware of the people he keeps around him and in his ear, who all seem to see women as incubators and possessions to subjugate."

The woman scheduled a sterilization appointment in October, "fully planning to cancel the surgery the day after the election, assuming Kamala won."

"With Trump's victory, we quickly learned that my choice to cancel the surgery had been taken from me," she said. "We both believed that I had no choice but to proceed to ensure that I can protect my health should I be assaulted during a Trump presidency, should my husband's vasectomy fail and/or should my hormonal birth control become inaccessible."

She added: "This isn't a wanted procedure, but one of necessity due to the politics and subjugation coming our way."

https://www.newsweek.com/women-sterilized-donald-trump-abortion-1993261

>>22082199

2/2

'This is the Time to Prepare and Be Prudent'

Echols said she had "been wanting to be child-free for a very long time" and is planning to get a bilateral salpingectomy with an endometrial ablation—when the lining of the uterus is destroyed. Her doctor approved the procedures earlier this month.

"The next four years will go in the way of the Christian nationalists if what I have seen and heard and experienced is to be believed," she said. "Anyone who has…taken a look at the social tirade Donald Trump encouraged and employed during his years in the office knows that this is the time to prepare and be prudent for what could yet come."

"I'd rather be safe than sorry," she added.

The former teacher also said she wished she could "give [her] fertility to someone who desperately wanted to have children."

"I am sad that I cannot take away the pain of infertility of another person who desires to have children," she said.

'This Feels Like the Only Option'

Morgan Wood, 24, who lives in Georgia, and has also never wanted children, had considered sterilization for the serious gynecologic issues she has struggled with since middle school.

Her experience with medical professionals for these issues left her with "a pretty deep distrust of doctors" and "weary about the prospect of health care throughout a pregnancy."

"I felt pretty certain that my body could not handle a pregnancy, even if I did have some huge change of mind and want kids, and after these experiences," Wood said.

Up until Trump's victory, Wood had thought she would deal with the question of whether to get sterilized when she was older. She thought she would start asking doctors about sterilization when she turns 27, when it will be time to get her intrauterine device (IUD) removed.

But, after November 5, she said it became a "now" issue and has set up a consultation for December 5.

"I have no idea what Trump will and won't follow through on," Wood said, "I was already upset when Roe v Wadewas overturned. Living in the South, our prospects for protections and resources aren't great if they aren't otherwise ensured."

She said: "But talks of complicating the birth control and abortion access processes even further made this feel like the only option. I need everything handled, and ideally before power begins shifting."

'I Refuse to Be Denied Medical Care'

Ashley Hedden, 36, who is asexual (she does not experience sexual attraction) is worried about sexual assault and medical care for pregnant women.

"The only way I would get pregnant is if I were raped, and I refuse to be forced to carry the result of a man's violence against my will," she said.(long article of women that never wanted children anyway)

Another way some women responded to Trump's victory was to boycott Thanksgiving with family members who voted Republican.

https://www.newsweek.com/women-sterilized-donald-trump-abortion-1993261

>>22082205

Bravo to all the left wingers that don't want children and will mutilate their body, and deal with bad side effects for a very long time, choosing operations.

You are all doing America a favor! Congrats