Ep. 171: The New Reproductive Rights (and why women deserve them)

When it comes to reproductive rights, we often think of birth control and abortion -- maybe even IVF in more recent days. But are those things truly the pinnacle of women's health? Or is there more available to us? This episode explores how a perspective shift on women's empowerment could have the power to change the fertility education, healthcare advocacy, and confidence of generations of women to come. 

NOTE: This episode may not be appropriate for all audiences; it does use terms like intercourse and references issues like abortion. 

Other episodes you might enjoy:

Ep. 3: BASICS - Reproductive Hormones

Ep. 120: All About Progesterone

Ep. 156: Using DHEA to naturally increase hormones & fertility, with Laura Ducote

Transcript

Caitlin (00:00)
Welcome to the Woven Well podcast. Reproductive rights are a key issue that are being discussed everywhere, especially in politics, both before and after the election. We think about the IVF case in the state of Alabama a few years ago. There was actually a documentary that contacted me this year to talk about these issues and we're going to have her on the podcast. But obviously reproductive rights matter to women.

And as a certified fertility care practitioner, I work with women across the political and religious spectrum as I provide fertility education to help them pursue their reproductive goals, whether that be health, pregnancy, or avoiding a pregnancy naturally. And I will never forget the client who I met with right after the election in 2024. She was struggling. She was

crying and felt very very overwhelmed by everything that she had been hearing in the news and she had a lot of fear about what the future held for women's reproductive rights. So I invited her to share more about what she most feared and it came down to abortion access. You know, I don't have children but now I may not have a choice. Those were her words to me. This dear

sweet client who I care deeply about had come to believe that her ability to make choices about her family and her reproductive health was determined by her access to abortion. That was it. But friends, abortion is not and should not be the crown of reproductive rights. And here's what I mean by that. Abortion has become kind of the end-all be-all.

of what women deserve as far as reproductive rights go. But women deserve so much more than just access to abortion. Would we truly feel respected and valued if we simply had unfettered access to abortions?

Do we truly believe that all we really need to be empowered is inexpensive hormonal contraception? Are abortion and birth control our only requirements, our only fundamental rights for women's healthcare? Because mine would be very different. I would say mine are very different. I am privileged to work as a certified fertility care practitioner.

and partner with medical consultants with a more restorative reproductive medicine focus. So women's healthcare, when it's done well, can do far more than just prevent unplanned pregnancies. It has the potential to help women truly thrive. Why would we settle for anything less when we have that available to us? If we're going to picket and march and demand reproductive rights,

Here are the ones that you could find me advocating for before abortion and even hormonal contraception. One would be basic period education and cycle charting skills for girls. So many of the decisions that we make as adults are influenced by the foundation that we set when we're children. Especially as young girls, we're not even given a lot of reasons to be excited about being a woman.

Things are scary and overwhelming and everything is shrouded in mystery. And it's so hard to get information. And while when I was a kid, this meant that, you know, maybe we'd be left in the dark. Young girls now are turning to all sorts of online sources for information, whether true or false, without the guidance of parents or trusted adults.

There are certainly situations when young girls will get online and start looking things up and who knows what they could encounter in that way. Girls deserve to understand how their cycles work and what's actually going on. This is not something that we should be ashamed of, but we need to be there. We need to be the ones to explain the why, to help them understand. We can actually share the beauty and the goodness of the female design and help them to understand it too.

This sets a different foundation for them which is going to benefit them the rest of their lives. And of course, education should be age appropriate, but even understanding the basics of puberty and periods is more than many girls receive formally. Okay, the second one or the next one that I would recommend is access to modern effective fertility awareness methods that are taught by certified instructors.

So everybody has access to hormonal contraception. What if everybody had access to fertility awareness methods? So not only did most of us not receive basic information as young girls, but we never caught up later in life. It's very challenging to get access to basic fertility awareness education, yet it is safe, effective. There are a variety of methods that can work with any woman in any reproductive stage of life.

