In Absence of Roe, Healthcare Providers Have a Professional and Ethical Duty to Step Up

[niyad]

In Absence of Roe, Healthcare Providers Have a Professional and Ethical Duty to Step Up
6/29/2022 by Dr. Biftu Mengesha
As the human rights crisis in the U.S. intensifies, every healthcare worker has a role in protecting people who need abortion care.



President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Alexis McGill Johnson (center) marches with Planned Parenthood at the New York City Pride Parade on June 26, 2022 in New York City. (Alexi Rosenfeld / Getty Images)

Access to safe, legal, high-quality abortion care without burden or restriction is a fundamental part of comprehensive reproductive healthcare. Unburdened access to abortion saves lives. It allows people to realize the fulfilled lives they deserve, and to retain autonomy over their reproduction. This is particularly important for Black, Indigenous and Pacific Islander communities who are dying from childbirth-related causes at disproportionate and alarming rates due to racism and health inequities. Communities who already face significant structural disinvestments from resources and rights that have perpetuated multiple oppressions, including healthcare, mass incarceration, an inequitable justice system, voting rights, economic inequality—and now, the elimination of reproductive freedom. Stigma and politics have played an unnecessary, and frankly dangerous, role in attempts to systematically remove access to abortion. As the human rights crisis in the U.S. intensifies, every healthcare worker has a role in protecting people who need abortion care.

Getting an abortion was already incredibly difficult for many, thanks to hundreds of abortion restrictions passed in the decades since Roe, from mandatory waiting periods to bans on public insurance coverage. These medically unnecessary restrictions compound the multiple oppressions faced by communities of color, undocumented people, those with low-incomes, LGBTQIA+ communities and others our society marginalizes. The Supreme Court’s gutting of the already insufficient protections in Roe, will have detrimental effects on millions of people, particularly those who live in states that are acting immediately to ban abortion.

While every healthcare worker does not work directly in reproductive healthcare, we all care for people who have reproductive health needs and deserve the right to exercise their reproductive autonomy. This means every healthcare worker must be prepared for the impending fallout to care for patients comprehensively and holistically. It is our professional and ethical duty. We need to educate ourselves, our colleagues, the public, and our patients. Overlapping restrictions and apocalyptic headlines sow confusion and fear. That chilling effect is not incidental; that’s exactly what they are intended to do. Fear, myths and misinformation prevent people from taking action. We must empower ourselves, patients, and the public with accurate, actionable information to access the resources they need. It’s important to understand the current laws and places to get care, whether you might encounter someone who needs an abortion at a primary care office, a school health center or an emergency room.


Healthcare workers need to also collectively be up to date on the latest evidence and leave talk of ‘coat hanger’ abortions behind. There are safe options for ending a pregnancy with medications, including reputable online sources where people can order them. People can take charge of their abortions as research shows that they can accurately determine how far along they are in their pregnancies and take the medications safely. While medication abortion isn’t enough to provide everyone the care they need, it’s important for people who can’t or don’t want to go to a clinic. It can be a lifeline for someone who can’t take multiple days off from work and arrange childcare to travel to another state multiple times to comply with their waiting periods. It can be an essential resource for an undocumented person who fears crossing state lines and running into border checkpoints.

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https://msmagazine.com/2022/06/29/doctors-healthcare-workers-pro-abortion-report-miscarriage/

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1. Absolutely!