How abortion bans are harming pregnant people (feat. @DrJenniferLincoln)

Abortion rights and reproductive healthcare were thrown into turmoil by the Supreme Court. Joined by @DrJenniferLincoln, we hear how pregnancy, childbirth and even medical training have been affected. We’ll also meet Amanda and Josh Zurawski, a coupled denied a medically necessary abortion in Texas.

🩺🥼 Vitals is a series that’s taking a new approach to health and medicine. Hosts Alok Patel, MD, and Sheena Williams RN are going beyond the headlines to answer your questions on the latest health topics. No judgment, no taboos. Just 100% science-based information.

Let’s Connect:

Find our experts and hosts:

:: Alok Patel, MD ::
Twitter: @AlokPatelMD
Instagram: @alokpatelmd

:: Sheena William, RN ::
Twitter: @Keepingitkinky1
Instagram: @keepingitkinky

:: Jennifer Lincoln, MD ::
YouTube @DrJenniferLincoln
TikTok: @DrJenniferLincoln
Instagram: @DrJenniferLincoln

👓 Fascinating reads if you want to learn more:

What Are The Abortion Laws In Your State?

Studies mentioned:

Emergency maternal health conditions:

Abortion ban consequences:

Pregnancy Is Far More Dangerous Than Abortion

States With Restrictive Abortion Policies Show Weakest Maternal And Child Health Outcomes

00:00 Background
03:01 Patients denied care
05:56 Maternal health outcomes
07:32 Delayed/denied miscarriage treatment
08:30 Legal confusion
09:52 Turnaway Study
10:48 Challenges to medical education
12:52 The anti-abortion position
14:36 Takeaways

[ladylaurus]

It happened to my cousin. She was denied miscarriage management and as a result she went septic. She unalived herself because of the medical trauma she went through, had the ban not been around she would've gotten the care she needed. The exceptions present in the bans don't work in practice and women will die and bans with no exceptions are just completely wrong and against life. She gave me permission to tell this story in her final letter, she like me is a survivor of childhood SA/SV. She leaves behind a child.

[lareinaroja]

Remember complications are common in pregnancy, complication free pregnancy is a freaking unicorn.

[katywolf]

Even though I live in Washington State, it's for those reasons why I don't want to get pregnant or even have children; it's terrifying that this is happening since Roe v Wade was overturned 😔

[iamjane]

To everyone who is affected or appalled by what is happening: How did you vote in recent elections? Or, DID you vote? Not just national elections, but local ones. State legislatures are where these decisions are being made. We are in this situation because of apathy, denialism, and wishful thinking on the part of the electorate. It's time people wake up and get involved. This situation does not reflect the will of the rational majority in this country.

[abby]

This video was very informative on how abortion bans will impact healthcare in the US. As a current medical student, this is something that I have been really confused about. As it was mentioned in the video, these laws are very ambiguous and confusing to understand. I thought part of this was due to a lack of understanding the laws on my end, but it seems that the laws were purposefully written to be confusing. Dr. Lincoln talked about how the ambiguity of the laws prevents healthcare providers from acting as quickly as they would like to since they have to ensure that the mother is sick enough to warrant an abortion in states where it is banned. As a result, women are waiting for 9 extra days to receive the care that they need. The fact that women who are already sick are having to wait around to prove they are sick enough to receive treatment is mind boggling to me. However, the potential consequences for healthcare providers who provide abortions are severe. It is frustrating that the law puts providers in these extremely challenging positions.
I believe that making women wait until they are sick enough to meet the “life exception” criteria goes against medical ethics and the principle of nonmaleficence. However, I think the government is to blame for this, not healthcare providers. Nonmaleficence is the ethical principle of doing no harm. However, women having to wait to receive the care they need is causing them physical and mental harm in the process. While it seems that many healthcare providers want to help these women, it is the laws in abortion ban states that are preventing them from being able to. Why does the government not have to follow the same ethical principles of doing no harm to patients? I will never understand why the government as well as insurance companies are able to deny patients the healthcare services that their providers recommend.
Another aspect of the abortion ban that I never thought of is the impact on medical training. For medical students and residents who are located in states with abortion bans, they are not receiving the experience and training they need. The scary thought I had about this is that these OB-GYN residents may then go on to work in a state where abortions are legal. However, there training prevented them from being prepared for these necessary and life saving medical procedures.
It also saddens me to hear about the mental health and socioeconomic consequences that women are faced with when they are unable to receive a wanted abortion. In this way we are once again letting women down and promoting harm rather than good. Not only for the mother, but for their children as well.

[PunkHerr]

If you are for or against abortion: If the baby/embryo is dead or not able to live, an abortion is just going to secure a living beeing, the mother.
I don't understand (rationally) why this is not shifting towards securing life in the first place.

I thought conservatives want to conserve. Isn't security their number one priority?
Your ideology gets out of hand if you act against the corner stones of it.

[katepermut]

Excellent summary of the impact of abortion bans - bans are just a bad idea for health care! Period!

[Ketowski]

11:10 Inadequately trained medical professionals or those same
Professionals put in No Win situations where accreditation can be denied if they don’t train in abortion-related procedures. While their own states outlaw such training.
So their own families are being strained while these people leave to get residencies in locations that do give them exposure to competent care in these skills.

[emmajones]

That woman that developed sepsis, is lucky she didn't lose all her limbs. Or die.

[DefektoPrime]

It is absolutely horrifying that Roe v Wade got overturned, and that these barbaric and half-assed laws got enacted. It should be a violation of human rights to withhold medical treatment from someone like this.

[Dollightful]

Uh oh, I got a 404 error when I clicked the link for the survey. Is it working for everyone else?

[M.-fygj]

Why use the term "pregnant people"??? This is about SEXISM. Emphasizing gender is crucial in this discussion.

[romabqui]

How does this video only have 5K views?

[misspat]

I’m very glad my state (PA) still allows abortions, as I am intact and could still technically get pregnant (I’m widowed and so not on any birth control, and in my 40’s, but you never know what some sick perv might turn up and do; I do have a dangerous ex-husband I had my son with). Also, I have a young daughter, who may be able to conceive herself in a few years, though she wouldn’t be a teen yet. I would be scared and wanting to get out of this state ASAP (probably the summer my son would be 18 and out of high school; my daughter will be 10 then) if abortion had been banned here. 😬

[verdad]

EMTALA ABSO could have been used! Why aren’t we talking about this for these scenarios!!!?

[arcanineryu]

What people gotta understand is that most of the people advocating for and creating the political policy for anti abortion are explicitly people who belive in magic and miracles to the point where the expectation of genuinely magical events being a commonplace occurance are being factored into their strategy. And lot of yall gotta wrap your head around the fact that a lot of these forced birthers are truely not worthy of your respectful attempts at teaching them the consequences of their advocacy. Because theyre operating on the level of pregnancy complications being a result of you not praying hard enough.

[isaacraze]

Small correction “The Supreme Court Ruling that ended the right to abortion.” Isn’t quite correct. They handed the decision back to the states and some states ended the right to abortion or at least made it very difficult to obtain one. If the Supreme Court had ended the right to abortion then no state could legally administer one and from your own graphic at least half the states still do.

[Ketowski]

1:50 Aiding and abetting manslaughter or worse by the state if Texas by preventing even talking about life-saving care.
All this revenge for Adam’s own decision. Hypocrisy.

[DaRyteJuan]

Please spread videos like these across Elon Musk’s right-wing media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Only so many days until the 2024 election.

[tizcxvb]

First world country? Bwhahahahahahahahahaha