How politics affects the practice of medicine
14 August 2024
This essay gives 4 examples of how politics affects medical practice.
1. I don’t live in Minnesota. But thanks to Tim Walz, my life-saving OB-GYN does.
In South Dakota, abortions are banned with very limited exceptions and providing an illegal abortion is a felony. While physicians are permitted to administer abortion care if the life of the pregnant person is in danger, like all abortion exceptions the language is vague and has left doctors, nurses and health care providers to navigate a treacherous gray area.
I’m all too aware of the risks. Studies have shown and countless stories have highlighted a horrifying post-Roe reality: pregnant people in need of lifesaving abortion or miscarriage care have been turned away, or have been forced to endure invasive, unnecessary C-sections in order to spare attending doctors the possibility of hefty fines and possible jail time. More
2. Abortion is healthcare and antiabortion states are damaging the health of their women and girls.
In the years since Roe was reversed, Americans have come to understand that abortion is health care. And that American women suffer when it is denied to them. In January of this year, we learned about Brittany Watts, an Ohio woman who was denied an abortion and charged with abuse of a corpse, a felony, after she miscarried alone and at home.
Nicole Miller, an Idaho woman, had to fly to Utah earlier this year as a failing pregnancy caused her to bleed profusely. But, not enough for doctors in Boise to terminate the pregnancy that was endangering her life. A doctor refused to perform the emergency surgery, telling her that he wasn’t willing to risk his medical career for her. She was able to get a lifesaving abortion out of state, but as more bans go into place, the Guttmacher Institute reports more women are having to travel—and travel further—to obtain needed care. The expense and logistics of arranging travel become a barrier, and more women are exposed to needless suffering and trauma in the name of “pro-life” policies. More
3. What our patients may not know about abortion:
Abortion is safe.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) concluded in a comprehensive review of the safety and quality of abortion care in the U.S. in 2018 that complications from abortion are rare, especially when compared to the complications of pregnancy and childbirth. The anti-abortion movement falsely claims abortions are more dangerous than childbirth, and tried unsuccessfully to legally force the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to revoke its approval of the abortion medication mifepristone. Meanwhile, a new Louisiana law will, starting this fall, classify mifepristone as “dangerous,” despite opposition from state doctors. More
4. Prepare for scientific censorship if Trump is reelected.
Political interference was well documented across the government during the Trump administration. At the Environmental Protection Agency, policymakers were barred from considering studies about the deadly effects of air pollution. At the Agriculture Department, information about the effects of climate change on crops was censored.
At one point, Trump personally misrepresented a hurricane forecast, suggesting that a major storm might hit an entirely different state than expected.
Many scientists found themselves targeted by political appointees. The Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, a legal aid group for scientists, saw a surge in requests for help from scientists during the Trump administration. More
Although these examples concern climate science, we can anticipate the same problems regarding other scientific fields, including medicine.
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