#youknowme

i wasn't sure about sharing my story, but now i feel like i have no choice. just like all women in missouri are about to have no choice.

when i was 16, i was told by a doctor that i would never get pregnant. when i was 23 years old, i had left college with no degree, bummed around a few communes with disastrous results, and was back at home trying to make sense out of my life.

i had 2 kids and already married and divorced by time i turned 19. i fell in love with the wrong kind of man, he hit me and made me feel awful about myself. i had no intention getting pregnant ever again and when i did i almost went through with the pregnancy.

happily married mother, disabled from child abuse, zero support besides my husband and a teen with autism who physically abuses me daily.

i was 32; in a stable long term relationship; with a good job with maternity benefits; 15 years ago. it wasn't a difficult decision, i didn't want to be a mum and still don't have kids.

today, the trump administration published their proposed changes to the health care rights law also known as section 1557.  the proposed changes would upend protections for transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming individuals, including young people, from discrimination in healthcare or health coverage.