Perspectives: New Abortion Laws Put Pressure On Physicians Who Are Trying To Give Best Care To Women

The Washington Post: New Abortion Laws Are Especially Cruel To My Patients With High-Risk Pregnancies 
When I walk into a room of a woman whose water has broken at 16 weeks or 18 weeks or 20 weeks of pregnancy, I introduce myself as her high-risk pregnancy doctor. Then I tell her, “You’re the most important one in this room.”I say this because I was taught to say this; I say this because it’s true. But most of all, I say this because it’s so easy to forget. Women forget, so focused on their baby, how important they are; all too often, doctors forget. The eight states — including Missouri, Alabama, Ohio, and Georgia — that have passed abortion bans have also forgotten, though perhaps it would be more precise to say that they just don’t think that it’s true. But the legislation they’ve passed will also make it hard for anyone else to remember. (Chavi Eve Karkowsky, 4/24)

Boston Globe: Dear Hollywood: Take A Stance For Women’s Rights And Boycott Georgia
In the wake of the atrocious antiabortion bill signed into law in Georgia earlier this month, there has been no shortage of outrage coming from 2020 presidential candidates and women’s rights advocates. The so-called heartbeat law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2020, would ban abortions after cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, or as early as six weeks of pregnancy. The law is an aggressive assault on the constitutional right to access to a safe and legal abortion. Yet one key industry is struggling to respond to the dangerous law. Hollywood, which has found a benefactor in Georgia thanks to the state’s film tax incentives, is in a mighty position to pull its business out to protest the extreme law. Some actresses, actors, and filmmakers have called for a boycott. But, so far, the industry’s biggest stars and studios have remained strangely muted. (Marcela García, 5/28)

The Washington Post: I Had An Abortion. Why Is None Of Your Business.
Last week, I attended a local Day of Action rally to support abortion rights. Along with pleas for donations and participation on the ground, the organizers asked those who had benefited from having an abortion to share their stories. The organizers theorized that by speaking about our experiences, we could personalize the act, humanize it. That perhaps, like sexuality or gender, we should define ourselves by our abortions. (Elly Lonon, 5/27)

The Hill: Strict Abortion Laws Aren't Based On Science 
As the (anti-abortion) bill in Ohio was moving its way through the legislature and to the Governor’s desk, I was reminded of a patient who recently visited my office seeking birth control. After her examination, she was shocked to learn she was pregnant, and already past six weeks of pregnancy. It breaks my heart to think of seeing a young patient who learns she is pregnant and has no option to access abortion care here in Ohio. Because girls often have irregular menstrual cycles, it is not uncommon for teenagers to be unaware of an early pregnancy. Banning abortion care ties the hands of medical providers, like myself, who want to ensure our patients have access to the best care to meet their needs. (Elise Berlan, 5/25)

Boston Globe: Alabama Is A State Moving In Two Different Directions
Yet even a short visit provides an abundance of evidence that Alabama is moving simultaneously in two directions. Many of its people and institutions are embracing social change, while others continue to idealize a mythical past. To tour the capital city is to be subject to an emotional and ideological whipsaw. (Andrew Grainger, 5/24)