Some women have gotten elective surgical procedures to make themselves infertile as a response to President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory.
Newsweek spoke to several women who’ve opted to get their tubes tied or plan to undergo a sterilization procedure in the aftermath of the 2024 election.
"If I am to be denied any rights in the next four (or more) years, I will not give them up without a fight," Lydia Echols, a 28-year-old woman from Texas, told the outlet.
"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. "I am sad that I cannot take away the pain of infertility of another person who desires to have children.”
Last week, the outlet spoke to a 39-year-old woman from Washington state who asked not to be named in the article. Reportedly, she 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. She told the outlet that she’s known “since she was a child” that she does not want children.
"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.”
She made the appointment in October and was planning to cancel it in the event that Vice President Kamala Harris prevailed in the election.Reportedly, the 39-year-old’s husband had a vasectomy in 2021.
"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."
"This isn't a wanted procedure, but one of necessity due to the politics and subjugation coming our way,” she added.
Morgan Wood, a 24-year-old who lives in Georgia, told Newsweek that she set up a consultation for Dec. 5 to get sterilized.
"I have no idea what Trump will and won't follow through on," Wood said, "I was already upset when Roe v. Wade was overturned. Living in the South, our prospects for protections and resources aren't great if they aren't otherwise ensured."
Ashley Hedden, a 36-year-old from Kentucky, told the outlet that she would only get pregnant if she were raped, and “I refuse to be forced to carry the result of a man's violence against my will.” Hedden failed to acknowledge that many states with pro-life laws on the books have exceptions for rape.
"I have seen that this country will not protect people that can get pregnant, and have seen the reports of the deaths of pregnant women that were refused medical care. I refuse to be a person that ends up not being able to get medical care just because I own a uterus with some cells growing in it,” she said.
Eden Ixora, a 25-year-old who lives in Florida, told the outlet that she will get a bilateral salpingectomy because she is also worried about sexual assault.
"All the political noise is what really finalized my decision for me," she said. "It wasn't just Trump winning but rather all the online rhetoric that followed.”
Last month, Townhall covered how some liberal women who were angry about Trump’s election win began a “sex strike” in response. Additionally, some women began stockpiling abortion pills, as well.
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