Why Getting an IUD Is Trending on Social Media Today

After Donald Trump won the presidency, some women started to take action to protect their reproductive health before the businessman’s inauguration.

As of last night, women are posting on social media to advocate that others invest in an IUD — a form of long-term birth control that’s inserted into a woman’s uterus and can last between three to 12 years — as an insurance policy against a Trump presidency, New York Magazine noted. Erin Gloria Ryan, a senior editor at The Daily Beast, first advocated for women to get an IUD on Nov. 2, and she echoed the plea before the election was even called for Trump early on Wednesday morning.

Despite taking a pro-abortion rights stance in the past, Trump campaigned for president on an anti-abortion platform. During the third presidential debate, he said he would appoint justices who would “automatically” overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized abortion. (Never mind that’s not how the Supreme Court works.)

His Vice President-elect Mike Pence has an even more extreme stance on abortion, signing some of the strictest abortion restrictions into law during his time as governor of Indiana. One particularly controversial law required women who had miscarriages or abortions to bury or cremate the fetuses.

Trump has also said he wants to overturn the Affordable Care Act, which requires insurers to provide birth control pills for women at no cost. And repealing that act has been a chief policy mission for Congressional Republicans, who maintained their control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate on Tuesday.

It’s unclear to what extent a Trump presidency could limit the reproductive rights that women have fought for. In the past, Trump has even supported Planned Parenthood, which provides birth control and other health treatments to women at lower costs, diverging from Republicans who want to defund the organization because of it also provides abortions. But as the reality sets in on Wednesday, many women are starting to think it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Interested? You can get an IUD from your doctor or a Planned Parenthood health center. Many insurers cover some or all of the costs of IUDs, which can stretch up to $1000.

[The Cut]