Roe V Wade - how to educate menstruating people on options

It’s time that we have a conversation about the overturning of Roe versus Wade that is non-emotional, that talks about how we take the steps forward. This blog is not gonna be like blogs that I've posted in the past. This post is gonna be a little bit more free form. What I'm gonna talk about here is supporting education of menstrual cycle. How we can do that to support our sisters. We're gonna talk a little bit about natural ways to prevent pregnancy. We are going to talk a little bit about male contraceptives. I'm not an expert on the topic, nor am I an expert on natural contraceptives that I'm gonna talk about, but I do think it's important to shed light and you can do your own research.

We're gonna talk about the sperm life cycle, and I'm gonna share my own abortion story. So first things first, let's talk about the first thing that helps us prevent unwanted pregnancy, and that is knowing our cycle. So depending on if you have a 26 day cycle, 28 day cycle, your ovulatory window is always the same. It's a period of a couple hours up to 24 hours up to a full day. That is your ovulatory moment. The moment of ovulation, it's a moment, right? The ovulatory phase is two to four days for some people. And that is the time when you can actually get pregnant. There is folklore saying that we can get pregnant and any time of the month, and I'm going to explain why that is and why that exists.

But really we are only fertile for a number of days and we can only actually become pregnant. A sperm can only implant into us in a very specific time window. So knowing when that is, is really important. So, how do we do that? Right. we wanna get this education out. We wanna help people understand when their body is actually fertile. So that point is, is right before the basal body temperature spike. So what is the basal body temperature? The basal body temperature is the, is our core temperature during the moment we wake up without moving in bed too much, so that is like, that is really important to get down. So in order to track your basal body temperature, to look for fertility, we wanna be actually taking our temperature every morning

For a number of months to understand when ovulation occurs, ovulation occurs after the basal body temperature spikes 0.5 degrees. So you can't tell when ovulation is going to happen before it happens, but you can tell when ovulation is going to happen after the fact, and then make an educated prediction as to when ovulation is going to happen for you in the future. So most people ovulate around day 14, that not, that might not necessarily be true for you. So do not trust menstrual cycle apps to tell you this kind of stuff, because they can only tell you based on mathematics and days, they can't tell you based on what your actual body is doing.

What I teach in the confident menstrual cycle, coach academy, is the ABC method. That's the actual body cues method. So we know what the actual body cues are, based on what our body is telling us. So temperature is one of those things. Also cervical fluid. I made an IG post that I'll link for those details, the different type of cervical fluid that we can look out for that can tell us when we're fertile. Our transitional fluid looks cloudy. Our extremely fertile fluid looks very clear and it's stretchy. It has a different texture, and that is correlated with that basal body temperature spike. So just to review that really quick, before we move on to the next one, we know when we ovulate, after the fact, after our temperature raises 0.5 degrees, and we need to couple that with the other actual body cue, which is our cervical fluid, transitional cervical fluid is going to be chunkier and thicker.

And then our most fertile cervical fluid is going to be clear and stretchy. Okay. So I hope you got that down. And remember, we need to test for, our basal body temperature for a period of months before we can, like, I would say three months, the a hundred day rule before we can be sure of when we're actually ovulating. So I encourage you to do that if you haven't already and through that period that you are tracking for your basal body temperature, you're gonna learn so much about your body's ovulation, the cues, you might feel sexier, you might feel more confident. You might feel more libido, like track for these things. Your body's gonna tell you when you ovulate. All right , let's actually skip to the sperm life cycle before we talk about herbs.

It used to be that we thought that sperm lived for five days. That would be convenient. Sperm actually lives for up to 10 days in the right environment. So, remember everything is on a bell curve. Like there's some sperm that lived for a day there's sperm that lived for five days and there's sperm that can live up to 10 days. So understand that that is a possibility, right. , and I'll share, you, I'll share with you more about my own, , abortion and conception story and how I know that's actually true in my own body, too, that the sperm lived for 10 days. So lucky me I've, I've got personal evidence to share with you. So that's something to know is that even though our ovulatory window is fairly small, remember that 24 hours, if we have sperm inside of our body for a period of days leading up to that, we could potentially conceive a human person.

So that is possible. Now, let's talk about herbs. So there has not been a lot of very valid, scientific research on herbs, but there is a lot of history on the use of herbs amongst native populations here in America and I’ve medicine as well. And there are a few there there's just two that I wanna share with you, one is parsley, using a parsley tampon. You heard me right, using a parsley tampon after we have sex actually draws down it's, it's an astringent. So it draws down anything that is in our vagina. So it actually, it does change the pH of your vagina. So it's not something you wanna do with regularity, but if you are, for instance, having sex within, you know, a couple days of your ovulatory phase, and you just wanna be on the safe side, I'm, I'm not above using a parsley tampon.

I mean, I'm personally in the zone where if I were to conceive a child with my partner of three years, I would welcome it, but that is something that I have used in the past with success. So a parsley tampon, you're like how the F* do I make a parsley tampon, so you can take a bunch of parsley, wash it very well, and then you, you can choose to tie it in a knot or, or not. You put some cheese cloth over it and then you tie a knot around the end, and that is your tampon string. So you put the parsley in cheese cloth into your vagina and that draws down and you can sleep with that.

You can put it in for a number of hours,, expect to when you pull the parsley out for there to be discharged or even semen on the parsley tampon. So that's one thing you can use as a preventative. And then there is also wild carrot seed, AKA queen annes lace. And that has been used, uh, widely by a variety of different cultures throughout the years. And there is some preliminary research on it that does, that does show evidence that it is effective. So, there are different ways to take this. Some people make a tincture, so that's putting it in a bit of alcohol and letting it sit, some people take wild care at seed and roll it in a ball with nut butter and other seeds to make a, to make like a tasty treat.

