Ticket to a guilt trip.
I went through the motions in my head many times. If I ever needed emergency contraception I would google the closest sexual health clinic, take the tube there, fill out a familiar form and get the pill. Probably for free.
A couple of weeks ago I found myself in need of one. In the middle of Polish countryside, I currently resident in, on a public holiday.
A couple of weeks ago I found myself in need of one. In the middle of Polish countryside, I currently resident in, on a public holiday.
The only medical center open was the IR where I obtained a prescription and went on looking for the only open pharmacy in town.
And spent 10% of average Polish salary. Still cheaper than abortion tourism I would be forced to engage in.
Woman's reproductive rights are constantly under debate here, new laws coming in and out. There was a brief time I'd get what I needed with half the hassle. Now I need a prescription, which even a vet is qualified to write.
However, what I want to elaborate on is the lack of neutral language to even begin a proper, judgment-free conversation. I'm not talking about calling fetuses babies or overgrown foreign cells depending in with camp your in.
"The emergency contraception" has no translation in popular language. Of course the "after pill" has a literal awkward one I used when asking a doctor for piece of paper. Right before denying to carry and heart and liver conditions and that any of my family members died a sudden and unexpected death.
The name of the pill in Polish can be translated to "causing an early miscarriage".
It makes me feel as if I were some 1920' housewife thinking the 8th kid is a little too much and decides to keep throwing herself down the stairs until the fetus is evacuated in a rather bloody manner.
In my mind miscarriage is something really sad that happens to couples that pray and hope to have a child.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines it as expulsion or extraction of an embryo or fetus weighing 500 g or less.
What emergency contraception does is thickening uteral lining and makes your womb extremely hostile environment so the embryo never even develops.
With a name so inaccurate you're not executing right to choose what happens to your body. You're buying a ticket to a guilt trip.
I wonder how many women were manipulated into thinking they're killing their babies in a savage way instead of swallowing yet another pill.
The regular hormonal contraception works more or less the same way plus it stops your ovulation. The storm begins, however, when we're talking about getting rid of a male reproductive cell from woman's organism. (Please I really don't want to call patriarchy right now!)
Getting back to the start. I don't think it would get me thinking that much if I were to go through with it in an English speaking country in an English speaking relationship.
For me, Polish is a language of love, of deepest emotion you can't really express with words you remember learning.
So asking the doctor for an early miscarriage pill made me feel like a murderer.
Once I got it the label said "contraception in emergent cases" - an expression sounding like translated word for word from English. But at least accurate.
In my mind miscarriage is something really sad that happens to couples that pray and hope to have a child.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines it as expulsion or extraction of an embryo or fetus weighing 500 g or less.
What emergency contraception does is thickening uteral lining and makes your womb extremely hostile environment so the embryo never even develops.
With a name so inaccurate you're not executing right to choose what happens to your body. You're buying a ticket to a guilt trip.
I wonder how many women were manipulated into thinking they're killing their babies in a savage way instead of swallowing yet another pill.
The regular hormonal contraception works more or less the same way plus it stops your ovulation. The storm begins, however, when we're talking about getting rid of a male reproductive cell from woman's organism. (Please I really don't want to call patriarchy right now!)
Getting back to the start. I don't think it would get me thinking that much if I were to go through with it in an English speaking country in an English speaking relationship.
For me, Polish is a language of love, of deepest emotion you can't really express with words you remember learning.
So asking the doctor for an early miscarriage pill made me feel like a murderer.
Once I got it the label said "contraception in emergent cases" - an expression sounding like translated word for word from English. But at least accurate.
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