Yahoo News Women Explain How Abortion Laws Are Affecting Their Lives, And I Can't Believe This Is A "First World" Country
This election season, women’s rights are on the ballot. Knowing that many of us are nervous or terrified about the possible outcomes, I decided to ask women across the BuzzFeed Community to share the ways their respective state abortion laws are affecting their lives, or those around them.
Here’s what they had to say:
1."I am very lucky to live in a state where termination is legal until viability (24 weeks)."
"After nearly losing my life to a ruptured ectopic pregnancy in 2023, I pursued IVF and got pregnant in early 2024. We did ALL the prenatal testing: carrier screening, PGT-A, Nuchal transparency screening, NIPT, and AFP screening, and all were normal. We were shocked and heartbroken to learn at our 20-week anatomy scan that our son had multiple abnormalities incompatible with life (absent kidneys, no amniotic fluid, AVSD heart defect, lobular lung, absent pancreas, undersized thymus, undersized pituitary, microphthalmia, cleft palate). We had had 14 ultrasounds due to another complication that didn't detect any issues.
It was clear that ending the pregnancy was the right call for us—after a previous fibroid surgery—I would need an invasive C-section if the pregnancy continued to term, and lack of amniotic fluid meant our baby would only get sicker in my womb. I was able to create a care plan with our doctors that was the best for our family and I was induced at 21 weeks. I was so grateful to spend a few hours with our son before he passed. My induction gave me the only opportunity to meet my beloved baby. We miss him everyday, but are grateful that politics didn't make an awful situation even worse.”
—Megan
2."I live in Texas, where you could sue a doctor and clinic over an abortion before they overturned anything."
"Since then, my husband has gotten a vasectomy, and I’ve talked seriously about getting my tubes tied too, just to be safe. The maternal mortality rate has gone up significantly since Roe, and I won’t risk my own life if my doctor is not willing to save me when something goes wrong because of these draconian laws. I’ll be child-free, alive, and not drowning in medical debt and childcare costs, thanks. They all wonder why the birth rate has gone down…”
3."I am not an American. It affects me in that I feel pity for your country."
4."Part of the reason why I'm abstinent is because I don't want to deal with a pregnancy before I'm ready."
"Right before I was set to get an IUD in 2020 (as a prophylactic), my state came out with a heartbeat bill that strictly limits women's ability to get an abortion if she needed/wanted. I have always saved a little room for if I change my mind about premarital sex, but I don't see that happening now. It's way too risky, and I'll spend my last dime going wherever I need to go to do whatever I need to do. It's on our ballot to keep abortion accessible, and you bet your ass I voted yes on it.”
5."My husband and I saved up for over 15 years to afford fertility treatments with the intention to use IVF."
"The overturning of Roe v. Wade made us decide that we can’t go forward with getting pregnant because we can’t risk not being able to terminate if we needed to. We both have genetic conditions in our families that are fatal. We feel that we should be able to have a healthy child without the government telling us what to do.”
—Anonymous
6."After years of infertility, my husband and I turned to IVF."
"As we went through the process, we had to have very real and uncomfortable conversations with the doctors about the possibility of having to carry a non-viable baby to term because of North Carolina's abortion laws, which aren't even as strict as many others. We also felt the stress of possible laws that could limit our access to IVF completely, such as in Alabama.
Sadly, it's very possible these same laws will actually lead to us getting a child, as we've now moved to adoption. It breaks my heart that we may ultimately benefit from someone's inability to receive an abortion because of those strict laws. It's not fair to them.”
—Afan
7."My partner got a vasectomy because we didn’t want to risk getting pregnant and not being able to get an abortion if I so choose."
"We cannot afford a child, and we do not have a lifestyle that would give the child a good home.”
8."This is a gratitude comment for my state: Massachusetts."
"As we see these horrible outcomes across the country, from the restriction of reproductive healthcare to human rights, I am proud that Massachusetts elected officials, legislators, and citizens understand and advocate for a woman's right to choose. The Massachusetts Supreme Court has recognized the right to abortion under the state's constitution, and in 2021, Massachusetts passed comprehensive abortion rights legislation. It's awful that women are having to travel out of state to get the reproductive healthcare they need, but you have allies here in Massachusetts who are ready to help.”
—Anonymous
9."I had a miscarriage at 11 weeks pregnant."
"When I went to the doctor, they gave me the option of taking a pill, getting a D&C (abortion procedure), or letting the tissue pass naturally. I opted for the pill. It was the cheaper of the options ($20 versus 2K for a D&C) and I did not want to wait and have surgery. I was given Misoprostol to take at home.
