Today, Physicians for Reproductive Health Board Member and Medical Director of Alabama Women’s Center Dr. Yashica Robinson is testifying before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce in a hearing titled “Protecting Women’s Access to Reproductive Health Care.” Alongside patient advocate Holly Alvarado and Nancy Northup of the Center for Reproductive Rights, Dr. Robinson is speaking out in support of the Women’s Health Protection Act (H.R. 2975), federal legislation to protect access to abortion care nationwide.
The following is from Dr. Yashica Robinson’s statement submitted to the committee:
“I support the Women’s Health Protection Act because it would help ensure that access to care does not look differently depending on your zip code. In states like California or Maryland, today a patient can access abortion care without the state forcing medically inaccurate information on them, or making them endure a medically unnecessary waiting period. This is what care should look like. Unfortunately, today that is not the case for my patients in Alabama.
Every patient, regardless of where they live or how much money they have, deserves access to abortion care.
“By attempting to criminalize practitioners who provide abortion care, the abortion bans we have seen enacted in Alabama and other states, threaten those women and communities that are already suffering from lack of health care providers, and compound the complex scenarios that obstetricians routinely balance as they try to make the best decisions they can about managing complicated pregnancies. Every patient, regardless of where they live or how much money they have, deserves access to abortion care.
“The Women’s Health Protection Act would bring needed federal protection for my patients and safeguard their right to abortion care. Protecting abortion care will also protect access to pregnancy care because they are interconnected. Health care in any specialty should be patient-centered, and medical decisions should remain between the patient and her physician, without political interference.”