Women in US are ‘scared to have children’ under Trump presidency

Ahead of the US presidential election, thousands of women have come together on social media to share their fears about getting pregnant under a Trump presidency.

Women have expressed the drastic measures they willing to take to avoid a pregnancy with the possibility of Donald Trump becoming president again, which has now come to fruition.

The day before the election, someone turned to Reddit to share their fears. She wanted to know if other women feel the same.

She wrote: “I’m scared to have children if Trump is elected.

“I've been married to my husband for over five years now. Over the last six months we've been discussing the idea of having a child.

“We both agreed if Trump is elected president we will NOT have children.

“It's too scary. I'm terrified of a national abortion ban. What if I have complications?

“I'm not ready to die trying to bring a baby into this world, and my husband doesn't want to risk my life.”

She asked: “Am I overreacting? Does anyone else feel similarly?”

The Reddit thread has racked up a whopping 1.2k comments, mostly from other women who share her fears.

Someone wrote: “As a woman who will likely face issues with childbirth due to various lifelong conditions that raise chances of complications and miscarriage. I 100% agree with you that if trump is elected that pregnancy will become way too dangerous in the United States.”

Another person agreed: “You are most definitely not overreacting. Even women in other countries have sworn to not travel to America if they are remotely suspecting they may be pregnant. Me included.”

Many comments on the thread were women explaining that they have had, or are planning to have, a sterilisation procedure in a desperate bid to avoid getting pregnant.

Someone wrote: “I am going to schedule my own sterilization depending on the outcome of the election.”

Another person added: “I chose to get sterilized after Trump came into power.”

And another person agreed: “I got sterilized because people believe it’s perfectly okay that the government can pass medical bans on my body and give more rights to an embryo/fetus then a living human.”

Women should be able to make the decision to have or not have children without fears of their safety should something go wrong during their pregnancy.

But ultimately many women are too scared to take the risk.

Someone wrote: “Pregnancy can and does kill women. Access to appropriate healthcare is what saves their lives. It’s completely rational to not want to take the risk of pregnancy when there is a non-zero chance you could have complications for which you might be denied said life saving healthcare.”

And another person commented: “An 18 year old girl recently died in Texas. She just faced a miscarriage and complications but the doctors refused to help when she came in septic until they carried out TWO separate ultrasounds to make sure the fetus/baby was not viable/alive anymore.

“Only after the two ultrasounds did they move her to ICU where she died later.”

Nevaeh Crain died aged 18 in October last year. She was six months pregnant when she suffered a miscarriage and became septic. The doctors were unable to do anything to remove the foetus or they would be seen to be doing an abortion.

Last week international superstar Beyonce endorsed Kamala Harris at a rally in Houston, Texas.

She said: “For all the men and women in this room, and watching around the country, we need you.

“For anyone watching from another state, if you think you are protected from Trump abortion bans because you live in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York, California, or any state where voters or legislators have protected reproductive freedom, please know: No one is protected.

“Because a Donald Trump national ban will outlaw abortion in every single state."

Trump has been inconsistent in his message to voters regarding abortion and reproductive rights, although he has now said he would veto a national abortion ban.

During the election campaign he repeatedly shifted his stance and offered vague, contradictory and at times nonsensical answers to questions on an issue that has become a major vulnerability for Republicans in this year’s election.

Leading up to the election, Trump was insisting that he'd be "great for women and their reproductive rights", but avoided and dodged outright questions about whether he would veto a national abortion ban.

But on 2 October he wrote on X that he would in fact veto a national abortion ban.

He wrote: "EVERYONE KNOWS I WOULD NOT SUPPORT A FEDERAL ABORTION BAN, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, AND WOULD, IN FACT, VETO IT, BECAUSE IT IS UP TO THE STATES TO DECIDE BASED ON THE WILL OF THEIR VOTERS (THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE!).

"I FULLY SUPPORT THE THREE EXCEPTIONS FOR RAPE, INCEST, AND THE LIFE OF THE MOTHER. I DO NOT SUPPORT THE DEMOCRATS RADICAL POSITION OF LATE TERM ABORTION LIKE, AS AN EXAMPLE, IN THE 7TH, 8TH, OR 9TH MONTH OR, IN CASE THERE IS ANY QUESTION, THE POSSIBILITY OF EXECUTION OF THE BABY AFTER BIRTH."

The US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 which ended the federal right to abortion in the United States.

The ruling had previously guaranteed women the right to an abortion until around 24 weeks - the point of foetal viability.

Experts believe a Trump administration could target abortion pills, revive an old law to restrict abortion materials, and appoint judges who favour stricter abortion laws. Abortion rights advocates are preparing to fight back against these potential challenges.