By ISABELLA VOLMERT
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan state lawmaker told a crowd protesting President Trump’s early actions this week that she underwent elective surgery to remove her reproductive organs.
State Rep. Laurie Pohutsky’s account was cheered by the left-leaning protestors and condemned by right-wing social media accounts.
The 36-year-old Democrat said the surgery was a personal decision she had been considering for a few years and was finalized by Trump’s election. She wanted to validate the fears other women might have about access to contraception by sharing it.
She told The Associated Press that she has received threats since speaking this week, referring at least one of them to Michigan authorities. The Associated Press reached out to Michigan State police for comment.
“I don’t fully grasp the level of animosity that people have about this,” Pohutsky said.
Pohutsky told large crowd gathered in Lansing at the state Capitol Wednesday that she chose last month to have a bilateral salpingectomy to remove her fallopian tubes. While abortion is constitutionally protected in Michigan and state lawmakers have bolstered contraceptive access, she said the decision was prompted by doubts that the Trump administration will not target access.
“Pretty much all of these executive orders have come straight out of Project 2025, and that same document outlines a process for limiting access to contraception,” she said.
After Trump’s election, physicians reported a rise in women seeking both long-term birth control and permanent sterilizations. Trump told a Pittsburgh television station in May that he was open to supporting regulations on contraception, and later walked back his comments saying that he “has never and will never” advocate for restricting birth control and other contraceptives.
Pohutsky said her decision to have the surgery was a conversation she and her husband were having for a couple of years, and she made the appointment for the surgery after the November election. She later considered rescheduling it since it was on a session day, but decided to go through with it after seeing Trump’s executive actions.
Her decision was criticized by a few high profile conservative voices on X, including the right wing influencer account Libs of TikTok and conservative commentator Ben Shapiro.
Shapiro quoted a post about her with “So many broken people.” Libs of TikTok has since deleted its post on X.