USA – Fearing Legal Threats, Doctors Are Performing C-Sections in Lieu of Abortions

Some physicians are doing unnecessary and invasive surgery on pregnant patients “to preserve the appearance of not doing an abortion.”

MARY TUMA
April 17, 2024

When news that Lizelle Gonzalez was suing the local prosecutor’s office for more than $1 million in damages, after being falsely imprisoned for murder over an attempted self-managed abortion in 2022, reproductive rights advocates cheered the move as a pathway to justice for the wrongfully charged southern Texas woman. However, a revelation in the lawsuit gave them pause: At the same hospital that reported her self-induced abortion to authorities, Gonzalez underwent a “classical C-section” for the delivery of her stillborn child, instead of abortion care. Major invasive surgery, Cesarean sections carry much higher risk for health complications, like hemorrhaging, compared with D&E abortion, and can jeopardize subsequent pregnancies.

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/c-sections-abortions-terrifying-new-reality/

18.04.2024

Commentary

Abortion on Our Own Terms

Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health

American Association of Pro-Life OB-GYNs

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Association of American Medical Colleges

Center for Reproductive Rights

Charlotte Lozier Institute

Dr. Daniel Grossman

Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi

Dr. Michele Heisler

Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act

forced C-sections

forced cesarean sections

Physicians for human Rights

Physicians for Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health Impact

USA – Most states received a D or F grade on maternal mental health. It could get worse.

By Carlotta Dotto and Alex Leeds Matthews, CNN
Sat July 29, 2023

Nearly every state in the United States is neglecting access to maternal mental health care, according to a recent report, and experts fear the situation could get worse as more states severely restrict or ban abortion.

All but 10 US states received either a D or F grade on a number of key measures of maternal mental health risk policies and access to care — including access to therapists, psychiatrists or mental health treatment programs, according to a May report released by the nonprofit Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health, in partnership with researchers from George Washington University. This is the group’s first report grading states on maternal mental health resources and policies.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/29/health/most-states-received-a-d-or-f-grade-on-maternal-mental-health-it-could-get-worse/index.html

Medical professionals describe a world of uncertainty a year after the Roe v. Wade reversal

Jul 23, 2023
Maureen Chowdhury, CNN

It's been over a year since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion nationwide. The opinion was one of the most consequential Supreme Court decisions in decades and paved the way for states to pass laws to limit or ban access to the procedure.

Abortion has already become one of the defining issues of the 2024 campaign and is expected to continue to be a key topic as candidates face questions about whether they support banning the procedure on the local and national level.

Continued: https://www.kcra.com/article/medical-professionals-uncertainty-year-after-roe-v-wade-reversal/44619065#

23.07.2023

Commentary

Interviews/Podcasts

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Association of American Medical Colleges

Brad Little

Dr. Pratima Gupta

lack of Ob/Gyns

prosecuting health providers

USA – Effects of Dobbs on maternal health care overwhelmingly negative, survey shows

By Kim Bellware and Emily Guskin
June 21, 2023

Sweeping restrictions and even outright abortion bans adopted by states in the year since the landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling have had an overwhelmingly negative effect on maternal health care, according to a survey of OBGYNs released Wednesday that provides one of the clearest views yet of how the U.S. Supreme Court decision has affected women’s health care in the United States.

The poll by the health research nonprofit KFF reveals that the Dobbs ruling — which ended federal protection on the right to abortion — affected maternal mortality and how pregnancy-related medical emergencies are managed, precipitated a rise in requests for sterilization and has done much more than restrict abortion access. Many OBGYNs said it has also made their jobs more difficult and legally perilous than before, while leading to worse outcomes for patients.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/21/obgyn-abortion-poll/

21.06.2023

News

Association of American Medical Colleges

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Kaiser Family Foundation

States With Abortion Bans Are Losing a Generation of Ob-Gyns

Half of US counties have no ob-gyn, and post-Roe laws prevent new doctors from getting required training. It's only going to get worse

BY MARYN MCKENNA
JUN 20, 2023

SHIRA FISHBACH, A newly graduated physician, was sitting in an orientation session for her first year of medical residency when her phone started blowing up. It was June 24, 2022, and the US Supreme Court had just handed down its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, nullifying the national right to abortion and turning control back to state governments.

