PDX Points, LLC, (kelly a. ilseman, LAc) believes that the overturning of Roe v. Wade is an egregious moment in our nation’s history. It is the first time that a U.S. court has removed a constitutional right, representing the loss of hard won civil and personal liberties for anyone with childbearing capacity. It is not a proud moment, but a shameful disgrace. How can we call this country a democracy and a free nation, and yet ban bodily autonomy and access to safe, equitable medical services? Healthcare is a human right, whether or not you agree with abortion itself. The legalization of this procedure saves lives and especially benefits marginalized communities. The overturn of this monumental law negatively impacts these communities. It is unquestionably our responsibility as healthcare providers to stand for the civil health rights of our patients.
image by Bloom Womb, Etsy
Prominent medical organizations stand against this ruling, including the Oregon Medical Association (OMA), American Medical Association (AMA), and National Nurses United (NNU). The Oregon Medical Association (OMA) says, “The decision whether or not to perform an abortion rests solely with the patient and their physician. … this is a direct attack and intrusion on the vital relationship between a patient and their clinician. Overturning this decades long policy will also rollback decades long work to provide access to safe and medically effective reproductive health to all patients.” When medical access gets political, it disempowers individuals and their medical providers to seek and provide the care needed in each situation.
The American Medical Association (AMA) expressed that this ruling represents “an egregious allowance of government intrusion into the medical examination room, a direct attack on the practice of medicine and the patient-physician relationship, and a brazen violation of patients’ rights to evidence-based reproductive health services.” The AMA rightly asserts that this ruling will “end safe abortion, risking devastating consequences, including patients’ lives.” I know from personal experience that this is true. My grandfather lost his mother at age 4 to a back-alley abortion, when she was urged by her husband not to have a 6th child. The impact of the loss of this matriarch has been felt through the generations of my family. I believe that the AMA correctly asserts that with the overturn of Roe v. Wade, “access to legal reproductive care will be limited to those with the sufficient resources, circumstances, and financial means to do so—exacerbating health inequities by placing the heaviest burden on patients from Black, Latinx, Indigenous, low-income, rural, and other historically disadvantaged communities who already face numerous structural and systemic barriers to accessing health care.” We can do better as humans to support the health, safety, and well-being of our people. National Nurses United (NNU) states, “[Abortions]will continue underground because they are a vital medical necessity, a basic health care service. Abortions will simply become more expensive, harder to access, and in many cases unsafe. … This denial of health care will most violently harm and deepen existing inequalities for low-income people, and people who already suffer from lack of and inadequate health care, such as Black, Latinx, and immigrant women.” We can do much better as a nation that calls itself “land of the free and home of the brave.”
I oppose any efforts to restrict patient control over health care involving their own bodies, aligning with National Nurses United’s statement. They call this ruling “a shameful and dangerous assault on women, other child-bearing people, and families at a sweeping scale.” I believe they are correct in asserting that “This decision is part of a coordinated rightwing effort to undo hard-won human and civil rights in the United States, and to control working people by removing their power and bodily autonomy” and that this attack on basic civil liberties will not end here. As they state, it goes against the “beliefs and values of the vast majority of people in the United States and is an attack on democracy itself.”
Jean Ross, RN and president of National Nurses United makes a poignant and powerful statement: “Abortion is health care. Plain and simple. … It’s outrageous and completely unacceptable to single out this one health care service, that’s only needed by people who can get pregnant, as illegal.” Clearly, the overturn of this historical precedent “opens the door for the extremist Supreme Court and the authoritarian right to attack numerous other liberties that many take for granted, such as the right to contraception, interracial marriage, and LGBTQ+ rights.” McGill Johnson of Planned Parenthood agrees: “Make no mistake: if they can take away the right to abortion, a right we’ve held for nearly 50 years, they won’t stop here. All of our freedoms are on the line.”
I urge you to rally for reproductive healthcare justice, so inextricably tied to social, political, economic, racial, gender, health, and environmental justice. The overturn of Roe v. Wade is “anti-worker, anti-democratic, sexist, and racist” as National Nurses United so matter-of-factly stated. We owe it to all humans to fight healthcare justice that is equitable, safe, quality, and inclusive.
In tandem, I stand against the latest Supreme Court rulings that diminish the power of the Environmental Protection Agency. The upcoming cases regarding elections are concerning. We can see what’s happening here - potential future outcomes unfolding. It is more than unsettling. Please stand against the Supreme Court’s recent rulings by aligning your heart and mind with ultimate good for all humans.
References
OMA Statement on Draft Supreme Court Opinion. theoma.org. Published May 9, 2022. https://www.theoma.org/OMA/Advocate-content/OMA-Statement-on-Draft-Supreme-Court-Opinion.aspx
Press Release – Ruling An Egregious Allowance of Government Intrusion into Medicine. Ama-assn.org. Published June 24, 2022. https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ruling-egregious-allowance-government-intrusion-medicine
Press Release – Nation’s Largest Union of Nurses Condemns Supreme Court Overturn of Constitutional Right to Abortion. nationalnursesunited.org. Published June 24, 2022. https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/nurses-condemn-supreme-court-overturn-of-constitutional-right-of-abortion
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