Artist: Souther Recio
The Rio Grande Valley lived in a “Post-Roe” reality for decades before the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022 because of the barriers to abortion we face in this region. One of the ways that people in this region have accessed abortion is by self-managing their own abortion with the support of their friends, family, and community. In this installation, we bring to life what a self-managed abortion would look like for the people of the Rio Grande Valley, in the year 2025.
Aspects of the Installation:
The Toilet
Abortion medication causes heavy bleeding, diarrhea, and often nausea. It’s important for people having an abortion that they have access to a toilet in the space where they are having their abortion.
Menstrual Pads
People who are having a medication abortion use large maxi pads to manage the bleeding. It’s important to use external methods to manage the bleeding to reduce the likelihood of infection, not tampons and menstrual cups or disk. In addition, it is important to be able to measure and track how much someone is bleeding during an abortion medication to ensure the medication is working and, although unlikely, ensure the person is not hemorrhaging.
The Bed
The process of an abortion with pills can take time and people often need to lay down and rest while the medication begins to work and as the bleeding and cramping begins and eventually lessens. Having access to a place to rest and be comfortable makes the abortion process a lot easier.
Condoms & and other forms of contraception
Having an abortion does not reduce your ability to get pregnant. Many people can become pregnant after an abortion as soon as their next menstrual cycle. It is important that if someone doesn’t want to become pregnant, they use some form of contraception as soon as they start having sex again. People can begin having sex as soon as they feel ready after an abortion is complete.
Pregnancy Test
Urine pregnancy test measure a person’s Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) hormone. After an abortion, it takes time for a person’s hCG hormone to go down. For this reason someone can still test positive for pregnancy after an abortion is complete for up to 4 weeks. The best indicator that an abortion with pills worked is that someone doesn’t “feel” pregnant anymore– they have a reduction in pregnancy symptoms such as morning sickness or breast tenderness.
Phone
People who self-managed their abortion use their phone to seek out support, like calling a hotline, a trusted community member, or family and friends.There are networks of people throughout the world that help others walk through the process of having an abortion at home directly to their phone. Using secure methods of communication is essential to reduce the risk of criminalization. Folks often use messaging apps like Signal or email servers like ProtonMail, to ensure their communication is secure.
The Cane (mobility aid)
People of all different abilities have self-managed abortions. People with disabilities are many times left out of reproductive and sexual health conversations because of sigma, ableism, and a medical-industrial complex that already disregards their wants and needs. People with disabilities sometimes find that self-managing their own abortion, with the support of people that care and understand them, is much more accessible and they don’t have to interact with a medical system that already mistreats them.
Children’s Toy
Many of the people who have abortions are already parents. They understand the meaning of parenthood. People should be able to make decisions about their family planning. They sometimes choose to become parents and other times choose not to. Both decisions are valid and should be respected. Self-managed abortion provides flexibility and accessibility to parents who have family responsibilities.
Pain and Symptom Management
People experience different levels of pain and nausea when having an abortion. Everybody is different, but most people experience at least some symptoms from the medication.
Pain management can look like taking medication such as ibuprofen, using a heating pad, or using cannabis or CBD to manage their pain. Using any type of pain management is perfectly safe and people can choose the pain management option that works best for them.
For nausea people often use natural remedies like ginger tea, crackers, mineral water or can also use anti-nausea medication, such as Dramamine or Zofran (ondansetron).
Clock and Calendar
For many people, having a self-managed abortion helps ensure they can do it on their own time as it fits into their schedule. People will choose times when they don’t have to work, or while they don’t have to fulfill their family responsibilities such as taking care of their kids or other family members.
Calendars are an easy way someone can track their period, and be alerted that they might be pregnant if they miss their period. Many people who menstruate use calendars to ensure they are tracking their cycle. When someone has an abortion, it is very important to know when the 1st day of their last menstrual cycle was as this helps determine the amount of weeks of the pregnancy.
Taking abortion medication requires someone to keep track of the time they took the medication, how many hours have passed, and how much they are bleeding during set times. Having a way to tell how much time has passed is essential to a safe and effective abortion with medication.
For people in Texas, receiving abortion pills by mail is one of the only ways they can receive abortion care. Pills by mail are safe and often free of charge. These medications can be shipped from other parts of the country or even from outside of the US to people’s homes in a discreet manner. The pills can come from a provider in a state where abortion remains legal or sent by networks of people who must remain anonymous because of the legal risk, but ensure people are getting the best medication possible. Pills can come in different ways, sometimes they are repackaged to ensure the package is discreet.
Food & Drink
People use food as a way to self soothe, often reaching for comfort foods from their childhood. When supporting someone who is having an abortion, bringing them their favorite snacks, food, and drinks can be an easy way to be there for them throughout the process. People are encouraged to drink water and stay hydrated during their abortion, however, someone who is having an abortion can drink whatever they want and doesn’t make them feel sick, including alcohol and cannabis drinks. People also like to drink hot tea, especially ginger tea, during their abortion to manage nausea and reduce stress.
Pride Flag
LGBTQIA+ people have abortions. Many gender non-conforming people and trans men choose to self-manage their abortion outside of the medical system because the current system that provides abortions very often mis-genders, and treats people who do not identify as women with disregard. Self-managed abortion can be a much more accessible and freeing way to have an abortion for people in the LGBTQIA+ community.
The fight for abortion and reproductive justice is a fight for our bodily autonomy. Abortion and Trans Rights are both at their core a reclaiming of our own bodies and how we exist in them.
strj.org 