By: Stephen T. Chasen, MD

As a Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) physician and abortion provider in New York City, I am used to providing necessary care for my patients who require abortion. For my patient population, this typically occurs following prenatal diagnosis of fetal abnormalities or due to medical complications during pregnancy. I have also taken care of women from states with very restrictive laws who had to travel long distances to access abortion care. I am fortunate to live and practice in a community that is very supportive of reproductive rights, and I have been able to advocate for the rights of my patients in legislative and judicial arenas with the full support of my medical school, hospital, and colleagues.

By: Megan Savage, MD

My patient – let’s call her Cara – presented to the emergency department at 18 weeks gestation and was quickly taken to the cardiac intensive care unit. Her heart was barely functioning, and continuing pregnancy would have led to severe complications that would put Cara’s life at risk. Due to the immediate danger, she underwent an emergent, medically indicated dilation and evacuation. After her breathing tube was removed five days later, she thanked our team for saving her life.

By: Alexandria Hill, MD

As a college freshman, I sat in a Cardiologist’s office, stunned. It was the first time I learned that the symptoms I had been experiencing for years were a result of severely diminished heart function. The significant fainting episodes that started when I was 14 years old prompted workups for eating disorders and diabetes, but no one ever thought to evaluate my heart. My hands would feel cold and clammy, I would lose the ability to hear, and then my vision would diminish until the world would go completely dark…and I would wake up on the floor.

By: Tani Malhotra, MD

If someone asked me at the start of my training where I saw myself in 10 years, I would have answered with confidence, “clinician, researcher, educator.” It would have been a safe bet and a sincere answer because I didn’t learn about the interplay between legislation and medical practice until medical school was long over. However, as I progressed through my residency, I realized that my ability to practice evidence-based medicine that I learned in school was being curbed by legislation led by ideology not science.