I am a 31 year old kindergarten teacher. I will never have children because Donald Trump is president
A teacher in South Carolina has declared she will not have children while Donald Trump is president.
Kate Medlin, 31, posted a TikTok last week after it looked like Trump would win the election, saying she and her fiancé decided they wouldn’t have children for the next four years, “especially in the state we’re in.”
However, the kindergarten teacher added that when Trump leaves office she will be almost 36 years old, leaving her with a high-risk geriatric pregnancy, meaning children will “probably never happen for me.”
Ms Medlin said in her video: ‘Last night before we went to bed my fiancé and I had the conversation that if this happens we won’t have children. At least not for the next four years. There’s no way we can have them in the state we’re living in now.”
The teacher never mentioned abortion and said in later posts that she was not specifically talking about the right to choose, but was commenting on the broader issue of women’s health care.
However, in her original video, she said that she and her husband might consider moving to Maine, Vermont or another “protected” state.
“But even then, who’s to say what will happen,” she added.
South Carolina currently has a ban on abortion after six weeks.
Kindergarten teacher Kate Medlin said she and her partner will not have children under Donald Trump’s presidency
There are exceptions in cases of rape, incest, medical emergencies and fatal fetal abnormalities. In these cases, abortion is allowed up to 12 weeks.
In Maine, abortion is protected by state law until viability (about 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy) and in Vermont there is no limit.
Trump has said he would not impose a federal abortion ban — leaving decisions up to the states — but has repeatedly bragged about and taken responsibility for undoing the Roe vs. Wade treaty, which provided federal protection for abortion.
Later in her TikTok, Ms. Medlin also spoke about LGBTQ+ rights and gun violence in schools.
She said: “Waking up to text messages between me and my friends and my LGBTQ+ friends and also not knowing what the world is going to be like for them.
“And then I came to school this morning and realized that someone might want to put a gun in my hand for protection [students]… I teach two- and three-year-olds and that’s the world they grow up in.
“So I hope you voted and I hope you know what you did when you voted.”
The video has been viewed more than 337,000 times and women flocked to the comments section to express similar sentiments.
Former President Donald Trump was re-elected to the White House last week as the 47th President of the United States
TikTok user Kris said: ‘I’m having the exact same thoughts. I’m devastated.’
Another wrote: ‘I broke down and cried in my husband’s arms this morning telling him we won’t have children.’
Samantha said: ‘We had the same conversation. We had been trying for almost two years and were just starting to get hopeful that IVF was an option. We don’t feel safe trying it in Florida.”
In another video posted the next day, Medlin added that she is increasingly concerned about the deaths of women and teenage girls due to lack of access to safe health care, and that she fears rising gun violence.
She said: ‘It’s just the reality: I want to bring a child into this world and right now I feel very insecure about what it will look like.’
The Charleston resident also fears that action on climate change will weaken or the progress made will be reversed, leaving an unsafe planet for future generations.
She said: ‘I continue to hope… that climate change will not be reduced even further than it already is, so that the children I have may have a safe place to live.’
Ms. Medlin continued, “My friends in the LGBTQ+ community, I don’t know what’s going to happen to their rights. My trans friends, I don’t know what’s going to happen to them.
‘And I find that frightening.
“All I’m here for is a kinder, safer country for our next generation, and that scares me. I don’t see that happening.’
