Let’s Stand Together to Defend our Patients’ Rights
By: Jessian Muñoz, MD, PhD, MPH
Taking care of patients and protecting reproductive rights in Texas has never been a more difficult task. The passage of SB8, resulted in the most restrictive policies on abortion care seen, patients from all spheres of the community have been directly impacted. As we come to terms with these restrictions, we fear and look forward to December 1, 2021.
On December 1, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will hear oral arguments in the case of Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization. This is poised to be the high-profile argument of the judicial season. This ruling will have direct impact on Roe v Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v Casey (1992), which held a constitutional protection to the right to abortion access prior to viability in the United States.
In September 2021, SMFM, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the U.S. Association for the Study of Pain, and 27 individual scientific and medical experts submitted an amicus brief to the SCOTUS on the inability for fetal pain perception prior to 24 weeks gestation. Pain is both conscious and subjective requiring intricate neural networks involving the cerebral cortex, thus can be distinguished from reflective actions.
As most high-profile cases before the SCOTUS, the sweeping impact will affect millions of women. People seeking abortion care in the United States already face a multitude of challenges during difficult times in their lives. During my training and as a practicing physician, I have seen and heard many of these stories from victims of sex trafficking, rape, incest, and women with complex life-threating medical conditions. I recently encountered an incarcerated woman who was the victim of a sexual assault resulting in her current high-risk pregnancy. This woman faced multiple stigmas including incarceration and assault as she sought abortion care. The care was ultimately denied, as there had been no formal report of the assault. Sadly, abortions within the public system are only allowed for assault and life-threatening maternal conditions.
Another woman I will never forget had three prior children and debilitating multiple sclerosis (MS). Due to her MS, she was limited to a wheelchair and had an overall poor quality of life. She had to navigate the numerous requirements of the state to seek abortion care. The stigmas of disability combined with an undesired pregnancy led her to sob during each of our mandatory counseling sessions prior to her abortion. This situation was only made worse as protestors took pictures of her and used them as propaganda against the clinic. As a society, we have allowed this mistreatment of pregnant people as they exercise their right to autonomous reproductive health care. Now we must stand together and defend our patients’ rights.
Join me in speaking out for access to abortion care. Write to your Senators and ask that they support the Women's Health Protection Act (S. 1975), federal legislation that safeguards access to abortion care from medically unnecessary restrictions such as waiting periods, biased counseling, mandatory ultrasounds, or multiple visits, The House of Representatives passed this legislation and now the Senate must act. SMFM has a template email to your Senators to make it easy.
