Today, in a historic moment, two abortion providers are testifying before Congress in a full Oversight Committee hearing, “Examining the Harm to Patients from Abortion Restrictions and the Threat of a National Abortion Ban.”
PRH Fellow Dr. Nisha Verma, ob/gyn in Georgia and PRH Board Member Dr. Bhavik Kumar, family medicine physician in Texas, are sharing how harmful abortion restrictions have been for their communities’ health and wellbeing. They are testifying alongside Kelsey Leigh, an abortion storyteller, and Jocelyn Frye, President of the National Partnership for Women and Families.
Below is an excerpt from Dr. Verma’s testimony, submitted to the Committee.
“Right now in Georgia, most abortions are banned very early in pregnancy, at approximately six weeks. This is before some people know they are pregnant. This is an unjust law that is not based in medicine or science, and I am being forced to turn away patients and deny them the care they need that I have spent my life training to provide. This cruel abortion ban, with extremely limited exceptions, is putting me in impossible situations. I am forced to question “how sick is sick enough” to intervene and provide the best care for the person in front of me. How much bleeding is too much bleeding? Do I have to wait for a patient who has broken their water at fifteen weeks, when the pregnancy has no ability to ever survive outside the uterus, to develop a severe infection instead of intervening before they get sick.
This is not how health care should work. Doctors should not be forced to grapple with situations where the laws of our state directly violate the medical expertise we gained through years of training and the oath we took to provide the best care for our patients.”
We are grateful to the Oversight Committee for holding this hearing and for all the panelists for sharing that abortion care is necessary, compassionate, safe health care.
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