# 1

Only women get abortions

Abortion rhetoric is highly gendered. It’s often not acknowledged that abortion patients are not exclusively ciswomen (women born women).

There are many transgender men who sometimes need access to abortion and other related reproductive care. There are also many trans people who don’t fall into the gender binary but still need abortions – i.e, people who don’t identify as either male or female, or perhaps as a third gender.  The fact that abortion is so often framed from a woman’s perspective means that those who are marginalized in other ways are not being heard and their stories aren’t seen as important.

Reproductive rights activists and healthcare providers have traditionally discriminated against transgender people through exclusion and lack of recognition.  We must stand with transgender people. This does not mean erasing ciswomen from our language, but including transgender people in our discussions, recognizing their unique (as well as similar) needs, and ensuring they receive the care and respect they deserve.

Sources:

everydayfeminism.com – 6 Abortion Myths We Need to Put to Rest Once and For All (2014)

Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada – Transgender Inclusivity (2015)