Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

Anonymous asked: u wanted prompts: steve takes it upon himself to stand outside planned parenthood clinics and fight people who attack and harass pp

Listen, I see and observe your ‘Steve’ up there, but I raise you Forty Percent of the Marvel Universe because I am bitter about the current direction of the whole comics thing at the moment.  *Max Rockatansky voice* I guarantee you, a hundred and sixty days out, there’s nothing but salt.  Anyway, if you’ve read my Claire Temple AO3 fic that may or may not get more stuff added to it when I feel inspired, this is technically that universe, but prior knowledge IS NOT REQUIRED, okay good let’s do it.  Also I believe that movie canon only applies to me when I feel like it so everyone is in New York and the Avengers live in the Tower, no one is dead and everything is F I N E.  I dunno, this is only like the first half of a much longer thing that covers this whole day and, if I had my way, would be a full-blown elaborate media fic with tweets and Trish’s show and everything.  But here, it’s real long, so I left it alone.  It’s on AO3.

Steve got the call pre-dawn, just as he was leaving the Tower for his run.  

“Captain Rogers,” FRIDAY said politely from the ceiling, “you are receiving a call from an unknown number with a New York City area code.”

“If it’s a reporter, let it ring out,” Steve said, knotting his running shoes.

“Reporters do not have your personal cell number, Captain,” FRIDAY said, and there was a trace of genteel condescension in the artificial voice this time that made Steve grin down at the floor.

“Where in the City?”

“Hell’s Kitchen.”

Steve frowned, straightening up. “That might be Daredevil in trouble. You better put it through to my phone. Thanks, FRIDAY.”

“Of course, Captain,” FRIDAY said. Steve’s top-of-the-line, not-on-the-open-market-yet, Jesus-Cap-does-your-shit-phone-even-text-here-let-me-replace-it StarkPhone rang, a jaunty tune that sounded distinctly like the National Anthem, and even more distinctly like the foreboding of Bucky getting his ass kicked.

“Steve Rogers,” Steve answered, hitting the green button and raising the phone to his ear.

“Um…hi, Captain Rogers,” the voice on the other end said hesitantly.  “This is Claire Temple, I don’t know if you remember me, but–”

“Of course I remember you, Miss Temple,” Steve said, grinning.  “You pulled a piece of rebar out of my chest, hard to forget a first meeting like that.” She laughed, the same slightly worn chuckle he remembered from her.  “And it’s just Steve, please, ma’am.  I think once you’ve been up close and personal with someone’s lung tissue you can probably skip the ‘Captain.’”

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Why I stand with Planned Parenthood

sweaterkittensahoy:

Multiple gynos refused me an IUD because  “oh, it hurts so much to put in when you’ve had kids! We don’t want to put you in pain!!”

I was at a 7-9 on the pain scale regularly for my periods, and the docs were determined to make me run the gauntlet.

“But what about the pill?”

“Symptom-swap.”

“Have you thought about depo?”

“Mood drop.”

“And the patch?”

“Family history of breaking out in rashes.”

“Well, what about the nuva ring?”

“How will that NOT give me the same symptom-swap issues?”

“…”

“Look, I’m in pain so bad I wake up in the middle of the night. I’m in pain so bad I didn’t know I had appendecitis. I need SOMETHING.”

“Have you tried an ibuprofen protocol?”

“YES.”

“There are yoga poses that help with cramping.”

“I can’t uncurl from the ball of pain I’m in. How the hell am I supposed to hold position?”

“Well, how much caffeine do you drink? That could be a factor.”

“I have three cups of coffee a day and drink lots of water.”

And so on.

Then, one day, I made an appointment and went to Planned Parenthood.

“Yeah. Hi. I have incredibly painful periods that are fucking crippling me, and I need an IUD.”

“Okay. Do you have a chart of your periods I can look at?”

“Yup.”

“Okay. Looks like you have regular, heavy periods where the pain is worsening. Is that right?”

“Yup. And the fatigue. And the mood swings. And all of it.”

“Fatigue and mood swings, too?”

“Yup.”

“…is there any history of endometriosis in your family?”

“Yup. I’ve never been diagnosed, though. They say it takes a biopsy.”

“The biopsy can confirm tissue, but if you don’t have excess tissue, it doesn’t really help. You can have endo without excess tissue.”

“Okay. So, what are my options?”

“I suggest Mirena. Paraguard can make period symptoms worse even though it’s got no hormones while Mirena has a low-dose hormone that should help with all your pain and other issues. Here’s all the info on both of them. Here are models of both of them. Why don’t you take everything with you, read through it, then call if you have any questions? We can go ahead and schedule for insertion before you leave, and you can just call and say which type you want after you’ve read up. Is that okay?”

“…Yeah. That’s. That’s fine.”

“Do you have any questions right now?”

“Um, I got told a bunch I shouldn’t get an IUD because the insertion will hurt too much because I haven’t had kids.”

“Looking at the pain you’re usually in, I think you can handle it. It will definitely hurt, but it should only last about twenty seconds.”

“Twenty seconds?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve been refused the best option for dealing with my symptoms because of TWENTY SECONDS?!”

“Sadly, we hear that a lot.”

Planned Parenthood treated me like a PERSON who was in pain, not a walking uterus bitching and moaning about womanly things. Planned Parenthood showed me respect and kindness and respected the knowledge I brought of my own medical history to the conversation. Planned Parenthood respected my autonomy where other doctors rarely had and paid attention when I explained why I felt the IUD was the best choice. Planned Parenthood showed me I mattered, and I want to show how much they matter to me.

(via adelindschade)