At my follow up, the ultrasound showed the pill did not remove all the tissue, so I had to have the D&C. I later learned that a more effective medication combination of Misoprostol and Mifepristone has better outcomes. However, Mifepristone (the medication I did not get) is heavily regulated in my state, so I was only able to get Misoprostol. Because I did not have access to the more clinically indicated pill combination, I had to get a D&C, which cost me thousands of dollars and more time off work, in addition to the obvious emotional burden of it all. Additionally, I could have had serious medical complications in the week between my D&C and when I took the medication from the tissue left over in my cervix.”
—Anonymous
10.“My husband and I live in Alabama."
"While we were dating, we agreed that we did not want to have children. After everything went down last year, my husband quickly stepped up and scheduled a vasectomy. Alabama has seen a drastic rise in vasectomies statewide. If they are going to criminalize women’s decisions about our bodies, the only avenue left is men’s sterilization.”
—Jillian
11."I'm lucky to have lived in blue states for the majority of my life (I lived in AZ for a few years before it started to turn purple), and I am incredibly grateful for those states having protections in place for cases of abortion or any other kind of medical assistance."
"My niece was born prematurely (at around 27 weeks) after my sister-in-law got severe preeclampsia and had to have an emergency C-section. Everyone is fine now, and my niece is developing really well, but it was a scary 48 hours when all of it was happening. I can't even begin to think about how much my sister-in-law would have suffered if she was in a red state or had a medical team that refused to help her in her situation — both my sister-in-law and niece would have likely passed away had they not received the care they did. For that reason, and for many others that will protect the basic human rights that everyone should have, I'm voting for Kamala Harris!”
–Anonymous
12."I live in TX. My daughter has two kids already, and both were delivered by C-section."
"She is pregnant again, this time with twins. She has a full bicornuate uterus, which means it didn't open up when in the womb. Basically, there's a wall that goes through the middle that shouldn't be there. It’s a high-risk pregnancy, and I know if something goes wrong, doctors will let her suffer until she is at death's door. Something will almost certainly go wrong because there simply isn't enough room for two fetuses in her uterus.”
—Anonymous
13."I got pregnant in the summer of 2023 in Arkansas."
"Previously, I did not want children, but I was excited about this sudden yet happy news. Less than a month after finding out, I experienced spotting and slight cramping. I immediately rushed to an emergency room and said, 'I am having a miscarriage, please help.' I was dismissed to the waiting room, where I sat for the next three hours (maximum of four other patients), and it was not until after I had miscarried in the waiting room bathroom, alone and distraught, and informed them of such an occurrence, that they led me to a room. I fully believe they had to wait until I miscarried so they were not on record as a hospital where an abortion of any sort took place. I work in healthcare, yet I am now facing hospital bills from that experience, which has traumatized me to the point that I cannot face calling the debt collectors and discussing the worst moment of my life.”
—Anonymous
14."My sister is a strong woman, but she’s been through and seen some sh-t."
I’ve never seen her cry, not once. The breakdown she had the day Roe v. Wade was overturned was vile. Since my state’s abortion laws were put in place, I’ve never seen her more careful around others. She hasn’t gone out to a party at all, does not have a boyfriend or AMAB partner that I know of, and barely talks to boys anymore. She’s that afraid of being pregnant. She has a condition that has caused her not to be able to have any children of her own, not that she’s infertile, but because she and the baby could die if she did get pregnant. I’ve never felt more worried for her in my entire life, and I really hope that our state changes its laws so she doesn’t have to live in fear anymore. I miss my pre-abortion ban sister, the one who wasn’t so scared. I want her back.”
—Anonymous
15."I was pregnant in 2019, but didn't know it."
"I was on birth control, but still ended up getting pregnant somehow. I ended up having a miscarriage, and it was devastating. This was before Roe v. Wade was overturned, but I think about that a lot now, and if that had happened to me today, it would have had a much worse outcome. I'm in Arkansas, where they claim abortion is allowed if the health of the mother is in jeopardy, but also, doctors are too afraid to do any and could be prosecuted. Thankfully, my husband got a vasectomy right after the miscarriage. I feel worried for other women, and worried birth control will be taken away next.”
—Anonymous
16."I am married. I have a child — we went through a lot to get here."
"I’m older (over 35), and am terrified of getting pregnant again. My first pregnancy was not as bad as it could be, but PPD almost ended me. I’m on birth control and track my body, but I don’t know what I would do if I got pregnant accidentally. Georgia has a heartbeat bill.”
–Anonymous
17.And finally, "It caused us to have fewer children."
"We didn't want to be faced with a non-viable pregnancy that we couldn't end. So we took steps to make sure we wouldn't get pregnant ever again. It's sad because I think we really would have loved to try for one more. But we are older and had gone through high-risk pregnancies already, and didn't want to be in a position of having no choices.”
—Anonymous
How have the abortion laws in your state affected your life? Share your experiences in the comments below, or anonymously respond by filling out this Google form.