There are a lot of different ways to, uh, consume wild carrot seed. I encourage you to look up the research studies that I've posted, because there's a lot of information on there. One research study that I'll also share is an ayruvedic study where they, they reviewed all of the ayruvedic herbs. And I think some of the other herbs aren't ive, and you can get them here in America where I am. And that research study actually showed all of the different herbs that have been used in aerobatic medicine to prevent conception. And what point of pregnancy they actually worked as an abortifacient.

So that's something to look at if you're, if you're into studying this more and I encourage you to do your own research. Granted, there isn't a whole lot of research on herbs to act against pregnancy, but I guarantee you that in the coming months and years, there's gonna be a lot of people that are working towards furthering that area of study. So we have a lot to look forward to as people with uterus that can't conceive children. So aren't we excited about that? All right. Male contraceptives. what, isn't that nice. Think about male contraceptives. We can also talk about female contraceptives too. So male contraceptives, there has been research and evidence of doing hot baths to prevent, um, to prevent pregnancy as a male contraceptive there's now devices to prevent, to prevent, uh, a viable sperm being produced.

Of course, there's vasectomies that are completely reversible. And so there are so many things that are male allies that are allies that have typical male body parts can do to support us sisters in not having to carry children. And I think that is, I mean, you know, I think that's a topic that is a very much underrepresented. And like I said before, I don't know much about male contraceptive contraception, but it's definitely something that is worth looking into, right? Like vasectomies are very accessible. Um, in California here, we can still get them at planned parenthood. So isn't that nice, but definitely something to look into female contraceptives. The one that I I'm sorry, I have something in my eye, the one that I would, if I had to get on, on a contraceptive, which I prefer not to, and I'm not judging that I would choose the copper I U D because it's non-hormonal, it, it does it, there is a little bit of evidence saying that it could change some progesterone levels and change the cycle a little bit, but it's the one that is the most nonhormonal.

So that's the one that I would get. If I had to choose one, there are other contraceptives that you can get, you can get the pill, you can get the patch, you can get the injection, you can get, okay. There are so many different options that we have. I even have had a friend who got her tubes tied because she is sure that she does not want children. So there are so many means of contraception that are available to us, so it's important that we know that, and it's important that we make informed choices about the contraceptions that are available to us. The birth control pill I personally wouldn't do because it leeches nutrients and, it changes our hormones. It can change our skin and our, our, our mental capacity and our mental state.

Okay. Last thing is my own abortion story. So I was having sex with my partner, um, the last day of my menstrual cycle, the last, well, that would be my luteal phase. So the last day of my bleed phase and, I asked him to come inside of me and he did. And then I ovulated, weeks later, and then I conceived a child.

I was late on my period and I took a pregnancy test, two days after my period was supposed to be. And that day we were going to a baby shower and I realized that I was pregnant that day. And I decided it took me everything to get an abortion. And I tried some abortifacient, but I was simply too late in my pregnancy to do that. Oh, something I didn't mention about wild carrot at seed is that you have to take wild carrot seed with consistency, during ovulation to prevent pregnancy. Okay. Should have put that before, but I hope that you're still here. So you know that anyway, so I didn't do that around ovulation, which I should have. And I was too late with the other abortifacients that were recommended to me by herbalist and all the herbalist that I was going, that I was going to, that I were going to, that I was going to were highly recommending me to get a, a medical abortion or take the pill, the abortion pill.

And I was resisting that for a while because I was thinking about having this baby. And I decided eventually after trying all sorts of things that I wanted to get an abortion and I took it, I was in planned parenthood for hours. And these wonderful technicians at planned parenthood were just holding space for me. And they wouldn't let my partner in the room because they didn't want my partner to sway my decision at all. And so they were just there holding space for me, with me while I cried making this decision, I finally made the decision. I decided to take the pill instead of getting the medical abortion, where they do the procedure. And, um, then I was in this crazy lucid state where I was, I felt like I was dreaming as I was having these really painful contractions. And then the next day I went for a walk and I had, they recommended that, you know, I wear a pad for the next week or so because I'm gonna bleed for about a week. And so I was wearing a pad on my walk and I felt a very painful cramp the next day and on, on, on my walk, right. And I went into a coffee shop that was nearby and I saw the fetus in my pad. It was an outline of this little tiny body.

I was really, really sad. It was definitely a little traumatic. And I also was extremely relieved too, that I had made that decision. And so I, I wasn't planning on sharing this, but I took that fetus that had come out and I buried it. and me and my partner had a ceremony for that fetus. And then that partner and I broke up thanked the heavens because it was not a healthy relationship and he was not mentally stable. I talked to multiple licensed therapists about this person that I was dating. And they all said that what, what I had gone through with him that, that he was narcissistic. And I dodged a major bullet by not having to raise a child with him for the rest of my life.

And obviously we wanna, we wanna take emotion out of this whole situation because we wanna support women's right to choose and to choose, to have a baby or to choose to not have a baby. And I am so happy. I had the choice to not have a baby with that person. And that choice was covered for me, medically, that choice was easy. And that choice, well, I mean, it wasn't easy, but once I made the choice, it was easy to do. And I had support of very compassionate technicians. Now, the last thing I'll say is that, after that I bled for 30 days and, planned parenthood couldn't do anything for me there. They offered birth control, but I was like, eh, no birth control. And thank goodness there was an acupuncturist that could treat me for what I was going through with bleeding for 30 days, that, the choice to do a pill abortion through my hormones way off balance.

I'm gonna end here. Thank you so much for reading. And remember to share this blog with your friends who want to know more about their options for natural contraceptives, for herbs, & natural family planning. And thank you so much for reading.