USA: OBGYNs reacting to Roe Vs Wade fear for patient safety and health

Reproductive health doctors are reacting to the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs Wade, the 1973 case that allowed people to seek abortions with limited government intervention.

On Friday, Justice Samuel Alito delivered his opinion on the case Dobbs vs Jackson Women's Health, saying he favoured the state of Mississippi in the case. Now, Roe vs Wade, which allowed abortion until about 24 weeks of pregnancy, is overruled, and individual states have the power to decide their residents' abortion rights.

OBGYNs who provide abortion care and family-planning services told Insider they worry for their patients' health and safety, and the future of all reproductive healthcare including miscarriages, fertility treatments, and birth control.

"This decision made by the SCOTUS is one that completely obliterates freedom from reproductive justice and women's health directly," Dr. Jessica Shepherd, a Texas-based gynecologist and Chief Medical Officer at Verywell Health, told Insider.

Dr. Stephanie Ros, a Florida-based OBGYN, says she fears most for working-class abortion seekers.

"I'm not worried about my wealthy patients – they will have the means to go 'visit an aunt' in Europe or elsewhere, and access abortion care if they so desire. I'm terrified for my middle class and poor patients, who don't have the means to pick up and travel on a moment's notice, and who often don't have access to medical care to even discover they're pregnant until later than their wealthy counterparts." 

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Source: Insider, 24 June 2022