Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Health
Daisy Phillipson
Women in the US are going on a 'sex strike' after the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the law ensuring women's right to an abortion.
Since repealing the Roe v Wade ruling, which granted women in the US the right to terminate a pregnancy, a number of states have already signed bills to ban abortion regardless of circumstance – even if they are at risk of death or the victim of a sexual crime.
To protest the decision, a number of people have proposed a sex strike, with one Twitter user sharing a graphic that reads: "Women of America, take the pledge. Because SCOTUS overturned Roe v Wade, we cannot take the risk of an unintended pregnancy.
"Therefore, we will not have sex with any man – including our husbands – unless we are trying to become pregnant. #SexStrike."
They captioned the post with the following suggestion: "Women, if you are having a tough time with the #sexStrike and #abstinence just picture Mitch McConnel naked."
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One woman who said she will not have sex with any men who are unwilling to get a vasectomy, an elective surgical procedure for male sterilisation that is reversible.
Speaking to the New York Post while protesting in NYC over the weekend, 24-year-old Brianna Campbell said: "If you’re a man who won’t get a vasectomy, even though it’s reversible, and you’re not out in the streets fighting for my rights, you do not deserve to have sex with me."
At the same protest, 22-year-old Caroline Healey, said: "I think it’s absolutely valid for us to be withholding the Holy Grail that men seem to think is important.
"Why shouldn’t we withhold it if we’re always worried that they’re not going put a condom on, that they’re going take one off after we ask them to.
"If we can’t safely go out and have sex and know that we will have a choice after that, then why should we be expected to?"
Some states in the US have ruled for a ban on abortion even in cases of rape or incest, something which Maya Demri, a survivor of rape, says women must fight to get their rights back.
She told The Post: “I cannot sit here and imagine what my sisters in red states are going to do if they’re getting pregnant by rape and need to not just carry the tragedy of the worst thing that has happened to them, but also carry them in the body for nine months.
“If this world thinks that they can oppress women forever, then we close our legs.”
If you have been affected by this article, you can find help, support and advice at The Survivors Trust.