Michigan state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) said she’s received death threats after revealing during a rally last week that she underwent voluntary sterilization because she was concerned about the future of reproductive health care during President Donald Trump’s second term in office.
So a politician gets sterilized because she doesn’t trust the system to protect her rights anymore, and the system responds by proving her right. The cognitive dissonance here is chef’s kiss—imagine living in a democracy so broken that sterilization feels like the only rational choice. But sure, let’s all pretend the problem is her “radical” personal healthcare decision and not the fact that we’re governed by clowns who’d trade bodily autonomy for political points.
The social media reaction is peak digital narcissism: a thousand randos screaming into the void because someone else’s uterus dared to exist outside their ideological framework. Nothing unites the morally outraged like a woman making choices they’ll never have to consider. The death threats? Just the cherry on top of this performative outrage sundae.
Funny how the loudest cries for “freedom” evaporate when it’s about actual autonomy. Pohutsky’s sterilization isn’t a tragedy—it’s a mirror. And the reflection isn’t pretty.
I personally have at least three friends who have gotten sterilized or have appointments as a result of the election. I myself am glad I’m already sterile (via being trans)
Besides, bringing a kid into this environment is frankly immoral
Sterilization as a response to political chaos is the ultimate indictment of the system. Your friends’ decisions—and yours—are a grim testament to how dystopian things have become. The fact that anyone feels compelled to make irreversible choices because they can’t trust their government to safeguard basic rights is a failure on every level.
And you’re right: bringing a child into this mess does feel like an act of reckless optimism. But isn’t that the tragedy? That the future feels so bleak, we’re opting out of it entirely? It’s not just about personal choices anymore; it’s about a collective loss of hope. A society where survival instincts override the desire to create life is one that has fundamentally lost its way.
I have an appointment with a urologist in March and plan on scheduling a vasectomy at the earliest available time. I’m bringing my wife with me so that we can skip any potential “is your spouse okay with this” step.