The games lawmakers play with women's abortion rights made sterilization a no-brainer for me

Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion nationwide, and turn the decision back to states, could prevent conversations like this from happening.There’s a tug-of-war between politicians who run on platforms to restrict access to reproductive health services and people who then respond by taking their health into their own hands.Growing up in Indiana, where access to abortion and reproductive care is increasingly restricted, I saw firsthand how this basic right could be stripped away. And fake “crisis pregnancy clinics” that falsely advertise reproductive care services and lie to unsuspecting pregnant people to prevent them from getting abortions have flourished across the state. Yet our leaders continue to justify their accelerating attempts to restrict basic sexual health care and education.Lawmakers legislate who gives birth and who doesn’t to exert power — particularly over poor people, Black people and other people of color. Instead of cutting down on abortions, the limited time sometimes forces people to rush the decision over whether to continue a pregnancy, and they choose to have an abortion before the six-week mark out of fear of missing the cutoff time.Lawmakers legislate who gives birth and who doesn’t to exert power — particularly over poor people, Black people and other people of color. People are entitled to the care that’s best for them — abortion, contraception and sexual health services are key components of that.Alexandra Yiannoutsos lives in Washington, D.C. She graduated from McGill University in 2019 and has been involved in reproductive and sexual health activism in the U.S. and Canada since 2017.© 2022 NBC UNIVERSAL