Stop fighting over Plan B and get focused on Plan A — reproductive liberation for all

I’ve seen a lot of debates lately that prove why it is necessary for the movement for reproductive liberation to be centered on and lead by the most marginalized among us. In particular, people have been fighting about whether or not they should be allowed to stockpile plan b pills and if a run on the resource will “really” cause harm.

“Big pharma will make more”, someone says, forgetting that a person has maybe 48 hours to get the pill into their system for it to be effective and that if you’re time or cash poor, you’re not going to have time to run around to every pharmacy checking to see if they have it.

( That last statement also shows that you’ve been privileged the past 20 some odd months to not have your pharmacy tell you, “sorry, but due to the pandemic, we’ve had a shortage of your medication. You’ll have to wait.” )

“If you can’t find it you can ask me,” one says, forgetting that there are worlds of humans that exist outside of our internet bubbles who will never see your words. Your quest that results in you becoming the hero of the story has now become the obstacle to someone’s right to privately choose what works for them. Congratulations on your ascension to gatekeeper.

Think about it — how many people do you actually interact with on a daily basis? How many of those people have conversations with you about their reproductive health? How many people have come to you in an emergency before?

If those numbers are high or you’re someone that’s already a community resource for the disadvantaged, sure: stock up.

If they’re low? Then maybe buy one or two just in case, for yourself or a close friend. I have one that I keep for myself “just in case” one of my alternative BC methods fails or is forgotten.

The point here is that while folks are busy arguing about why they should or shouldn’t be allowed to stock up on Plan B, they’re forgetting that we need to be focused on Plan A — a person’s right to choose when and how they become pregnant and their right to decide what to do about it.

Here are much more effective ways you can be helpful to someone in need of reproductive care:

• By driving someone to get reproductive healthcare services. Be the ride someone needs or the supportive shoulder in a scary situation. Whether or not they’re getting an abortion, the stigma around sexual and reproductive health care is real.
• By donating the money you would have spent stocking up on Plan B to orgs like The TEA Fund that help underprivileged people gain access to an abortion — because abortions, even when permitted by law, are prohibitively expensive in both capital and time. The average abortion in the first trimester is around $500, and reproductive care funds touch many more lives than you or me will ever be able to scale to help.
• By volunteering in your community to become a sex education teacher using curricula like Our Whole Lives to teach folks about their bodies and sex and consent and changing the conversation around sex, reproduction, and consent. Many people (pro- and anti-choice alike) still don’t realize the six weeks “pregnant” in SB8 is actually maybe two to three weeks after implantation and that a fetal heartbeat is not a heart but electric pulses — we need to change that narrative.
• By advocating for medical policies that allow people with a uterus who know they don’t want to have kids to tie off their tubes without centering an imaginary man who may or may not show up in their lives to impregnate them. Many doctors deny people the right to permanent pregnancy prevention if they haven’t already had a child.
• By advocating for policies that stop an unplanned pregnancy from being a literal and metaphorical death sentence. The majority of people who get an abortion (59%) already have at least one child. An unplanned pregnancy shouldn’t mean the death of someone’s career or the loss of a job. This includes policies like national paid maternity leave, Medicare for all, and national support for child care, pre k, and affordable housing.

Reproductive liberation is more than Plan B pills. It’s more than abortion. It’s the right to choose in every path of reproductive decision-making. Dedicate your time, money, and passion to scalable solutions that further this goal instead of getting caught up in the weeds of low-hanging performative fruit. Advocate for the systemic changes that our state and our country need that make it so that no person who finds themselves pregnant is denied the right to bodily autonomy, no matter how far along their pregnancy is.