Are you a woman? Are you an ally to women? Do you have a woman that you care about in your life?

Do you suspect that it was a woman who gave birth to you?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, please listen to this episode.

Welcome back to Savvy Psychologist. I'm your host, Dr. Monica Johnson.

Every week on this show, I'll help you face life challenges with evidence-based approaches,

a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

This episode is for women. Sizz women, trans women,

BIPOC women, all women. Because there is a lot happening in the United States

and the world right now, that could be negatively impacting folks' mental health.

I'm going to talk about a few big things happening and why you should be aware of them.

Let's start with abortion rights. In the US, several states have been enacting laws

to limit access to abortion. Perhaps we have all forgotten what it was like in the before times

when abortion was illegal, but let's run through some facts that we know from research.

Approximately one quarter of women will have had an abortion by the time they are 45 years old.

In the past, when abortion was illegal, women engaged in unsafe abortions,

which were colloquially referred to as back alley abortions,

or engaged in other harmful self-practices in order to lose the child.

Can you imagine how to perform your own abortion TikToks that would blow up on our social media?

A recent study found that the vast majority of abortions were safe in countries where it was broadly legal,

and unsafe in countries where laws were highly restrictive.

We could assume that the number of unsafe abortions will increase as restrictions increase.

When we know that nearly a fourth of women will seek an abortion at some point in their lives,

...