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Ashley Tietz is a mother of two who lives with her family in Falmouth.
I was suicidal for six months after the birth of my second baby.
Before that we’d wanted to have one more kid, but knowing that another child might mean I would again become suicidal postpartum, we cannot take that chance.
Thanks to Planned Parenthood and Medicaid I was able to get an IUD and not have to worry about pregnancy constantly. Until I got the IUD I worried every single day about getting pregnant again.
With both of my previous children I became pregnant within two months of deciding to have a baby, so unplanned pregnancy was a very real fear for me. I was so stressed and panicky every time I even thought about pregnancy; I’ve had such peace of mind since getting the IUD.
Right now there’s a bill in Congress that would prohibit Medicaid patients like me from using Medicaid to receive care — like getting an IUD implant — at Planned Parenthood. It would effectively give Mainers like me, families like mine, fewer options for essential health care. The bill also proposes drastic cuts to Medicaid in general.
It’s perplexing that politicians in Washington, D.C. who claim to support families want to take health care away from families, especially health care that allows people to plan their lives and futures in a way that works for them.
My husband is a student, and we decided to have kids during this challenging stage in our lives anyway because our family is important to us. Even though we don’t yet have the financial resources to live comfortably, we have been able to make it work with a frugal, austere lifestyle (we use cloth diapers, we don’t buy anything except food and other necessities, we all wear thrifted clothing, etc).
Medicaid has been a critical piece of our ability to build our family and continue our schooling because while we can be frugal in most areas of life, medical bills don’t work that way. When our 3-year-old broke her leg last winter, she had to get medical care whether we could afford it or not. Thanks to Medicaid, we could, and she healed perfectly.
Without Medicaid we would have had to take on medical debt, borrow money, or find another way to pay for the urgent health care our daughter needed.
Once my husband graduates and moves forward in his career, we look forward to paying into Medicaid so other people can have the support we’ve received while we’ve been in school. Everyone should have the opportunity to pursue their dreams and simply to access basic health care when they need it.
Medicaid and Planned Parenthood have given us the ability to plan our family and get the education that will allow us to support them long term. I urge our lawmakers in Washington, D.C. to consider the consequences of passing a bill into law that will strip thousands of Mainers and so many Americans of the same opportunities to access health care that we have had. I hope they think of families like mine when they cast their vote. And I hope they vote to oppose this bill.
