In a viral TikTok from Shonda Rhimes, leading actors from the eighteen-season and still running medical drama series Grey’s Anatomy cycle through a script urging people to immediately get on birth control to protect themselves as the legal landscape around abortion shifts.
“Knowledge is power,” says Ellen Pompeo, who plays the title character of the series, Meredith Grey. “You are powerful,” echoes Chandra Wilson.
And, adds Kim Raver, “Being powerful means having options.”
Other assorted cast members—including Kelly McCreary, Kevin McKidd, Catarina Scorsone, and Kate Burton—chime in with similar messages.
Birth control and emergency contraception can be inaccessible to many, even as more options and ways of obtaining these medications proliferate.
It’s certainly commendable to discuss contraception so openly without stigma or shame. But, while these actors are correct—access to birth control and emergency contraception is critical as more and more states chip away at abortion rights—their advice, like the show’s propensity for oversimplifying medical realities for dramatic effect, is also shortsighted.
Birth control and emergency contraception are certainly going to play a critical role in preventing unwanted pregnancies in a post-Roe United States, as will holistic fertility management and other preventative measures. However, they will never replace the need for abortion access.
In the wake of the leaked U.S. Supreme Court opinion that outlines an end to Roe v. Wade, some states have come down hard on the legality of abortion, including Oklahoma, which became the first state in the country where abortion is entirely outlawed in a post-Roe context. But other states, like Idaho and Louisiana, are threatening to go even further by making certain forms of birth control illegal as well, due to the false belief that some forms of birth control, such as IUDs, can serve as a form of abortion.
Anything that can prevent an egg from being fertilized might one day be outlawed in certain parts of the country.
Additionally, birth control and emergency contraception can be inaccessible to many, even as more options and ways of obtaining these medications proliferate. For those in contraception deserts, contraceptives can be very costly and typically require insurance. Long-lasting forms of contraception such as IUDs that have the highest rates of preventing pregnancies can cost up to $1,300. As abortion clinics are forced to shutter in the coming months, there will be even fewer places for people to access these forms of contraception.
There are also few non-hormonal birth control options that are effective and tolerable. (Hormonal birth control can come with a slew of side effects that can affect mood, weight, skin quality, and blood clotting.) Non-hormonal options like the copper IUD can cause extremely heavy periods, cramping, and bloating.
Not everyone is educated on birth control or what their options might be, and some people simply do not want to be on it.
Emergency contraception is typically even more expensive than birth control, ranging anywhere from $35 to $250. And there are no emergency contraception options for people who weigh more than 195 pounds.
And, not all pregnancies are conceived consensually. One out of every six U.S. women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime, and the option to access abortion care is a critical part of sexual assault recovery.
Even wanted pregnancies sometimes need to end in termination. Whether the fetus is not viable or the life of the pregnant person is in danger, the reality is that many people who do want to give birth sometimes need abortions.
Access to all birth control options and emergency contraception is a necessary part of a person’s overall health and wellbeing, but focusing solely on increasing the use of these medications instead of continuing to fight for abortion access is shortsighted and exclusionary.
Every person should have the right to terminate a pregnancy at any time—not just to prevent one in the first place. Maybe Shonda Rhimes can make another TikTok uplifting resources for how to access an abortion.