We're going to repeal and replace Obamacare - Donald Trump
I still remember my first harsh introduction to menstrual cramps. It was in tenth grade, during my second period geometry class when I experienced my first few sharp pains. I figured I just needed to use the rest room. When that didn't work, I returned to class and figured I'd just get on with my day. That was easier said than done.
By my fourth period concert choir class I was in the full throws of menstrual cramps. Tears steamed down my face as I explained to my teacher that I'd try my best but I want’t feeling well, I still remember a classmate mocking my tears. I spend most of that class with my knees clenchd to my chest in agony. One bumpy bus ride later I finally made it home, exhausted. Fetal position was how I could be found for the rest of the day.
This continued every month at the onset of my period, before I even shed a drop of blood. After exhausting all of my resources at home (heating pads, over the counter meds, high dosage of doctor prescribed ibuprofen, etc.), my mother finally took me to the children's clinic where I still received medical care. I remember my mom's face when the doctor mentioned birth control. She really wanted to avoid it, so instead the doctor sent me home with pain meds but not without making it clear that if they didn't work, birth control was most likely inevitable. When things had not improved by the summer, my mother begrudgingly took me back to the doctor.
Two days after my 16th birthday day, I took my first birth control pill. It was an extremely hard first day(there was vomiting) but I knew that the outcome would outweigh the adjustment period.
Two years and three prescriptions later, I'd found the perfect pill for me and I was coasting through my periods. I remember thinking, “what would I do without this birth control?” Two years later I was in jeopardy of finding out.
My first job out of college, I was making $10/hr and needless to say, I was strapped for cash. At the same time, I had been dropped from my father's insurance and had gotten a plan of my own. After previously getting my birth control at little to no cost, I suddenly found my self looking at one month's supply costing me $50. It may seem like a small amount but it was huge for me. I knew I couldn't afford to pay those costs in the long run.
Fortunately, I had a coworker who had been to Planned Parenthood and enjoyed her experience. She suggested I go there. It was a life saver! The doctor provided me with great care, she was extremely thorough and the best part was I could a the month supply of birth control at a fraction of the cost. To this day, I don't know what I would have done without them but that's a different post for a different day.
Soon I had a new job in a new city. I was making almost double but still found it to be a stretch living on my own and paying for my own private insurance. By that point, I had lost the extra benefit of a group insurance plan and found myself, yet again paying more for birth control. Then, the ACA kicked in.
The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was passed in 2010 and it allowed children under 26 to stay on their parent's insurance as well as mandating that oral contraceptives and women's preventative healthcare services be rendered for free. What did this mean for me? I was able to go back on my father's insurance, my annual pap smears (that I'd started at 17 due to my birth control use) would be free with insurance and most important if all my birth control was free! It was a Godsend for a young woman, fresh out of college trying to figure out adulting on my own!
This is my personal story. Some may relate a little, others not at all. It may not mean much, but it means the world to me. I have forgotten a lot over time. People, places, things but never the way that menstrual cramps feel. Never how much I suffered those months as a teenager. I'm even reminded now at the onset of my period when sometimes STILL experience mild to moderate cramping. The important thing is that I have the access to the medication I need at a price that is affordable to me.
Last night, judge Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme court, giving the Republicans the majority they wanted so desperately that they fast tracked the process and completed it just 8 days shy of election day. Now the ACA, among other rights, is in danger of being repelled and although I'm no longer a young girl needing the certain cushions of that bill, I still fear what it means for myself and many other women. Young and old. I fear how women's reproductive rights will continue to be politicized. I fear how some laws can be written to include “period irregularities” as pre-existing conditions. I fear a world where young women and girls will continue to be faced with challenges when dealing with naturally occurring changes to their bodies. Especially in a world where black women are already at least 2x more likely to die in child birth and black babies are 3x more likely to die when not cared for by black doctors.
Men should not be making laws about women's bodies. The Supreme Court should not be considering taking health care from millions of people, especially in the midst of a pandemic. We should be fighting to make clear that we do not support the conservative majority in doing so.
I don't really know where we go from here but I know that the work we do in the days, weeks, months and years to come will be important. Please don't stop fighting.
Vote 2020. Then keep voting. Local. State. National. Then call, text, email your representatives and remind them of the constituents they are elected to serve!
But don't give up.
Period.
