E. Youatt

Doctors as messengers: mobilizing physicians across all medical specialties to respond to state-level abortion restrictions

States have seen an alarming number of abortion restrictions up for legislative deliberation in the past several years. Physicians can often provide compelling testimony when these state legislatures consider health issues. While it is important that abortion-providing physicians serve as educators to the legislature and the general public about the safety of abortion, their testimony is often dismissed as being biased, or representing a professional or financial conflict of interest. Additionally, abortion providers often fear harassment and violence when speaking publicly about their work. Because non-abortion providing physicians do not face this same level of risk, they are well-positioned to advocate on behalf of abortion access. Furthermore, there are many health care providers whose patients may need an abortion and who benefit from abortion being legal and accessible. Therefore, the burden of advocating against state-level abortion restrictions should be shared amongst all health care providers, not solely those who provide abortion services. We explored the willingness of non-abortion providing physicians from a range of medical subspecialties to advocate for access to abortion.