war, part one

cross posted at the exponent.

i was seven months pregnant in october of 2010 when my midwife alerted me to the fact that my chosen post-pregnancy method of birth control, a copper iud, might not be available. a proposed amendment to the state of colorado’s constitution, known as the colorado fetal personhood amendment, was seeking to codify the rights of the unborn at the moment of conception. this meant that if amendment 62 was passed, IUDs and many forms of hormonal birth control would no longer be available in the state of colorado for fear that they would prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in a woman’s uterus. my baby was due around the first of the new year and in waiting the required six weeks post-partum, the personhood amendment would go into effect and I would no longer be able to get an IUD. Read the rest of this entry »