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DEMOCRAT lawmaker Laurie Pohutsky said she has sterilised herself to avoid a pregnancy during Donald Trump’s term in office.
The 36-year-old Michigan state representative made the shocking announcement during a protest against Trump’s second administration outside the Michigan State Capitol.
Pohutsky, said she underwent the procedure because she believed the US President would ban abortions.
She said during the Wednesday protest: “Just under two weeks ago, I underwent surgery to ensure that I would never have to navigate a pregnancy in Donald Trump’s America.
“I refuse to let my body be treated as currency by an administration that only sees value in my ability to procreate.”
She added: “If you know people who are questioning how serious this is, I’m going to repeat myself.
“A sitting government official opted for voluntary sterilisation because she was uncertain she would be able to access contraception in the future.”
After facing backlash following her comments, Pohutsky took it to social media to respond.
She wrote on X: “Oh my… it would seem that many men with profile photos of other people have read the news and are not very happy with me today.
“So anyway, who else is excited for the new Lady Gaga album?
“The fact that so many conservative men take personal offense to a decision that I made with my husband about my health care and future just proves the point that we shouldn’t assume that right is secure.”
Trump has a complex relationship to the abortion issue.
Last month he reinstated the Mexico City policy halting US aid to groups providing or promoting abortion services overseas.
Abortion in the US has been a highly sensitive issue ever since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark ruling Roe V Wade in 2022.
The decision meant the issues of abortion would be up to state legislators.
Trump applauded the court’s decision at the time saying the ruling “will work out for everybody.”
He said in 2022: “This is following the Constitution, and giving rights back when they should have been given long ago.
“I think, in the end, this is something that will work out for everybody.
“This brings everything back to the states where it has always belonged.”
It comes after Trump signed an executive order banning transgender women from female events and declared the “war is over”.
Trump’s order allows US government agencies to deny money to schools that allow transgender athletes to compete on women’s teams.
Trump on reproductive rights
DURING his first week in office, Trump revived two anti-abortion policies from his first term.
He brought back the Hyde Amendment which means federal funds cannot be used to pay for abortions.
Biden had reversed the policy after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Trump said in the executive order “The previous administration disregarded this established, commonsense policy by embedding forced taxpayer funding of elective abortions in a wide variety of Federal programs.”
The US President previously revealed he supports abortion in cases of rape and incest.
He also reinstated the global gag rule – a sweeping policy that halts US aid to groups providing abortions overseas.