We've been scouring the internet for these resources for years, trying to pick up bits of information to kind piece together, maybe from Instagram here, maybe from YouTube there, trying to figure out how to do this successfully. But there are modern, evidence-based formal methods that have research behind them. Women deserve access to this education. There is no reason why this shouldn't be common knowledge to women.

especially those entering the phase of life where they're making family planning decisions. We think that our only options are birth control or unlimited pregnancies. You know, like we feel like that's it. Either we have access to birth control or we get pregnant all the time and have no control over it. But that's not the case. It's not only those two things. Infertility awareness methods or natural family planning is a great option.

The third one that I would recommend would be cycle chart screening for common reproductive health issues. So when you start charting, especially with a system like Creighton, which we teach, there is so much data available, health information. So what if a standard part of women's health appointments could be to utilize their charting to screen for major reproductive health issues like PCOS, low progesterone, thyroid issues, insulin resistance? Yes, all of those things.

can be seen, can be suggested to us by a woman's chart. This would also enable women to get support long before any of those issues grow into a larger scale problem for her. I really believe that that's what actually helped prevent further disease and issues and make women healthier and happier. For women's health, we screen for STIs and cervical cancers, but why do we draw the line there? Why not look for the issues that will empower us?

and improve our quality of life, even if they aren't life or death. The fourth one I would recommend would be access to patient education on management and concerns for common reproductive categories like postpartum and perimenopause. So we've been talking about the importance of education and there's lots of education about birth control options, but

very little about significant seasons of a woman's reproductive life, like postpartum or even the many years leading up to menopause, which we call perimenopause. Next time you go into your OB-GYN's office, notice what's on the wall. Much of it is about either pregnancy or birth control, but not much else. These are only one aspect of a woman's reproductive life, and the other areas matter just as much.

This education should be a standard part of a woman's health in hospitals, clinics, and beyond. Alright, the last one that I have would be qualified, compassionate medical care that seeks to diagnose underlying reproductive health issues and restore healthy reproductive functioning if at all possible, instead of suppressing or stopping it to mask the symptoms.

I think

we could all think of scenarios here when we've come into the doctor with an issue, we're able to share something we've been struggling with, and they say, hey, here's a pill you can take and you won't have those symptoms anymore. But we never actually got to the root of the problem. And I, you know, I've said this already, I'm a certified fertility care practitioner. I work every single day with women and couples who are dealing with a lot of these women's health issues.

and so many women are told, well, if you're not trying to get pregnant, then it doesn't really matter right now.

That's not actually the case. Women deserve to be treated with honor and the dignity that they were created with. And a part of that is acknowledging that her reproductive health is not just about conceiving, although that is a very important part of it, is the whole purpose of the reproductive system.

but those reproductive hormones and the functioning of that system is actually going to improve our overall quality of life. It's going to affect it dramatically. So when a woman comes in with women's health issues, let's specifically look at why those symptoms are occurring. Let's address those at the root. And then not only is she not going to have the symptoms, but her whole quality of life is going to be improved as well. And I believe that women deserve that.

reproductive right that I would march for is valuing both a woman's hormonal and biological thriving and her ability to plan her family. I really don't think that these should be mutually exclusive.

As I was hinting at before, have the biological function of the reproductive system, which is to conceive and carry babies But there's also the hormonal side. So the reproductive hormones in a woman's body, especially estrogen and progesterone, are going to have a huge impact on her everyday lived experience.

So we have some other episodes that we'll link in the show notes about estrogen, about progesterone, and about how they make us feel at different points in the cycle, maybe symptoms that they could be too low or too high. But the reason we have symptoms is because when these hormones are off, we feel it. So instead of just suppressing the hormones so we don't have any, which could affect our libido, our weight, our acne, our mental health,

Instead, we want to help these to thrive and be at good, healthy, balanced levels. So we shouldn't be thinking about a reproductive system only in the biological function, although that is the purpose of it and it's very important, but also the hormonal side. All right, those are the reproductive rights that I would march for, that I would pick it for, and I believe that every single woman deserves.

