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Working with the living systems of our bodies for female bodied people is a critical area for education & empowerment at this moment in time. As we’re all painfully aware, in the US we’re currently under threat of the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling being overturned (!!). This ruling established women’s rights to access abortion, and if it’s overturned, it could potentially leave a lot of people who can get pregnant (especially in midwestern and southeastern states) without access to abortion clinics. In this potentially gnarly moment in history for bodily autonomy, the good news is that we have a lot of options regardless of what’s happening in politics! This includes, of course, the birth control we’re familiar with, as well as some options we may not be educated on, such as practicing the fertility awareness method and accessing certain aid networks for abortion. We’re joined by fertility awareness educator Atchie Bernstein to dive into these topics & help us step back into our power!
Links:
Aid Access
Atchie’s website & booking contact or reach out to her on Instagram
Samantha Zipporah’s Please Bleed book & Fruit of Knowledge platform
Medicine stories Cycle tracking episode
Show notes:
- Interweaving bodily autonomy & sustainability: Lowering our waste, self-reliance without need for potentially unavailable medical system, becoming more self reliant beings within more self reliant systems
- The Fertility Awareness method: understanding our window of fertility using a sympto-thermal method (tracking basal body temperature & cervical mucus). The fertility awareness method & the rhythm method are two distinctly different methods. FAM gives us a powerful window into overall hormonal health, conscious contraception - can use chart to know if time of sperm exposure & gives time to choose early appropriate methods for contraception - in much earlier window to make decisions for yourself!
- Knowledge is power: being aware of our choices & fully informed on all options is the way to go.
- Femtech & the dangers of relying on an app to give us a red or green light
- Connecting with our cycles & giving our moon blood back to nature: the only bloodshed that's not through violence
- Taking our power back: This is a powerful form of resistance to go against these stigmas & taboos that tell us our cycles are to be feared.
- Dealing with an unwanted sperm exposure: being prepared by charting, Plan B isn’t effective if you’ve already ovulated (it only works to delay ovulation, which gets you outside of the window in which sperm could survive),
- Plant options for implantation inhibitors (more detail in the Medicine Stories episode & by consulting an herbalist) include Queen Anne’s lace
- Medication pregnancy release options: available without any contact with medical professionals or clinics through Aid Access (can now order in advance in case you need them) or local networks of people with access to those medications such as abortion doula networks with confidential contacts. Reach out to Atchie for these contacts if you need contacts.