Fishbach was in Michigan, where an abortion ban enacted in 1931 instantly came into effect. That law made administering an abortion a felony punishable by four years in prison, with no exceptions for rape or incest. It was a chilling moment: Her residency is in obstetrics and gynecology, and she viewed mastering abortion procedures as essential to her training.

Continued: https://www.wired.com/story/states-with-abortion-bans-are-losing-a-generation-of-ob-gyns/

USA – Abortion bans drive off doctors and close clinics, putting other health care at risk

May 23, 2023
By Julie Rovner

The rush in conservative states to ban abortion after the overturn of Roe v. Wade is resulting in a startling consequence that abortion opponents may not have considered: fewer medical services available for all women living in those states.

Doctors are showing — through their words and actions — that they are reluctant to practice in places where making the best decision for a patient could result in huge fines or even a prison sentence. And when clinics that provide abortions close their doors, all the other services offered there also shut down, including regular exams, breast cancer screenings, and contraception.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/05/23/1177542605/abortion-bans-drive-off-doctors-and-put-other-health-care-at-risk

USA – Future doctors say they’re discouraged from working in states with abortion bans

There was a drop in residency applications where bans are in place, data shows.

By Nadine El-Bawab
May 3, 2023

Lucy Brown, a medical student at Indiana University, wanted to stay in Indiana for her OB-GYN residency, but when Roe v. Wade was overturned last June, her priorities shifted.

States with abortion bans in place fell to the bottom of Brown's list. "I really, really wanted to stay in the Midwest. I wanted to be close to my family, but it kind of conflicted with my No. 1 priority," Brown told ABC News.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/future-doctors-discouraged-working-states-abortion-bans/story?id=98947099

03.05.2023

News

Adriana Traub

Alyssa Colwill

Association of American Medical Colleges

‘Heartbreaking’ stories go untold, doctors say, as employers ‘muzzle’ them in wake of abortion ruling

By Elizabeth Cohen, Justin Lape and Danielle Herman, CNN
Wed October 12, 2022

After the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, an obstetrician who works at a hospital in the Northeast thought she could make a difference by publicly describing what she was seeing, by telling the stories of the patients she saw suffering in the aftermath of the court’s historic court ruling.

So when a reporter from The New York Times reached out, she was grateful for the opportunity to discuss the plight of patients traveling to her hospital from states that had abortion restrictions.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/12/health/abortion-doctors-talking

12.10.2022

Association of American Medical Colleges

censorship of doctors

doctors being muzzled

Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Abortion Bans Are Limiting What Some Doctors and Med Students Are Taught

The shortage of abortion providers is expected to worsen, post-Roe

By Ella Ceron
10 July 2022

Abortion care is one of the most common medical procedures in the US, yet even before the fall of Roe v. Wade, doctors and students had to navigate tricky legal and educational hurdles to train as abortion providers. With last month’s Supreme Court decision freeing states to ban abortions, those barriers are growing.

Some abortion advocates are warning that recent moves could aggravate the nationwide shortage of trained abortion providers, making the procedure scarcer — even in blue states that are acting to guarantee access — than first thought.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-10/abortion-bans-are-limiting-what-some-doctors-and-med-students-are-taught

The US Supreme Court abortion verdict is a tragedy. This is how research organizations can help

NATURE editorial
28 June 2022

In response to the demise of Roe v. Wade, universities and research organizations can support those affected, ensure education and research on abortion continue and advocate for evidence-based policy.

The consequences of the US Supreme Court’s 24 June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the court’s own landmark 1973 decision that enshrined the constitutional right to abortion for nearly 50 years, are already being felt. By striking down Roe, the court has put abortion rights in the hands of US state legislators. They have already responded.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01760-6

28.06.2022