Healthcare Fear Circulating Roe v. Wade
After a long wait, a woman in need of a kidney transplant learns of her pregnancy during her preoperative planning for the operation. Due to the danger a kidney transplant would pose to her fetus, the procedure gets put on hold. She has had no plan of bearing children thus this far in her life, she even has an IUD in place. Her healthcare provider wants to perform the abortion, but due to her state’s policies, she is unable to do so without legal repercussions. At this time she is unable to receive a kidney transplant or an abortion.
In June 2022, the Supreme Court ruled the overturn of Roe v. Wade, effectively withdrawing uterus-owning peoples’ federally assured access to safe procedural and medical abortions. Many patients and healthcare providers are scared of how the overturn of Roe v. Wade will impact reproductive health.
Democratic states like Colorado have kept their preexisting laws. Ali Tinker, a Certified Nurse Midwife in Colorado mentioned that pregnancy termination in Colorado is up to term. Tinker, who formerly worked in the Missouri healthcare system, also shared that her ability to provide safe care in the Republican-run state was limited. “I wasn’t even allowed to talk about it [pregnancy termination] as an option with my patients,” Ali stated.
Susanrachel Condon, Doctor of Midwifery and a Clinical Associate Professor in New York, described the inaccessibility of abortion care as a critical and humanitarian issue. “Some have died because they couldn’t access care,” she said. “People who had septic pregnancy and were going to die of infection if they didn’t terminate the pregnancy.” It is a time-sensitive matter when it comes to the care of reproductive health.
Banning abortion only makes it harder for women to get safe reproductive care. The restrictions being put on abortions and reproductive care are harmful to the patients. Kari Wheeler, a Registered Nurse in Colorado stated, “The only people having late-term abortion are those experiencing really horrible things.”
Kari Wheeler described horrific instances of unsafe pregnancies such as those with malformations that are incompatible with life. Some severe kidney malformations can cause massive amounts of amniotic fluid buildup in the uterus, increasing the risk of maternal pulmonary embolism significantly which can be fatal. Brain malformations can lead to a fetus having seizures felt by the pregnant person. “These are healthcare decisions,” Kari Wheeler stated, “if in a state where they are not allowed to compassionately abort their baby who is not able to survive outside the womb…it causes a lot of unnecessary suffering.”
Lena Fogel a Registered Nurse and Senior Director Global Clinical Solutions & Procedural Portfolio Marketing for STERIS spoke on how women residing in countries where there is heavy restriction on abortion were more likely to do self implicated abortions creating an increase in mortality and morbidity.
Even in the United States, numerous patients are unable to access reproductive healthcare within a reasonable distance. “We have these really large areas of the country that are called maternity healthcare deserts, it actually encompasses half of the counties in the entire United States,” stated Kari Wheeler. “States are passing all these laws where people already don’t have access to abortion which creates a double desert,” she added.
The research paper Mapping Healthcare Deserts, states that roughly 13 million people are living in primary care provider deserts. “The majority of residents live in an area with a primary care provider shortage…More than 80% of the counties across the U.S. lack adequate healthcare infrastructure.” These uterus-owning individuals are required to travel far distances to receive safe and legal healthcare, including abortions.
“When there were federal standards for abortion, most hospitals had to do some sort of women’s care,”stated Jeffrey Wheeler, Vice President and General Manager of Procedural OR for STERIS. A key procedure that takes place is dilation and curettage (DNC), which is removing tissue from the uterus. This can be due to many different health circumstances, which could conceptually mean an abortion. Due to states dictating their abortion standards, it is throwing out the ability to perform DNC concerning abortions. Wheeler stated, “Doctors that perform the procedure now need to validate whether or not the hospital needs to do it because many hospitals are faith-based.”
Lena Fogel mentioned that Catholic hospitals do not perform elective abortion but some choose to perform DNC for different medical circumstances. “They do perform procedures when the mother’s life is at risk and they have been left to fend for themselves,” Fogel stated. “The advice lawyers are giving hospitals is to not provide the service.” This is due to fear of legal repercussions with the laws put in place surrounding abortion. Healthcare providers are feeling scared to suggest or perform any procedures involving the uterus. “As a healthcare provider I’m always concerned about poor outcomes and getting sued,” Tinker stated.
Many healthcare providers and patients are hoping that the 2024 Election will change federal abortion laws. “Make sure everyone you know is registered to vote. It doesn’t matter if you like the candidates,” Condon stated. “These are the people who are in power, and we have the power to decide who is in power.”
“Your autonomy is dangerous to them, your voice is dangerous to them,” Condon added.
