One of the most frustrating things to be revealed post-election is the absolute ignorance that most American voters had about each candidate and what they stood for. There have been stories coming out about people who voted for Donald Trump while being completely misinformed about his policies vs. VP Kamala Harris’s policies. There are also anecdotes from voters who voted for him because they figured, “Well, he won’t actually do this to ME and MY family.” Now, these voters are learning that yes, the leopards will eat their faces. Searches for “What is a tariff?” spiked on the day after the election. What a wild time to finally do your own research.
While many people woke up to news sites finally covering the dangers of Trump’s policies, those of us who were actually paying attention realized that our worst fears were about to come true. Another search term that surged after Trump was declared was for birth control options. In fact, as soon as he was declared winner in the wee hours of the morning, people in red states like West Virginia, Mississippi, Indiana, Arkansas, and Kentucky were searching things like, “Is Trump going to get rid of birth control.”
At 4 a.m. on Nov. 6 — right around when news broke that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump defeated the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris — Google searches for “birth control” more than doubled, according to Google Trends. The states where the term was searched the most were all ones that Trump won: West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Arkansas and Indiana.
Those states have instituted near-total bans or restrictions on abortions.
Related searches include variations of the phrase “Is birth control being banned,” along with “Is Trump going to get rid of birth control,” per Google Trends.
During his first term in office, Trump rolled back a previous requirement that employers include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans without a co-pay. The 2017 decision, the administration said, was to protect religious freedom and moral sensibilities as birth control promotes “risky sexual behavior.”
The nonprofit organization A Step Ahead Chattanooga, which provides contraception to Southeast Tennessee, Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama, shared on Instagram that requests for birth control were up 287% following the election.
After the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was handed down in 2022, multiple states enacted “trigger bans” that severely limited — or outright banned — access to abortion.
During this year’s election, voters in some states approved measures to permanently enshrine abortion access into the state’s constitutions. In September, Trump, 78, said that women “will no longer be thinking about abortion” if he won the election “because it is now where it always had to be, with the States, and a vote of the people.”
This is terrifyingly new territory for America’s women. The ones who voted for that orange wannabe dictator are in for a rude awakening. I checked the search trends again, and as of Monday evening, another red state, Louisiana, was the top state using search terms involving “birth control.” And while I admit to taking comfort in the schadenfreude from some of these stories about people f-cking around and finding out, at the end of the day, I know that access to birth control is not only important to women, but to society in general. Even those who voted to enshrine abortion rights in their state’s constitution are in for a wake up call when there is a federal abortion ban. As evidenced by the search demographics, the women who live in red states know that they’ll be screwed. Meanwhile, the Trump voters in blue states who were WoRrIeD aBoUt ThE eCoNoMY really are about to Find Out.
I had my yearly obgyn appointment last month. My IUD is five years old, but they keep telling me that it will be good for eight years. During my appointment, I asked my gyno if I could change it out anyway because I didn’t know if it would even be allowed in three more years. She told me, “We’ll know who wins the election in four weeks. If he wins, I’ll get you back in ASAP.” My very first phone call on November 6 was to make that appointment. I know the IUD process sucks, but for me, it’s my best option right now. I know that’s not an option for everyone, though, so please make sure you have a plan in place come January.
Biden/Kamala’s policies when presented blindly to Trump supporters were favored over Trump’s own policies. I think we’re post policy. https://t.co/RxrawO90CM
— Jack Inacker (@JackInacker) November 9, 2024
— American Times ★ Docuseries (@ExportedFromMI) January 15, 2017
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