Abortion

Abortion isn’t only for straight cis women

Happy Pride Month! June is one of our favorite months of the year — not only because the weather is warm and school is out but it’s also a great time to celebrate and raise awareness around the beautiful spectrum of identities of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, or agender people!

It’s also a great time for us to reflect on the fact that reproductive health care isn’t only for straight, cisgender women. Although many people talk about reproductive health as a “women’s issue,” many LGBTQIA+ people — including lesbian and bisexual women and people, transgender men, non-binary and gender non-conforming individuals — use birth control, can get pregnant, have abortions, carry pregnancies, and become parents. Despite this fact, many LGBTQIA+ people experience disproportionate challenges in accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare.

Sometimes it’s helpful to read a personal story from someone to better understand what it feels like to be in their shoes. Below we’ve added a collection of stories in the resources link but we wanted to especially highlight this great piece from Allure, “Why I Didn’t Tell My Doctor I’m Trans Before My Abortion in which three trans men and non-binary people talk about their abortion experiences.

At carafem, we believe all health care should be easy to understand and access; and centered around you and your needs. We work to provide the best possible health care in a way that celebrates all aspects of your identity, including your sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and expression, race, ethnicity, immigration status, socioeconomic background, dis/ability, and age.

We honor the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) LGBTQIA+ healers, midwives, doulas, and care providers who helped build the foundation for abortion care in America and remain passionate about providing care despite being thwarted by racism, sexism, and classism. And we know that Black trans and queer women, femmes, and gender-nonconforming people are the foundation of Pride — from Marsha P. Johnson, to Audre Lorde, to Miss Major Griffin-Gracy. The fight for inclusive, affirming, and accessible reproductive health care is a crucial part of Reproductive Justice, a term coined by Indigenous women, women of color, and trans people in 1994.

carafem offers reproductive care to people of all genders, and aims to provide the most gender-affirming care possible. We commit to using your correct name and pronouns. If there’s anything we can do to make your experience with carafem more affirming to your identity, please let us know.

We’ve also heard from a couple of people who have reached out with comments that our language on our website and on social media are inclusive but then asked us, “what’s the deal with your name?” We appreciated one commenter who specifically said, “You can’t just stick a ‘fem’ in the name and think trans men and non-binary people wouldn’t notice.”

They’re absolutely right. When we were creating the brand about eight years ago, the fact that ‘abortion isn’t just for straight cis women’ wasn’t as prominently on our radar, but it is now. Had we known then what we know now, we might have named carafem differently to be more inclusively representative of the high-quality care for all people that we strive for. We are striving to be more thoughtful now and are considering how our name may impact those we serve and the way we are perceived.

The bottom line is this: LGBTQIA+ people need and deserve excellent sexual and reproductive health care, and carafem welcomes all people.

Want to learn more? Here are some resources if you’d like to learn more about reproductive care for transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people:

News Articles and Other Resources

Personal Stories

Organizations

Are you or a friend looking for compassionate, convenient abortion and reproductive care that is centered around your needs, easy to understand, supportive, and identity affirming? Give us a call at 1-855-SAY-CARA or schedule an appointment online.

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