We Live In A Red State. Here's Why It Doesn't Feel Safe To Have A Second Child.
The author and her husband, Donald, celebrating his tenure-track offer, March 2023. On our way back to Missouri, I tried to hold on to the image of the people we’d seen in the streets of Montpelier holding signs for reproductive rights: “PRO-CHOICE IS PRO-LIFE,” “WE ARE NOT OVARY-ACTING,” an image of a hanger with the words reading: “NEVER AGAIN.” A group of women dressed in bloodred cloaks and white bonnets walked with their heads down, mouths tight in silent protest on the lawn of Vermont’s state capitol. There was a late June sprinkling of rain, but she never budged, even though that Planned Parenthood hadn’t performed an abortion since the summer of 2018, when new state legislation required a physician to be available 24/7 and mid-Missouri couldn’t find an OB-GYN willing to do the task alone. In 2024, Missouri ranks 40th in women’s health and reproductive care, a number that also reflects one of the “highest pregnancy-associated maternal mortality rates in the United States.” After reaching the age of 35, the likelihood of maternal mortality is even higher. When Donald wakes up from another dream, a looming guilt settles over me, even when he assures me that he’s found comfort in thinking perhaps a version of us has Elm in another world, a parallel universe where a geriatric pregnancy wouldn’t imply danger in a red state — in our home.
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