Thread by @ReleaseMcCrackn

I really try to stay off Twitter these days, but I've been unable to stop thinking about ICE's use of forced hysterectomies.

As your friend who had a hysterectomy, I am horrified for so many reasons.

Some background: I went into the appointment where I learned I was having a hysterectomy (and didn't really have much choice) already knowing that kids were not happening for me. I had PCOS, we couldn't afford IVF, and I had spent years, literal YEARS, coming to terms with it.

Cancer meant it needed to happen. The surgery meant shutting a door I'd already considered closed in a permanent way. Even though I had already done all that emotional work, it hit differently when there was no "yeah, but what if" possibility. It was a fresh batch of mourning.

Not only did I have time before diagnosis, I also had the months between diagnosis and surgery to try to prepare.

I cannot imagine what it would be if there was no warning, no one who talked me through it, possibly no one who spoke my language. It is unfathomable and monstrous.

Because of various conditions, I can't take hormones, so I went from "person with periods and hormones" to "fully menopausal" in four hours. It's been almost 18 months and I'm still finding my feet. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing they aren't getting hormone replacement.

I experienced all of this with great care from everyone involved and it was still awful.

What ICE is doing is certainly not the first time the US has done this, but it is certainly for the same reason.

It is horrific, it is racist, it is an act of brutality.