‘More people will die’: Triangle doctors reel over proposed 12-week abortion ban
On Tuesday evening, doctors across the state anxiously tuned in to to a press conference to hear Republican lawmakers describe their abortion bill.
They listened — while texting physician group chats, or sitting at the dinner table or huddled over a laggy computer — as legislators detailed a 12-week abortion ban with exceptions for fetal abnormalities and pregnancies that result from rape or incest.
Even though talks of this ban had been in the works for several months, the legislation announced at the press conference was disappointing for many doctors, several of whom had advocated against further abortion restrictions at the state house.
“(We) have worked really hard to educate legislators for the past several months about why an abortion ban in North Carolina would be a bad idea,” said Dr. Jonas Swartz, a Duke Health abortion provider.
The press conference — which he said included several pieces of health misinformation about the safety of abortions — was disappointing on multiple levels, he said.
Dr. Erica Pettigrew, who found it too upsetting to watch the live press conference, had secretly held out hope the outcome of the lawmakers’ closed-door talks would be different.
“It had been swirling around for a long time, but I still had hope that there were enough reasonable people on both sides of the aisle in the state legislature — that they would listen to the doctors,” said Pettigrew, a Hillsborough family medicine doctor. “But they didn’t. So here we are.”
The way lawmakers framed the legislation — as a “commonsense and reasonable approach” that is “pro-family, pro-mother, pro-baby” — incensed the physicians interview by the N&O.
“I don’t think there’s any common sense to politicians legislating medicine,” said Dr. Jenna Beckham, a Triangle abortion provider.
For Pettigrew, the impact this bill will have on North Carolinians was immediately obvious:
“It’s no longer hypothetical,” she said. “I mean, people get substandard care. More people will die.”
Triangle doctors were ultimately left with more questions than answers from the press conference. Which fetal anomalies would be granted an exception? What would new restrictions on abortion clinics look like?
“I‘m still a little bit confused,” Beckham said. “I think a large part of that is because it’s non-health care providers trying to describe medical terminology and procedures. It seemed very clear to me that they don’t even quite understand what they’re talking about.”
The answers to those questions were expected to come later Tuesday when the bill was supposed to be posted online. The legislature — where Republicans have enough votes to approve the legislation and override a likely veto — is expected to vote on the measure Wednesday and Thursday.
Teddy Rosenbluth covers science and health care for The News & Observer in a position funded by Duke Health and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
