Over the last week, pregnant Texan Kate Cox was repeatedly denied abortion care by various legal threats. Board Chair of Physicians for Reproductive Health and ob/gyn in Texas Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi responds:
“The story of Kate Cox is the story of far too many pregnant people across the country and a daily reality for Texans. Pregnancy is both a natural human process and a medical condition that sometimes requires immediate, expert intervention. Every person has the human right to make their own health care decisions and politicians are never the appropriate decision makers in pregnancy care.
No Texan should be forced to leave our state to receive basic health care…
“As an ob/gyn in Texas, I am disgusted by our state leader’s continued assault on the health and well-being of our communities. The fact that Kate had to leave a world-class medical hub like Dallas Fort Worth to get emergency medical care in another state is a disgrace. No Texan should be forced to leave our state to receive basic health care, especially when there are countless expert providers like myself trained to provide that care right here. Health care providers must be free from political interference in doing our jobs and helping Texans live healthy and happy lives.
“We know this will tragically not be the last case where a pregnant person is denied timely medical care because of threats from anti-abortion elected officials. Pregnant people across the country deserve to have a health care system not plagued by the coercive decision making of politicians. People’s lives and futures are in physical danger because of political games – we deserve and demand better.”