I heard a woman with endometriosis describe the pain as being "like barbed wire squeezing around your uterus."

As a woman with endometriosis myself, holy accurate. People told me cramps were "normal", but this just couldn't be normal for anyone.

There'd be days where just the act of trying to get up out of bed made me incredibly faint and ill. I'd nearly (or completely) pass out from pain and weakness.

But you'd still have to go to work like it and earn your paycheck.

It was misery every month for years. Decades of my life like that since I was 13 years old. I just harassed health care professionals, exhausted and desperate, insisting it wasn't just "normal cramps". Hounding them for more tests, more resources, any answers. I got the run around for years.

For endo treatment, the gyno recommended a hormonal IUD be implanted which has helped immensely with the symptoms and especially the cramps. It took me 21 years to get a diagnosis.

One in ten women have it, yet women's health is so woefully underfunded or understood. So few of us get validated with a formal diagnosis. We are told "the cramps you are having are normal, you just have to live with it." If it doesn't feel right, it isn't. It shouldn't be debilitating to the point that you can't live your life.

Also, access to IUDs and laproscopy procedures are vital in the treatment of endometriosis. Endo does not go away on its own, and untreated it can (and often does) worsen and spread to other parts of the body. My gyno told me about a patient of hers who found endo tissue in her lungs that caused her to cough blood during monthly period cycles (thoracic endometriosis). Things most people don't even know exist.

It is a serious condition, and quite common (1 in 10 women). Untreated, it can wreak havoc and cause a great deal of pain. It is also a condition that can render pregnancies dangerous and/or fatal. It is very difficult and invasive to get an official endo diagnosis; furthermore, forcing a woman to have a baby with endo could potentially prove fatal to her, the baby, or both.

Women's reproductive rights are imperative in understanding and treating conditions like endometriosis. It's why it is so important to understand women's health and educate instead of trying to systematically oppress and restrict access to it.