Women's Rights Advocates: Get Your IUDs Now, Before Trump

Amid fears of stripped reproductive rights, ObamaCare repeal, women look for long-term birth control
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 10, 2016 9:21 AM CST
Women's Rights Advocates: Get Your IUDs Now, Before Trump
Hurry up before January, ladies.   (Andy Tullis/The Bulletin via AP)

Donald Trump's statements on abortion caused no small outcry, and now some women worried about what reproductive health rights look like under a Trump administration are looking toward long-term contraception. The Washington Post reports there's been a recent uptick in various media—including Jezebel and Elle—and on Facebook and Twitter covering the option of long-term intrauterine devices, or IUDs, as well as implanted contraception rods, so "women can keep their uteruses as vacant as Antonin Scalia's Supreme Court seat," writes Erin Gloria Ryan at the Daily Beast. "I recommend the IUD right now especially because it's long term, which with 20 million-plus Americans potentially losing their health insurance and potentially right to an abortion, is important," writer Sophia Benoit tells the Intercept.

IUDs (which can last for up to a decade) and hormonal implants have a high success rate in preventing pregnancy, per the CDC. While Trump hasn't actually turned his sights on banning birth control, he has curried favor with pro-life groups by promising to defund Planned Parenthood, which offers birth control. He's also threatened to repeal ObamaCare, which currently requires certain contraception to be covered by most health insurance plans. Advocates' hopes aren't high on the contraceptive front from Vice President-elect Mike Pence, either, who Ryan notes "during his tenure as governor of Indiana" has made "birth control a lot more difficult for women to access." "In a world where reproductive rights already seem too fragile, this is a huge blow," writer Rosa Schwartzburg tells the Intercept. (This mom's IUD failed, and she chose abortion.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X