She referenced statistics from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, which estimates that at least 100,000 Texas women aged 18-49 years have ever attempted to self-induce an abortion.
But not all ob.gyns. are opposed to TRAP laws. Dr. Julie Mickelson, an ob.gyn. in Milwaukee, said that the Texas regulations are designed to protect women from receiving “substandard care” and that they are a reasonable way to ensure a sterile, safe environment with qualified providers.
“It’s a surgical procedure, and there are risks. I’ve taken care of a number of patients over the years – I’ve been practicing for 20 years – who just show up in the emergency department after having had their abortions, with horrible complications,” Dr. Mickelson, who serves on the board of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), said in an interview.
AAPLOG submitted an amicus brief supporting the Texas position in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. The organization cited state inspections of abortion facilities that had found poor training, unsterile conditions, lack of medical personnel, expired credentials, and providers performing abortion beyond the legal gestational limit.
Dr. Donna Harrison, AAPLOG executive director, echoed that position, saying in an interview that the state has an obligation to regulate medicine within its borders.
“Those who promote and profit from abortion, in general, want to say simultaneously that abortion is just like every other medical procedure, and at the same time say abortion is different from every other medical procedure,” she said. As for public health implications, she said elective abortion is an elective medical procedure and reducing it will only improve public health by decreasing preterm birth rates over the long term.
“It’s incoherent to say that decreasing an elective medical procedure is some kind of a public health risk,” she said. “In fact, it’s just exactly the opposite.”
mschneider@frontlinemedcom.com
On Twitter @maryellenny