Michigan state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky’s decision to tell the world about her recent sterilization has come with some consequences, including alleged death threats.
The Livonia Democrat leveraged her January sterilization surgery to take political shots at President Donald Trump last week, drawing a predictable response that’s now law enforcement’s responsibility to investigate, Michigan Advance reports.
“The negative reaction has actually made me feel much more secure and validated in my choice to undergo the procedure and the timing with which I did it,” Pohutsky said.
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At a “50501 Movement” rally at the Michigan Capitol last week, Pohutsky blamed her decision to voluntarily and permanently relinquish her fertility on the 47th POTUS.
“Just under two weeks ago, I underwent surgery to ensure that I would never have to navigate a pregnancy in Donald Trump’s America,” the 36-year-old lawmaker told several hundred Trump haters. “I refuse to let my body be treated as currency by an administration that only sees value in my ability to procreate,” she continued.
“If you know people who are questioning how serious this is, I’m going to repeat myself: A sitting government official opted for voluntary sterilization because she was uncertain she would be able to access contraception in the future,” she said.
The openly bisexual former House Speaker Pro Tempore insisted lawmakers must do more to counter Trump, urging followers to compel their elected representatives to go on the offensive.
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“We need to demand that our elected officials at all levels stop pretending that this is politics as usual,” she said. “It is beyond time that all elected officials force the issue instead of preemptively capitulating.”
Pohusky’s remarks were highlighted by The Midwesterner and went viral online, where folks lamented the “horrible publicity stunt” and “embarrassing self-own.”
“This is extreme,” one X user wrote. “Pohutsky’s choice reflects just how far some will go in opposition to Trump’s policies.”
“Thank you,” several others posted.
Pohutsky told the Advance she also received feedback from her political opponents on social media and at her office, where one disgruntled caller put her “on notice” that “godless people” will be “eliminated.”
The alleged threats prompted Pohutsky to contact law enforcement to investigate, she said.
“The fact that so many conservative men take personal offense to a decision I made with my husband about my health care and future just proves the point that we shouldn’t assume that right is secure,” she posted to X amid the controversy that drew national attention.
“So many broken people,” Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro posted to X in response.
“I think the broken people are the ones who are personally aggrieved by my personal healthcare decision, but then again you through WAP was a crime against humanity, so go off,” Pohutsky fired back.
The fourth-term Democrat told the Advance she initially kept the reason for her Jan. 23 absence from the Legislature a secret “because, frankly, it’s my own business,” but later opted to leverage the situation for political gain after speaking with others considering the same surgery.
“I think that, in particular, women second guess themselves a lot,” Pohutsky said. “And I thought there was value in hearing from an elected official who is sort of in a position of authority … and hearing some validation from them.”
Pohutsky told The Daily Telegraph she had discussed having children with her husband, Michigan ACLU President Nathan Triplett, for “years,” but the couple’s busy lifestyle meant “frankly … it started looking less and less likely.”
When Donald Trump prevailed in the November election, the lawmaker discussed surgical options with her doctor, allegedly out of fear the 47th POTUS would cut off her birth control.
“I feared that I would not have access to contraception long term,” she said. “I had concerns that I would not be able to access pregnancy-related healthcare if I did become pregnant.”
After scheduling her procedure for January, she nearly postponed because the House scheduled votes for the same day, but opted to keep the appointment when Trump “pretty much immediately started signing executive orders that didn’t have the force of law, but that institutions were complying with as though they did,” she told the Advance.
Despite her decision to share her “personal healthcare decision” with hundreds of strangers last week, Pohutsky told The Telegraph she was surprised by the worldwide attention it generated. In addition to numerous U.S. mainstream and alternative media stories, her comments were also covered by the BBC, Sun, and Australia’s Sky News, which ridiculed the decision.
“I certainly didn’t think it was going to be this public,” she said, “but I knew the crowd I was talking to, and I knew there were press there, and I hoped that hearing somebody…involved in the government (would) validate the concern that a lot of people have had.”
Aside from the negative backlash, several woman have also contacted Pohutsky “sort of relieved to hear somebody else say what they had felt … and what had led them to make their decision around, you know, a surgical option.”
“I was hoping that if there were people who were concerned or sort of on the fence or, you know, just hadn’t heard anybody say, yes, ‘I’ve been there too. This is okay for you to make this decision,’” she told The Telegraph.
Some of those women on the fence are now booking their own sterilizations, which Pohutsky considers a win.
“So I guess in that regard, it did what I wanted it to do,” she said.