Triggered by Election
Anyone else (in the US) having a hard time dealing with this election? One of our candidates is a big trigger for me. Every time I see him on tv or hear him on the radio, I have flashbacks of being raped. I also get nauseous, shaky, and feel way too hot and too cold at the same time. The fact that he and his VP have both supported legislature that could have me imprisoned for miscarrying my rapist's child is positively terrifying. My family is voting for this man, and they refuse to acknowledge that talking about him is a trigger. I was doing well, but lately I feel sick pretty much all the time. Anyone have any tips on balancing mental health with actually being informed? This next week is going to be rough.
@Amystikyanna I feel for you. I'm in Canada and while I'm not triggered by it I'm actively tuning out most of the election stuff as a positve thing for my mental health. The campaigning focuses so much on negatives and drags on for such a long time. I can see how stressful it would be for you when it's that much more personal.
I would be pretty shocked if anyone was ever convicted for the situation you mention, but it's horrible that something like that is even an election issue. I'm glad that you at least felt safe enough to bring it up here. I hope that you have in-person supporters too.
@AffyAvo Unfortunately someone has already been convicted for that situation. She wasn't raped, but she became pregnant, and then miscarried. Because she owned drugs that could've caused an abortion, she was sentenced to 12 years for infanticide. She served 2 of those years before the federal courts got involved and ruled that while there was no evidence she'd taken those drugs to induce an abortion, even if she had, that's still legal in this country. Its not just a hypothetical at this point. It's something they've actually tried to do, and this man has the power to change the one court protecting us from that.
@Amystikyanna I hope you're ok.
Well yeah it is kinda rough, and idk what's going to happen...just gotta take it one day at a time I guess...part of me wishes I could just leave...it's impossible though...
Even if they implemented something, they can't possibly round up everyone that's had a past miscarriage or abortion and convict them all. That just isn't possible to carry out. I don't think it would be. But idk. There's a lot of crazy people in this country. I just don't know...
@Amystikyanna
I understand that it's very hard to see him on television and hear from him at all, especially now that he has become elected. I know it's not ideal, but it's one of those situations where you don't have much of a choice as to what happens now. It's important that you take care of yourself and seek help if necessary. I'm sorry you're going through this, but you can reach out to many listeners to talk about it (me included) and hopefully it helps even just a little bit. Stay strong.