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Last week, the nation was shocked when a presidential candidate,Donald Trump, said that women should be “punished” for their abortions. For deciding to end a pregnancy. Punished? As a physician who performs abortions, I have something to say to you, Mr. Trump: My patients are punished enough.
As an OB-GYN, I love that I get to provide care through all stages of my patients’ lives, from their teenage years until menopause. Abortion is part of my patients’ lives, too. When I learned that nearly 90 percent ofcounties in the U.S. have no abortion provider, and that just 14 percent of the 97 percent of OBs in the U.S. who have seen a patient seeking an abortion are willing, equipped, or able to provide one, I felt a responsibility to become an abortion provider. After four years of medical school and four years of residency, I completed a two-year fellowship of in-depth training in providing all methods of abortion and contraception safely and effectively. And doing this work is how I learned the many ways women are already punished for taking control of their own lives.
My patients are punished before they ever know they may need me, by unjust laws and deeply-rooted health and economic inequities that make it impossible for them to raise families on their own terms. More than 60 percent of women who have an abortion are already mothers, and they are well aware of what it takes to raise a child. They know what it means for their children’s health when they do not have paid maternity leave, or quality schools, or a safe neighborhood — or sometimes even a safe home. My patients know exactly how hard it is to get themselves, and their children, to the doctor when they don’t have paid sick days or affordable childcare.
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