Opinion: Nationwide threats to reproductive health care will come for us all

Abortion remains at the center of political debates and speculations of what is to come under a second Trump Administration — and that’s for good reason. President Trump’s staunchly anti-abortion administration is certain to rain down policies that restrict bodily autonomy and block people from affordable health care. But the impact of a second Trump term looms larger than last time around for many reasons — chief among them being that we no longer have the backstop of Roe v. Wade — and the consequences of the far-right, dangerous proposals laid out in Project 2025 will affect people across the country, whether you need an abortion or not.

First and foremost, we can expect threats to medication abortion, the most common method of abortion. A Trump FDA led by Martin Makary, a known anti-abortion actor, can restrict access to the medication used in an abortion by simply revoking its FDA approval – a step they can take without congressional approval. After that, the predictions become even more grim. 

Project 2025 directs the Trump Administration to misapply an 1873 law called the Comstock Act to prevent the interstate shipment of supplies related to reproductive care through the mail, including medication used in abortion care and even some types of birth control. This coupled with his army of anti-abortion judges that he put on federal benches during his last term could add up to unprecedented barriers to reproductive health care for everyone from the deep South to the Pacific Northwest.

We can also expect the Trump Administration to take away affordable health care coverage and federal funding for people with low incomes, blocking them from getting essential services like birth control, STI testing and treatment, and cancer screenings from the reproductive health care provider they trust. 

So what’s a girl to do in Trump’s America? Pressure your state government to shield us from the worst of what’s to come. A top priority is to prevent the state General Assembly from making it any harder to provide or get an abortion in North Carolina. That means no more bans or restrictions on reproductive health care. 

We must also push lawmakers to explicitly protect birth control, IVF, and emergency contraception in state law. While we’re at it, we must fight back against any attempts to attack people who are LGBTQ+, including attacks on gender-affirming health care that are sure to be on the agenda next year. The current majority and leadership of the North Carolina General Assembly are unlikely to take any steps to oppose Trump policies — and, more likely, they will gladly endorse them. But we must at least insist that they don’t make life any worse for people who need affordable health care.

Bottom line: Nationwide threats to bodily autonomy and reproductive health care will come for us all. We must support the people in our lives who need access to this lifesaving care and hold state leaders accountable for the policies they make to strip us of our autonomy close to home.