Happy Friday!
Shall we?
I just read a tweet that said people without uteruses should speak out about abortion rights and, well…it reminded me that I’ve been meaning to correct some shit.
Pause…sip coffee (yum!)…continue.
I don’t have a uterus.
As many readers know, I had a hysterectomy in November and said “See ya!” to my uterus and around 5 pounds of fibroid tumors.
This was a welcome surgery…I feel fantabulous…but I didn’t surrender my Woman Card when they cut my uterus and all that tumor out of me last year.
I had a hysterectomy…I can not have children (that's cool, y'all...I didn't want to)…and I still need services provided by affordable health care providers like Planned Parenthood.
Gasp!
I still need yearly exams.
I still need cancer screenings.
I have endometriosis, so get this – I still need to take birth control pills or the endometriosis (yeah, that shit hangs around even after the uterus is gone) may threaten my remaining ovary!
I still need to protect against sexually transmitted diseases.
I still have a horse in this race.
Let’s cease defining this struggle as a “reproductive rights” struggle...as if the only reason women need these services is to remain capable of reproducing.
Yes, I’m guilty of that shit too...we can work on this together.
And let’s cease defining women as people with uteruses who are capable of reproduction.
Most of those so-called family planning services looks very different when you don’t have a uterus – they look like health care.
Women’s health care needs don’t begin with our first period and they do not end when we cease to have periods, regardless of whether that’s due to hysterectomy or menopause or something else.
This is a health care fight…a worthy fight for all…
...and by the way, this uterus-less bitch has been speaking out about our right to access to the full range of women’s health care services for years.
Have a great weekend!
9 comments:
Awesome post
Woman, I love your blog. Fantastic post!!
Great post. People need to realize all of the good things that PP does besides family planning.
Fuck, I love you so much right now.
Perfect.
I've usually heard the "people with/out uteruses" language used in contexts where folks are trying to be trans-inclusive and not erase transmen who may still need these services, but you make a really excellent point about the harms of reducing these services to reproduction and locating them solely in the uterus. Anyone got suggestions that neither leave out transmen nor reduce people using these services to uteruses?
Keep up the fight and the great blog.
Thanks for this! PP was my doctor back before I got health insurance. Yes, I got the pill there, but also annual screenings and treatment if I needed it. I hope they're there for a long, long time to come.
Thanks for this post, Pam. Did not know you had endo.. one of my best friends does.. so does her mother. Consequently, my friend is an only child.. and the chances of her having kids herself are drastically narrow. It's a pity, she's really foxy. LOL. I'm not foxy, so I believe devoutly that people who are, should pass their foxiness on to somebody else. Haha.
You are absolutely correct though, in all seriousness. The watchword to health is vigilance.. and that vigilance still has to be there, even with the apropos death of Enid.
Wow such a amazing blog.
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