the Female Body GOVERNING

Beyond Pill Scares? 49
dangerous medications, illness, and sexual activities amid contradiction,
confusion, and emotionally laden appeals. The conversation also
illustrates the broader political zeitgeist embedded in this form of
communication in that it shifts responsibility for making the right
choice from the health-care establishment onto the women themselves.
Whatever the outcome, including DVT or pregnancy, it presumably
refl ects the woman’s choice.
Caring for Life
Pregnancy was another gendered topic frequently discussed on the list
being discussed in 330 posts, making it one of the most popular topics in
the group. Why pregnancy was discussed so frequently while contraception
was not is diffi cult to ascertain. Perhaps pregnancy raises a more
acute issue of medications and miscarriage/stillbirth, making women
more likely to seek information online on such a sensitive issue.
The pregnancy discussion on the list focused mostly on the use of
medications to prevent miscarriage and DVTs. Most of the threads were
initiated by newcomers, newly pregnant, querying whether they should
take prophylactic medications during pregnancy or whether they should
take aspirin or a “proper” anticoagulant (such as Heparin/Lovenox).
Other members of the list typically encouraged pregnant women to go on
“proper” anticoagulants. Participants were more likely to be unanimous
in this respect than they were in relation to contraception, although a
few disputes arose. Queries on prophylaxis were frequently responded
to by women who had experienced a traumatizing miscarriage or a
stillbirth:
Just from my own personal experience, I had 3 pregnancies. I took
baby aspirin thru [sic] all of them. My sister had a full-term stillbirth
and at the time, there was no test for FVL. My fi rst 2 babies were fi ne.
But with the last one, born 10 months ago, I had a complete placental
abruption at 38 weeks. The baby died, and I almost did as well from
the massive blood loss. The physical recovery took 5 or 6 months and
I still have some female problems from this. The emotional scars may
never heal for my family.
If I were to get pregnant again, I’d be on Lovenox shots and
induction at 36 weeks. To me, I wouldn’t chance it with just the baby
aspirin. The mother and baby’s life [sic] is much too important to play
around with. If I were you, I’d get another opinion and do the lovenox
[sic] shots with early induction. You have to be so forceful with your
medical care sometimes, the drs just want to do things their way.