In response to the misinformation being spread about bills in New York and Virginia that would remove harmful barriers to abortion care, Physicians for Reproductive Health Board Chair Dr. Willie Parker issued the following statement:
“My colleagues and I want to be very clear: Laws like the Reproductive Health Act in New York and the bill introduced in Virginia are necessary to protect patient health and remove barriers to abortion care. To hear these bills being questioned by lawmakers in such an inflammatory way shows a lack of compassion and unwillingness to understand the real-life health care needs of their constituents.
“As a physician who has taken care of patients in every stage of their pregnancies, I know that pregnancy does not always go the way we hope or expect. The bills in New York and Virginia apply to less than 1% of abortions that happen in the United States and these patients need protection. When pregnancies are medically complex or when a patient is critically ill, doctors need the full scope of treatment options to be available to provide the best care, and that sometimes can mean ending a pregnancy.
Patients should not have to navigate barriers to get abortion care.
“Patients should not have to navigate barriers to get abortion care. We know from rigorous, nonpartisan research that when abortion is made more difficult to access, we endanger those who already face the most barriers to accessing health care.
“Instead of creating hypothetical scenarios that don’t reflect the health needs that arise in pregnancy, let’s focus our energy on preserving and expanding access to reproductive care services—not these harmful mischaracterizations of life-saving medical care.”