#Men will be in a financially unstable situation and get into a career with incredibly expensive equipment and incredibly low pay

[brw]

No wonder Peter Parker has no money.

He's a photographer.

[rapeculturerealities]

Abortion is subjected to much harsher restrictions than any other kind of legal medical care, despite being one of the safest surgical procedures in the world. It’s because of these restrictions that accessing abortion is becoming increasingly expensive; for obvious reasons, the rising cost disproportionately affects low-income women. Conservative legislators have enacted hundreds of medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion providers in the past decade—needlessly mandating that they be outfitted like a surgical center, for instance, or forcing them to enter into agreements with nearby hospitals. Laws like this have contributed to the closing of dozens of abortion clinics across the country—so much so that 87 percent of all US counties have no abortion provider, forcing women to travel incredibly long distances to terminate unwanted pregnancies.

The lack of providers also contributes to longer wait times for appointment availability, pushing some women past the legal time limit to obtain the procedure in their state. Twenty-seven states also require women to receive counseling, then wait a certain amount of time—between 24 and 72 hours—before getting an abortion. Fourteen require patients to get this counseling in-person, meaning they must make the trip to the clinic twice. This has the potential to increase travel costs by hundreds of dollars, or to necessitate an overnight stay, depending on your zip code.

Perhaps the most flagrant offense against low-income women is the Hyde Amendment, passed in 1976, which prohibits Medicaid from being used to pay for abortion services, making it prohibitively difficult for the 6.5 million American women who obtain health care through Medicaid to get a safe and legal abortion. This legislation is particularly cruel, given that 75 percent of abortion patients are poor or low-income. And it's especially harmful to women of color, who disproportionately rely on Medicaid for coverage. (According to Planned Parenthood, 30 percent of Black women and 24 percent of Hispanic women are enrolled in Medicaid, compared with just 14 percent of white women.)

These anti-choice laws result in unequal access, create unnecessary hardships, and place women at risk by delaying their medical treatment. Copious research had found that restrictions around abortion access are totally ineffective at reducing abortion; instead, they put women’s health, safety, and wellbeing at risk. That’s because abortion is already extremely safe when performed in the right setting, with complications occurring in less than one percent of procedures. Delaying abortion care, conversely, increases major complications, costs, and emotional distress.

The entire system creates a vicious cycle of poverty. That’s because women’s socioeconomic success is intrinsically tied to their reproductive lives. In fact, forcing women to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term quadruples their odds of living below the federal poverty line, and laws that restrict abortion access have proven to deteriorate economic outcomes for women. Family planning is key to achieving life goals, and unwanted pregnancies can prevent women from obtaining an education, fulfilling their career aspirations, and reaching financial self-sufficiency. The situation is exacerbated by America’s shameful lack of paid maternity leave, childcare subsidies, and flexible work hours.

Not only does this negatively impact access to opportunity for mothers, it also affects the health and wellbeing of unplanned children born into economically unstable families without the support and resources of many of their peers. While the government adamantly promotes forced motherhood through strategically attempting to defund family planning resources like Planned Parenthood, they are simultaneously unwilling to invest in programs such as the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to help those same mothers and children succeed.

Anti-choice measures are not only harmful to individual women and families: Our economy suffers as a result of them as well. Endless studies have shown that women’s workforce participation fuels economic growth, and exclusion stifles the national economy. Female economic empowerment is critical to national prosperity, with the possibility of boosting the US economy by $4.3 trillion in just 10 years if we could manage full gender equality in the workplace. We will never see these economic gains if we continue to restrict access to family planning resources.

How is it possible that the fictitious crusade to save “unborn lives” has been deemed more important than the health and wellbeing of families, opportunities for social mobility, and a robust national economy? Aren’t these the things Republican lawmakers say they support? Perhaps it’s difficult for legislators to understand the impact of anti-choice legislation because they simply do not represent the people. After all, 80 percent of those in Congress are men, with a median net worth of $1,008,767 and an insurance plan that subsidizes 72 percent of their premium costs. The women in their lives will be able to terminate their pregnancies no matter how dire things are for the average American. If the clinics around these wealthy women are forced to close down, they’ll be able to afford travel and hotel fees comfortably. If abortion is banned outright, they’ll leave the country for safe and legal procedures.

There’s no question that the system is rigged against low-income women. We have a corrupt, sexist, racist, classist government, filled with officials who hide behind exaggerated images of fetal remains to justify their abhorrent attacks on women and the impoverished. We live in an America where rich women have access to all of the resources they need to pursue their goals, achieve financial success, and support their families, while the rest of us—like the women from Lubbock County, Texas—are faced with insurmountable burdens. Forced motherhood is the epitome of class warfare, and we have no choice but to fight tooth and nail for control over our reproductive lives if we want to put an end to it.

[rivalsofnycupdates]

“Ambition is putting a ladder against the sky.”

■ ABOUT. ■

name: Avery Harding age: thirty occupation: paramedic gender: transgender-female sexuality: homosexual

■ HISTORY. ■

When asked about Avery Harding almost everyone who comes in contact with her, would agree that she’s a confident paramedic, who has very little patience or fear of bullshit. These are the qualities that have made a place for her in her pro dominantly male firehouse. She stands on her own in a way not many others could. As a thirty year old, her looks now aren’t what match the very few childhood photos she has. Born in Las Vegas, with a loving yet troubled mother. Aidan Harding and his mother Judith lived in studio apartment with extremely close corners, due to their monthly income being unemployment cheques from the government. The majority of Avery’s memories from her childhood contained the odd and often disgusting meals her mother would feed her, the various amount of men that would enter and leave their front door and by far the worst part was not knowing whether her mother would be alive or not since unfortunately, even the love for her mother’s love for her child didn’t trump her love for drugs and alcohol. 

