Recently, Bonner General Health in Sandpoint, Idaho announced that it will no longer be able to help expecting moms to deliver because many of their staff and doctors have left the area due to the Gem state’s near-total abortion ban. The hospital will start phasing out obstetric services in May.
Last August, the conservative-dominated state legislature passed a strict abortion ban that offers exceptions only in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother.
Idaho has one of the most constrained abortion bans in the U.S where physicians can be brought up on felony charges as well as stripped of their license to practice, and face up to five years in prison if found in violation of the law (which the Idaho Supreme Court determined is constitutional earlier this year).
The hospital stated that one of the reasons it made the “emotional and difficult decision” to discontinue delivery services is because doctors are leaving the state. “Highly respected, talented physicians are leaving. Recruiting replacements will be extraordinarily difficult,” the hospital stated.
Bonner General health also added, “In addition, the Idaho Legislature continues to introduce and pass bills that criminalize physicians for medical care nationally recognized as the standard of care. Consequences for Idaho Physicians providing the standard of care may include civil litigation and criminal prosecution, leading to jail time or fines.”
Idaho isn’t the only state affected since Roe v. Wade was rescinded by the Supreme Court.
The Cleveland Clinic in Ohio is expecting to lose doctors and staff due to the state’s ban on abortions once fetal heart activity is detected (around six weeks of pregnancy). Doctors are leaving, or rethinking practicing in other red states such as Texas, Alabama, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Ohio as they face legal action for doing their jobs.
The Indiana Hospital Association sent a statement to its legislature that passing a ban on nearly all abortions was “creating an atmosphere that will be perceived as antagonistic to physicians.”
Strict abortion bans may not affect the rich, who can afford to travel to other states, but it disproportionately affects the poor and those who cannot. Also, state trigger bans on abortions seem to be popping up each month, changing the rules and severity of punishment. How can healthcare workers provide medical care when the legal goalposts are in constant motion?
The gutting of Roe v. Wade has many repercussions. It not only strips a woman of the right to choose, but it also imposes personal religious views upon the public, while lacking a framework for supporting affordable healthcare for expectant mothers, infants, and children.
Stripping women of their right to choose is also causing an unraveling of America’s healthcare system, especially in rural areas.
The March of Dimes published a 2022 report finding that 6.9 million women of childbearing age live in communities with no access, or limited access to prenatal care, and maternity care. According to the report, over a two-year period, a total of 1,119 counties in the U.S. became “maternity deserts.” A maternity desert is an area, typically rural, where obstetric care, birth centers, OB/GYN, and certified midwife services are non-existent.
There are a multitude of consequences to the unraveling of Roe v. Wade, and the tragedy is that by tying doctors’ hands, the poor, and those living outside in rural areas will suffer the most.