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We believe that every person should have access to affordable, quality reproductive health care, including the right and privacy to make our own reproductive choices without government interference or regulation.
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Its about more than just abortion.

We work to promote and expand access to:

  • Menstrual health
  • Conventional and emergency forms of contraception
  • Sterilization procedures
  • In-vitro fertilization (IVF) and fertility treatments
  • Quality and timely emergency care for high risk pregnancies
  • Comprehensive education on reproductive and sexual health, including evidence-based information that is developmentally age appropriate
  • Quality and timely care for reproductive conditions including endometriosis, uterine fibroids, pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder, and more
  • Quality and timely care for chronic pain conditions including fibromyalgia, migraines, autoimmune disease, period-related pain, and more
  • Alternative reproductive care, such as doula and midwifery services
  • Gender-affirming care for transgender and nonbinary individuals
  • Abortion care

The Minot Women's Network firmly believes that access to affordable, quality, and timely reproductive healthcare is a fundamental human right. We are firmly committed to promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion in all aspects of our work, and continuously focus on addressing health inequities, including barriers to receiving care, gender bias, misdiagnosis within the medical community, and disparities that affect groups and individuals subject to discrimination.

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September Monthly Member Meeting (Virtual)

Guest Speaker: Tammi Kromenaker with the Red River Women's Clinic

Monday, September 9th, 2024
7:00 PM

Our Featured Guest Speaker is Tammi Kromenaker (she/her), Director at the Red River Women's Clinic in Moorhead, MN.

This monthly meeting is open to anyone interested in learning more about the Minot Women's Network, and for anyone interested in listening to Tammi's presentation or to participate in our Q&A session after.

Register

October Monthly Member Meeting

Guest Speaker TBD!

Monday, October 14th, 2024
7:00 PM

The Parker Center
21 2st Ave SE Minot ND 58701

Meeting open to non-members to learn more about the Minot Women's Network, including information on upcoming events, planned resources, workshops, and more!

E-mail to RSVP
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Real stories from real people in North Dakota

(reproductive rights are for everyone, so we're sharing our stories #forhim and #forthem, too)

I knew from the time I was a teenager that I didn't want children. I was the oldest of four siblings and practically helped raise them from the time I was 10. It took me over 15 years and four different doctors to finally find one that would let me get a bilateral salpingectomy - a form of permanent sterilization. It wasn't until after the fall of Roe v. Wade that I was finally able to find a doctor who was willing to help me. All of my previous doctors had the same attitude - that I was too young, or that because I wasn't married that I would change my mind. I'm now 35 and have never waivered in my decision. Being able to live my life the past two years without fear of an unwanted pregnancy has allowed me to thrive in my career, my relationship, and my personal life.

I have not been directly affected, yet. I, a gay woman, am getting married next year, and my soon to be wife and I plan on having children. This means we will need access to proper medical care and IVF treatments. I am afraid with all the potential changes coming, that will be very difficult.


Miscarriage is common with IVF, and proper medical care will be a requirement. With all the potential restrictions, we could be turned down for things like a DNC, which is sometimes necessary with a miscarriage.


IVF restrictions also pose a serious issue to us starting our own family, as well as insurance not covering fertility treatments for gay couples.

In 2018, I needed an abortion to save my life. I had an ectopic pregnancy, which is non-viable and life threatening. In the time between diagnosis and surgery I was instructed to not be alone in case my fallopian tube ruptured, which would cause me to to bleed out. Abortion access is so important because in that short time I did not need to make a plea to the state or the courts in order to get permission for this abortion. I was able to make a decision with my doctor and get the immediate care I needed.
I am in a long-term, healthy relationship with my partner of 12 years. I had an abortion during the pandemic after our birth control failed. It was a lonely experience, not because I questioned my decision, but because of the culture we live in and the lack of support from my family. I advocate for the right to abortion because I want to live in a world where all parents are willing parents to wanted children, and where all people have the right to control their own future.

I got pregnant when I was 20, I was away from family and had no idea what I was going to do. When I first found out, my doctor gave me a few pamphlets with information but it was definitely leaning more toward adoption. I was humiliated at college for being pregnant and eventually quit going because I couldn't handle the judgment or the stress of being alone through it all. All the while, the father of the baby kept telling me how this pregnancy was going to ruin his life. He came from a wealthy family and of course with that came a reputation. He tried everything to get me to abort the child, but I was too far along by the time I found out I was pregnant. There was a complete disregard to what I was being put through with the pregnancy. He just wanted it to disappear from his life so it wouldn't affect him, yet it affected me in every way possible. I felt like my experience didn't matter because I was a female and I "should have known better".

Years later, I started a family and after the last child, I decided that I was done and no longer wanted any more kids. My doctor advised me to be careful with a decision to remove both of my fallopian tubes. He asked me at least 3 or 4 times if I was sure and to really think things through. I told him I was sure. He told me to ask my husband first. I didn't feel that was necessary because I was making a decision for me. It was my body. It seemed to me that the doctor deemed a discussion like this to be done between men.

I had an abortion when I was 18. When I saw the two lines on that little stick, I knew that was the only choice for me. I had no desire to be a mother, no desire to carry a pregnancy. It wasn’t a decision made lightly, but it was my choice to make. The staff was so caring and I was so thankful for what they did. I felt like my whole life was ahead of me again. And here, 22 years later, I ponder where my life would have ended up had Row been overturned before then. What lengths would I have gone to end my pregnancy? I realized I would have done anything, even at the expense of my own safety. And that’s why I’m advocating for abortion access - because I realize that not having legal access to abortion isn’t going to stop abortion. It’s going to stop safe ones. I want the young women that surround me to have the same safe and accessible options that I did decades ago. We can’t go backwards.
At age 16 I became a parent, after being shamed by fundamentalist anti-choice activists, going through the judicial bypass since I wasn’t old enough to make the decision myself, a mandatory waiting period, and trying to raise enough money to pay for the procedure myself, which was impossible in the short time frame for me working a part time low wage job. I never want any other young person in this country to experience the stress of trying to obtain a medical procedure, or be forced to carry a pregnancy, birth a child, raise a child in poverty, and experience the soul crushing guilt that I feel every day in not being able to provide the life for my child that they deserve.
    Submit Your Story

    Donate to the Minot Women's Network

    Your contributions allow us to work towards three important initiatives:

      1. Education - we work to provide evidence-based and data driven information and comprehensive resources on reproductive care
      2. Advocacy - we work to promote and expand access to reproductive care through community involvement and events
      3. Change - we work to facilitate impactful, long term social and legislative change toward expanding reproductive freedom of choice through informed voting and participation in our democracy

    You can also support our work by becoming a member, volunteering, attending our events, and sharing our messages on social media!

    The Minot Women's Network is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

    All donations are tax deductible.

    A copy of our IRS confirmation letter can be requested by e-mailing donate@minotwomensnetwork.org.

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    The Minot Women's Network is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization.

    We believe that reproductive rights are human rights, and that human rights are inherently nonpartisan. Every person should have the opportunity to lead a life of autonomy. Reproductive rights should be recognized and protected as a fundamental part of our existence and are inherent to all individuals regardless of political affiliation.