I decided to become a doctor because I believe that health care is a basic human right that everyone — no matter where they live, what they look like or how much money they have — should be able to access. Decisions about health are the most universal and the most personal decisions that most of us will make in our lives. As a doctor, I strive to provide the best care and advice possible so patients have the options they need and can make the best possible decision for themselves and their families.
I’m a family physician, so I treat all kinds of diseases and patients who have a wide range of needs from basic sore throats to acute illnesses that bring them to the emergency room. But all doctors, no matter what their specialty, are obligated to do no harm and to act in the best interests of the patient regardless of their health conditions.
– Original Credit: Courtesy photo
That’s why it’s so disturbing to see the current wave of attacks on abortion, a common and safe health-care procedure that is increasingly hard to access and now, treated more like a crime than health care in some states.
While I do not provide abortions myself, I am alarmed by the wave of abortion bans being passed across the country, including here in Florida, that target doctors, nurses and other medical professionals with criminal penalties for doing our jobs. Abortion providers already face high levels of harassment and threats of violence from anti-abortion extremists on a daily basis. Now some lawmakers are using the legal system to further intimidate them to satisfy political interests that have nothing to do with health care.
As a health-care provider, the first thing I do for any patient with any health-care concern is listen to them. Without considering the patient’s point of view, it would be impossible to arrive at an effective treatment for any condition.
Abortion is no different. Two-thirds of patients seeking abortions have already had at least one child, so they know what they are facing if they continue a pregnancy. Like other patients weighing health-care decisions, they seek information from providers so they can make the best decision for their personal situation. It’s our job as doctors to give them the medical facts, provide access to options and then support their decision.
Anti-abortion laws that delay, deny and ban abortion procedures come between doctors and patients, hindering providers from doing our jobs and taking away patients’ personal decisions. Research already shows that abortion bans harm patients and their families both physically and economically.
But making abortion into a crime for providers will also have consequences for doctors, nurses, support staff and anyone else involved in caring for patients who want to end an unintended pregnancy. Just recently under Texas’ extreme abortion ban, a woman who suffered a medical emergency due to pregnancy complications had to be put on a plane to Colorado to end her pregnancy because her doctors feared being sued if they terminated the pregnancy themselves.
Florida lawmakers have already attempted to pass a Texas-style six-week ban this year before moving forward with a 15-week ban that is not based on medical evidence. And soon the Supreme Court will rule on a similar abortion ban in Mississippi that could end the constitutional right to an abortion established 50 years ago by Roe v. Wade. Without those protections, pregnant patients face more dangerous situations with less access to medical care.
Taking away health care from anyone or locking up doctors for providing health-care services that politicians don’t approve of is a misuse of resources, especially in a state like Florida, where more than 400,000 people still lack Medicaid even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to put people’s health at risk. Ironically, expanding Medicaid would help more people access care to prevent pregnancy and have healthier babies.
These politicians are confused about their role: their job is to ensure everyone has access to affordable coverage, not to dictate what decisions anyone makes about their personal health or to interfere with providers caring for patients. It’s time for lawmakers to make doing their jobs a bigger priority than stopping doctors like me from doing mine.
Isaiah A. Cochran is a family-medicine resident in Daytona Beach and former president of the American Medical Student Association.
