Trump win prompts some women to reconsider having children

• In a post-Roe America, stories of women grappling with limited access across states with a patchwork of abortion restrictions have already been reported, as medical professionals navigate the legal repercussions of providing care.
• In many reported cases, women have died or suffered severe medical complications due to delayed care during pregnancies.

"I don't know if it would be worth putting my life on the line to have another child."

State of play: Women who spoke with Axios shared various reasons for adjusting their family planning, echoed by others across social media who have lamented what Trump's win could mean for their families' futures.

• Mary Clare Farr, 27, cited Trump's threats to dismantle the Department of Education; the possibility of increased reproductive health restrictions; and warnings from economists about how Trump's proposed policies could affect the cost of living.

Farr, a Virginia mom who voted for Trump as a teenager in 2016, gave birth to her only child two weeks after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

• "We might change our mind eventually, but as of right now, we just don't foresee us being able to ethically have another child until we know that we would be able to provide for them," Farr said of her and her husband.
• Farr said she fears bringing another child into the world could "risk having another woman under Trump's presidency."
• "This is her entire life," Farr said of her daughter. "This is our entire life."

Jordan Simone, a North Carolina mother, pictured her daughter as "a little old lady" when she cast her ballot this year, asking, "What kind of world am I leaving behind for her?"

• As a single mom, she said giving her daughter siblings was somewhat of an abstract idea, but she knew she wanted more children after giving birth.
• Simone said she felt confident her doctors could keep her safe should she have another baby. But over the last few days, she's grappled with a different vision for her future as a mother.
• "God forbid, something happened and she needs an abortion, and I can't get it, where do I take her? ... And why do I have to think about that for somebody who's three months old?" Simone said.

Zoom in: If implemented, proposals in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 could drastically restrict reproductive care access, particularly through calls to enforce the Comstock Act to limit abortion pills.

• While Trump has distanced himself from the 900-page blueprint, some MAGA allies have publicly backed it as the plan once he returns to the White House.

• While Trump has said he would veto a national abortion ban, he has been inconsistent on the issue throughout his campaign, most recently opting for a leave-it-to-the-states view.

Zoom out: The election has presented a "dire and scary moment" for sexual and reproductive health care, said Amy Friedrich-Karnik, the director of federal policy at the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports reproductive care access.

• She and her colleagues write that reproductive health will likely face unprecedented threats: whether it's through reinstating restrictions from Trump's first presidency, like an expanded global gag rule, or implementing further barriers.
• "It's been a chaotic landscape for the last two years, and it's only going to get much more chaotic," she told Axios.

What they're saying: "The American people, including tens of millions of women across the country, re-elected President Trump by a resounding mandate to implement the policies he campaigned on — ending inflation, securing the border, and restoring peace around the world," Trump-Vance Transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement provided to Axios.

• She continued, "American families are going to be better off under President Trump than they are today under Harris-Biden, and that's why he won."

The bottom line: Beyond policy, Farr mourns Vice President Harris' unrealized win.

• "My daughter's first memory was going to be a woman president," she thought ahead of the election results. "She was never going to have a world where a woman couldn't do that... And part of me feels like I failed her."
• Farr added: "I have to explain to her that I am one of the reasons that he got into office the first time."

Go deeper: Charted: Abortion travel distances, two years after Dobbs