In examining rooms, we see women in terrible pain, but their suffering doesn’t count in Stupak/Pitts world. By banishing abortion from the reform bill, the amendment punishes women who need to end unwanted or unhealthy pregnancies.

When I

heard about the Stupak/Pitts amendment, I was in a room with 15 other doctors who

shared my anger and disappointment. We had gathered for a board meeting for Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health,

and we were horrified by the cruelty the amendment has in store for our

patients.

In

examining rooms, we see women in terrible pain, but their suffering doesn’t

count in Stupak/Pitts world. By banishing abortion from the reform bill, the

amendment punishes women who need to end unwanted or unhealthy pregnancies.

We share

the stories

below and on our website

to show what can happen to women physically, financially, and emotionally when

they don’t have insurance coverage for abortion. As physicians, we try our best

to help these women. As advocates, we will fight to protect their access to

abortion.

From Nancy Stanwood, MD, MPH:

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My patient Carol was excited to

give birth to her first child. Her husband was a Marine serving in

Afghanistan. Sadly, in her second trimester, Carol learned that her baby had a

lethal anomaly. She and her husband made the difficult decision to have an

abortion.

That’s when they learned that the

military health insurance they relied on wouldn’t cover the abortion unless

Carol’s life was in danger.

Her husband was outraged. He had

just flown back from Afghanistan to be with her, and he angrily asked me, “I’m

over there defending my country, and they won’t even take care of my family?”

From Natalie Roche, MD:

Renee was 18 years old and in

prenatal care for a pregnancy she wanted. Her physician found that she had

an elevated white blood count. Renee was diagnosed with acute leukemia.

Her oncologist could not begin

treatment. The chemotherapy Renee needed came with a risk of miscarriage that

could cause fatal hemorrhaging or infection. She decided to have an abortion to

save her life.

But Renee did not have insurance.

It took time for her to find a doctor who could perform her abortion. The time

she spent searching for a provider she could afford endangered her health. She

developed anemia and dangerously low white blood cell and platelet counts. She

also entered the second trimester of her pregnancy, making her abortion

riskier.

I performed her abortion

successfully, and Renee went on to have her treatment for leukemia. I do not

know if it was too late.

From Willie Parker, MD, MPH:

A woman who was 16 weeks

pregnant and had an alcohol problem came to me for an abortion. She knew

that she was not ready to be a mother. But she had a condition with her

placenta that made abortion risky, and I had to tell her that the procedure

would require a hospital stay, making it much more expensive.

She didn’t have insurance or enough

money to cover the termination. She had no choice but to continue the

pregnancy. I got her into prenatal care. That was the best I could do.

From Pratima Gupta, MD, MPH:

I wasn’t able to help Anna.

She became pregnant unexpectedly and decided to have an abortion. But when I

started the paperwork for Anna’s procedure, her insurance coverage was denied.

Anna works for the postal service, and as a government employee, she is not

allowed to have health insurance coverage for abortion.

I had to tell Anna that I couldn’t

provide her abortion, and I gave her the phone numbers of some clinics that

could help. In the end, Anna had to borrow money from several friends to pay

for her abortion. I will never forget how frightened and frantic she was to

learn that her good government health insurance didn’t cover the care she

needed.

From Renee E. Mestad, MD:

My patient Sherry is 24,

pregnant, and the mother of a 7-month-old son. Although her pregnancy was

not planned, Sherry and her husband were initially excited to have a little

brother or sister for their boy. Then Sherry’s early ultrasound showed she had

twins. She and her husband spent several weeks eagerly anticipating the growth

of their family.

But the next ultrasound showed that

the twins are conjoined, or Siamese. The babies are joined at the head, sharing

a brain, and chest, sharing a heart. They have two spines, four arms, and four

legs. It would be impossible to separate them. If they survive after birth, it

would only be for a few minutes. One heart can’t keep two bodies alive. The

risk of stillbirth is also very high.

Now 19 weeks into her pregnancy,

Sherry tells me she is depressed. She wakes up every morning wondering if today

will be the day her babies will die inside her. How would she deliver them? She

knows that she would probably need a cesarean section because their combined

size might make them too large for the birth canal. Sherry then imagines

carrying the twins for another four and a half months. She sees herself

delivering stillborns or watching her babies die minutes after their birth.

Sherry must decide whether to

continue her pregnancy. An abortion might give her and her husband some

emotional relief. And if the twins are small enough, she might not need surgery

to remove them.

But because Sherry’s insurance will

not pay for her abortion, she has to worry about money on top of her other

fears. She is on Medicaid, which will cover the twins’ delivery, alive or dead,

but not an abortion—fetal abnormality isn’t enough to get around the Hyde

amendment. Although the abortion would be less expensive in a clinic, Sherry

would have to go to a hospital since she could need surgery. She would be

responsible for the entire bill of at least $10,000 to cover the operating

room, anesthesia, medication, and other fees. This expense would destroy her

family’s financial well-being.

Sherry can carry her babies to term

who cannot and will not live, or she can have an abortion and

possibly bankrupt her family.

Sherry’s pregnancy is medically

rare, but her dilemma about money is all too familiar. When a woman doesn’t

have insurance coverage for abortion, she and her family suffer.