Do you notice the difference? Universal access to birth control and abortions do not educate or truly empower. Our reproductive health is about more than just intercourse. It's about our physiological and hormonal thriving as women. It's about our ability to procreate now and in the future. It's about our long-term health. Our hormones matter. Our reproductive systems matter. And maybe

Just maybe this type of education and embracing of our design could prevent more unexpected pregnancies and reduce the desire for abortions. This is the reminder that I gave to my client last November. None of us can predict the future or control the outcome, but we can make choices now that keep us moving forward. Her choice to learn about her reproductive system and make informed health

fertility decisions now even before she's married or sexually active those are going to reap benefits in her life and maybe even the lives of others. Her hope her choices her future are not defined by the government regardless of who's in power okay and really this episode is not about abortion I know I'm talking about it and bringing it up but

It's about the importance of starting a conversation about what women deserve.

because we are going to be diverse in our belief about abortions, IVF, birth control, but we also have so much in common as women. So this episode is not meant to further divide, you know, like pro-choice, pro-life, whatever terms you want to use, but it's about getting the attention of both sides to say it's possible that at the core, we actually want the same things for women, knowledge, respect, empowerment, quality healthcare.

comprehensive family planning. And in my opinion these things don't come down to just birth control and abortion but fertility education and restorative reproductive medicine. It's a total shift of perspective but one that is educational, that is empowering and is so different. It could have such a big impact. I can you picture it?

young girls learning about their periods so they don't feel scared and intimidated, then learning about basic hygiene and respect for their bodies from an early age? How would that have been different for us if we had had that kind of early education? Women having unrestricted access to modern effective methods of fertility awareness that work for them and for their lifestyles. They don't feel limited to just synthetic hormones or an implanted device, but they have a range of

options. Wisdom passed down from generation to generation about things to be on the lookout for while cycle charting, whether it's about when to conceive or possible health concerns, and really feeling empowered and knowledgeable about our own reproductive health. Women feeling empowered in general instead of paralyzed as they enter into a new reproductive stage of life. Medical care that values how a woman's body was designed to function and works in partnership with that

process to restore it if possible. Physicians who understand our cycles and can get to the root causes of issues instead of just putting us on birth control. Real answers to real medical and menstrual issues.

This is a world of reproductive rights that I can get behind. And even with all these resources, we can't expect reproductive health care to be perfect, but it would be so much better. Don't you think? And the question I assume we would think now is, but how can we do that? How can we make this happen? Here's the beauty of this option. It's not controlled by the government, but by you and me.

We have the ability to create great change in our lives and the lives of future generations with the decisions and investments that we make today. We can choose to celebrate menstruation with our daughters and nieces and young friends. We can share hygiene and healthcare basics with the next generation.

We can talk openly about the goodness of our body and the capabilities that we have as a woman, our ability to ovulate and gestate and lactate. We can educate ourselves through an evidence-based cycle charting method. There are resources out there like here at Woven Well, behind the scenes, where Woven Natural Fertility Care and we choose to teach the Creighton model system specifically.

We can ask questions about restoring our health instead of suppressing it and working with medical staff who value the design and function of our cycles. We can financially support education for women and medical institutions who prioritize restorative reproductive medicine. We can pray for women, those with fertility issues or those with large families or those who are in vulnerable situations or uncomfortable in their own bodies or desperate for answers.

We can pray for the women in our lives. You and I, we can do each and every one of these things. And some of them we can even start today. We are capable of empowering the next generation and changing the expectations in women's healthcare. Right now, you and me starting today. So I am all about reproductive rights.

but ones bigger and better for women than what we're being offered right now. There's so much more available to us. And we've also created a downloadable with these reproductive rights. If you are interested in getting these for free on our website, if you want to have them in front of you so you can be thinking about it, praying about it, maybe even bringing it into your doctor to talk through some of them, we'll have a link in the show notes so that you can access them.

I encourage you to be thinking about these things on your own, looking for like-minded medical professionals, seek out your own education, and of course, always, welcome God into the process because God wants to meet you in this sacred place. You should not have to settle for the bare minimum. You deserve reproductive rights that can help you thrive as a woman. As always, thanks for listening as we continue to explore together.

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