On Wednesday, a House Judiciary subcommittee is holding a hearing about H.R. 490, a bill that would ban abortions after six weeks, before many patients know that they are pregnant.
In response, Physicians for Reproductive Health board chair Dr. Willie Parker issued the following statement:
“A ban on abortion after six weeks would essentially ban all abortion care. It’s blatantly unconstitutional, it’s cruel, and it’s part of the administration’s obsessive attack on reproductive health care, with an especially sharp focus on restricting abortion care.
It is unconscionable to expose women to the unsafe conditions associated when abortion is illegal and not available from skilled medical professionals.
Once a woman has made the decision to end a pregnancy, she needs access to safe, legal health care in her community. We know that in places where abortion is illegal, unsafe abortion is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality. Any ban on abortion does not make it go away; instead, it forces patients to go outside the medical system. It is unconscionable to expose women to the unsafe conditions associated when abortion is illegal and not available from skilled medical professionals. I’ve talked to enough women and providers who lived through that dark period before Roe v. Wade to know that we can’t go back.
Abortion is health care. It’s essential for reproductive health care, and access to it helps women and families. It is well beyond time for politicians to stop attacking this necessary, everyday part of medicine.”