Experts warn that the Supreme Court's decision to allow states to ban abortion could have far-reaching and dangerous implications.
There could be issues with access to medications for people suffering from miscarriages and other related problems.
Seema Mohapatra, a health law and bioethics expert at Southern Methodist University, told Forbes that many of the procedures used to perform abortions in the U.S. are also important for treating miscarriages.
The legal restrictions to abortion, along with the fear of being prosecuted or suspected of facilitating one, also threaten to limit access to these procedures.
Mohapatra pointed to reports from Texas where miscarrying patients are struggling to get their prescribed medication, which could prevent medical staff from offering optimal treatment to their patients.
Widespread bans on abortion would severely curtail where doctors are able to undertake abortion training, which is a requirement for OB/GYN residency programs, and must be offered to other institutions if unavailable.
More than half of residency programs are located in states that are expected to ban abortion if it is legalized.
The ability of states to recruit doctors or secure places for them to train out of state, limit doctors' hands-on experience with abortion training and provision that is useful for treating miscarriages, and possibly skew the states where OB/GYN specialists choose to live and train, could be compromised by
Abortion is likely to be banned in 26 states, with 13 of them having "trigger laws" in place that have already banned the procedure. There are many exemptions for medical emergencies or when the life of the mother is at risk, which leads to worries among healthcare providers about the vague written laws and what the bar is for when abortion is acceptable. At least 20 states have introduced bills this year that would restrict or ban abortion pills so far this year, and there is a chance that two of the same drugs will be banned. In Texas, where the state has a ban on abortion after six weeks and on medication abortion, there have been reports of pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions.
Anti-abortion rights advocates argue that training to perform miscarriages and treat ectopic pregnancies is not related to abortion even if some of the same methods are used. The training of OB/GYNs to perform medically necessary procedures will not be affected if the ruling is reversed. It's scaremongering to say otherwise.
According to research published in Demography, if abortion were banned in the U.S., there would be an increase in the number of deaths related to pregnant women. The study did not consider the impact of a rise in unsafe abortions and only looked at the risk of death from continuing a pregnant woman.
It is not going to be obvious to patients that the standard of care has changed in states that ban abortion, Mohapatra said. It's just going to happen. Mohapatra said that medical providers in hospitals wouldn't say "we aren't going to give you this because of these laws" It won't be offered
The Supreme Court overturned Wade on Friday as part of a case regarding Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban and whether states can restrict the procedure even before a fetus is viable. Justice Samuel Alito argued that the case should be thrown out because the right to an abortion is not explicitly stated in the constitution. Four justices signed on to Alito's opinion, while the other three justices dissented. A wave of outrage from abortion rights advocates and increased efforts to restrict and shore up abortion access followed the decision after a draft opinion from February suggested the court would take such a step.
The American Medical Association said the opinion would lead to government interference in the patient-physician relationship and potentially criminalizing care. The House of Delegates, made up of physicians and medical students, adopted a policy in June that opposed government restrictions on reproductive healthcare, including abortion and contraception.
How Americans Really Feel about Abortion: The Sometimes Surprising Poll Results.
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