https://mailchi.mp/df8b77a765df/the-weekly-gist-may-6-2022?e=d1e747d2d8

If the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade—which in 1973 established an individual’s constitutional right to an abortion—is finalized, as many as 26 states are either certain or likely to ban abortion. The resulting patchwork of abortion laws across the country could create confusion for providers and hospitals on multiple fronts, including cases related to the Federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), as well as for health systems that operate in multiple states. Medical training on the procedure could become much more limited, as about half of the nation’s obstetrics and gynecology residencies are in states likely to ban abortion.

Recognizing the precarious position that abortion bans will put some providers in, the American Medical Association released a statement on Thursday saying that it is “deeply concerned” with the draft opinion, and that it “would lead to government interference in the patient-physician relationship, dangerous intrusion into the practice of medicine, and potentially criminalizing care.”  

The Gist: Abortion is just one of a raft of issues where the provision of health services increasingly intersects with charged politics in this country. If Roe is overturned, medication abortion—the use of abortion pills—which already accounts for more than half of all abortions, will increase, although multiple states are already seeking to limit access. 

Restricting access to safe abortions will also further exacerbate health disparities, driving up the already distressingly high US maternal mortality rate, especially among Black women. And overturning Roe would have implications far beyond access to abortion, especially for patients experiencing miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, or other life-threatening medical conditions related to pregnancy.