Thread by @broadwaybabyto

Misogyny in medicine is focusing more on what a man might WANT than what a woman NEEDS.

I NEEDED a hysterectomy and was told I wouldn’t survive pregnancy.

“Informed consent” for surgery looked like this:

“Don’t you want to be a Mom?”
“You may want BIOLOGICAL children”
/1 🧵

“What if you meet a man who wants babies?”

“What if he leaves you because you can’t bear his children?”

“Men went their OWN babies - what if you can’t do that?”

“You will feel like less of a woman.”

/2

Brought boyfriend in to try and change their minds. Them to him:

“Will you still love her if she’s BARREN?”

“Do you want kids?”

“What if you change your mind & want kids - will you LEAVE her?”

Him: “Save her life what I want doesn’t matter” (he understood the assignment) /3

The assumption through the entire process - as I got sicker and sicker - was that I should WANT to risk my life for the CHANCE to bear a child.

That if I didn’t WANT that - I would change my mind when I met the “right man” /4

Apparently the “man of my dreams” will be so spectacular and the love so all consuming that I will be all too happy to put my life on the line to give HIM babies.

Needless to say I found that incredibly offensive. I was dying. I was incredibly sick. I needed surgery. /5

This is NOT “informed consent”. This is misogynistic and patriarchal bullying.

Informed consent would have been ensuring I knew it wasn’t reversible and would mean I could never have children. Letting me know risks of complications. Risk of prolapse. Risk of early menopause /6

None of that was covered. It was ALL about men and babies.

I actually did have a severe post operative complication that I was woefully unprepared for because “informed consent” failed me.

We must do better. Women need autonomy over their body. Inform us. Work with us /7

Don’t put the needs of a man before of our own. Don’t treat us like incubators.

We are MORE than our ability to bear children. I lost my womb at 24 and I’ve never felt like less of a woman, less of a person. I’ve never regretted it.

Medicine needs to do better /end

One of the worst parts was that when I ended up having a complication - I was gaslit & ignored again. Told I didn’t know my body AGAIN. I needed my boyfriend to get them to even run tests.

Now - decades later - I’m still dealing with issues from the surgery and complication.

I can never know how different things might have been had they acted faster - but I DO know I was never able to fully trust the medical profession again.

My article on this is 👇🏼 - and I’m working on a future one about informed consent (or lack thereof)

disabledginger.com/p/my-most-dang…

this was in Canada - where we have better overall access to reproductive health than our neighbours to the south. They still delayed my care for THREE years. I was in & out of hospitals, getting regular blood transfusions with zero quality of life.

Fight for bodily autonomy!

Some ppl are saying this was ok because doctors must ensure a woman understands she might change her mind & regret it.

I understand informing her - but this was medically necessary. You don’t put someone’s life at risk “just in case”. I wrote more 👇🏼

disabledginger.com/p/pregnancy-wi…