Since her mother would use any penny she could towards any altering substance, the pair would shared everything. They shared clothes, bathroom necessities, food, anything that entered the house was shared between them. They even shared a bed and as mentioned. Avery’s mother often brought suitors home, so whenever her mother had an overnight guest, Avery would go to sleep earlier than usual never really understanding why. Avery has a vague yet predominant memory of waking up on the floor to the rocking of the bed frame against the wall. As a six-year-old, she wasn’t knowledgable of the inappropriate actions her drunk mother had taken, though something never felt right about it. Amongst all the fear and discomfort, there were fond memories shared between mother and child. Those memories were mostly shared when the head of household was sober. The pair would play dress up in her clothes, play loud music and dance around the living room. It was days like those that often gave Avery hope. Though she was often disappointed. Her mother was an addict through and through, as a young child, she witnessed her mother in all stages an addict would go through. She would be clean for four days, usually no more than that, before her mother’s attitude would take shape of the devil. One memory she will never forget is her mother throwing a bottle of vodka that hit her in the ribs and left a huge blue and purple bruise. 

When Avery turned seven years old she was taken away from her mother, by social services. It wasn’t until she was a teenager she realized the life she’d been living with her mother wasn’t normal. Kids her age didn’t share beds with their mothers, and they had their own sized clothes. Avery was in and out of orphanages until she was adopted at 10, from a family in California. Avery wasn’t like most adoptive kids who were trouble makers or unstable. When she was adopted she was cautious at first, though after an appropriate amount of time she was grateful for her adoptive parents and she began to live like a normal kid. Life with her adoptive family couldn’t have been more perfect. It took her a while to actually start focusing on herself. She’d spent so much of her life worrying and taking care of her mother. The young child didn’t know how to take care of themselve. As a teenage boy, most would assume he’d want to party, or get to know the girls in the neighbourhood. Though that wasn’t Avery’s interests at the time. Avery wanted to get to know the boys in the neighbourhood. She wanted to be friends with the girls and date the boys. California was known to be incredibly inclusive and her adoptive family wasn’t any different. The more she was able to explore and learn about herself, she was coming to the realization that she no longer wanted to be referred to as Aidan Harding. She no longer wanted to be known as “that guy over there”. She wanted to wear dresses and make up and not get strange looks. Of course in the state of California the looks wouldn’t be as odd or often, though it was more than that. She wanted to be Avery Harding.

 Though as this realization became more concrete a weird sense of fear took over as he thought of transitioning felt so right, though she wasn’t sure if she was ready for the potential look of disappointment or disgust on her parents face when she announced that she was transgender. An imaginative memory that luckily never needed to surface since her adoptive parents were unconditionally loving, accepting incredibly supportive of her new identity. Now at thirty years old she decided to move to New York City still living in California and was very close to her adoptive parents, the parents she truly loved and cared for. She went to college, and pursued her interest in science and her want to help people. She didn’t have the financials to go to medical school, though the idea of it didn’t pull at her as much as she thought it would. She did have an interest in sciences and did love helping others. It’s how she was able to manage her expectations and gain the proper education to be a paramedic. A job she couldn’t be happier in to this day.

■ WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON? ■

Since living in New York City, you often hear and read stories about the dangers and attacks relating to the Royals. Though you learn pretty quickly what area’s of the city you should avoid. Unfortunately, as a paramedic, she doesn’t always have the luxury of avoiding the Royals and other smaller gangs due to the fact that she’s the person that often comes to their rescue. Since being a paramedic, she’s definitely seen her fair share of crime and has been involved in a few dangerous situations, though very few of those situations have ever been with Royals members themselves. She’s always condemned them as a whole for that exact reason.

■ KEEP THIS AWAY FROM YOUR ENEMIES ■

Throughout her life and her career, she has found not only one but two incredible families. Her adoptive parents and the family at the firehouse where her ambulance is stationed. Somehow, those two families are the hardest people to tell anything to. Especially with the serious concerns of a tumour growing in her. Since finding out, she’s been able to tell random hookups, bartenders, anyone she wasn’t close to, yet the people who she knew would be there for her the most, are those she can’t seem to admit to telling.

■ RELATIONSHIPS. ■

■ Nicholas Garcia: Her first day of work at the fire station, was the first day she met her roommate and her best friend. Nicholas has been the brother she never had. She was probably way too open with him about everything, and they’ve been through some awkward situations with their partners or hookups. Though they’ve always been there for each other no matter how awkward it is.    

■ Crystal Reeves: Avery often sees Crystal at the local bar that’s usually opened to Cops and Firefighters. They don’t see each other often, though when they do, a lot of laughs are usually included.

■ Emmaline Otterly: Being a paramedic, she often saw Emmaline when she worked in Emergency. Avery trusts her and is the person to inform her of her tumours. Since then she’s one of the few people who knew of her tumours.

■ CONNECTIONS. ■

■  Peter Darden > Co-worker

■  Emilie Nolan > Friend

■  Leslie Cartwell > Friend from the orphanage

Avery Harding is an OPEN character and is portrayed by Amiyah Scott who’s FC is NOT-NEGOTIABLE.