Abortion in the USA: The Human Rights Crisis in the Aftermath of Dobbs
Synopsis
Abortion bans are driving OB-GYNs into retirement, dissuading new doctors from coming to states with restrictions, and causing rural hospitals to close their maternity wards, creating deadly gaps in care. One Indiana woman died as a direct result of the dire shortage in physicians able to provide maternity care, according to an anonymous doctor in Indiana. The doctor said that a hospital forced a woman with an ectopic pregnancy to wait more than eight hours to be transferred to a facility that had a maternity ward. She died on the operating table.
In Amnesty International’s report on the state of reproductive health care in America, researchers interview doctors in rural areas about what these maternal health deserts look like for doctors and patients. Fearful for the future, they warn Amnesty that Indiana could see many more stories like this.
The hardest things for us are the medical conditions that aren’t clear or obvious…I think about that all the time when I see a patient. Nothing is safe in pregnancy.
Leitaea Lowrimore went to three ERs in two states in the middle of a medical crisis. No one would treat her.
Kishaya Holloway is an artist in Arkansas. She never questioned her decision to have an abortion, only the barriers that made it difficult to access care.
