Opinion: Doctor's orders: Vote like our lives depend on it
For the past three years, I've worked as a psychiatrist at Federally Qualified Health Centers in Hamilton, Middletown, Oxford and Dayton, Ohio. Through medication and psychotherapy, I have attempted to treat the trauma, depression, anxiety and mental illness of my patients that is rooted in poverty and an economic system that has left them behind. While I spend most of my day diagnosing mental illness and prescribing medications to treat these illnesses, I must step out of this role to give another prescription to my patients and all Ohioans: Vote and vote wisely, because our lives depend on it.
This is a critical midterm election, especially in races for governor and U.S. senator that have the power to define the path that Ohio takes forward. Our vote and the candidates elected will shape the future direction of the health of our state in powerful ways.
I chose to fulfill my National Health Service Corps commitment in Ohio in part because it laudably expanded the Affordable Care Act, which allowed more individuals to qualify for Medicaid and access health services. As a direct result of expanding the ACA, in 2019, 526,100 adults were enrolled in Medicaid expansion in Ohio . Further, compared to the entire U.S., which has an uninsured rate of 10.4%, Ohio has an uninsured rate of 7.7%. Without protections of the ACA, 30% of women in Ohio (3.5 million women) with pre-existing health conditions may have been excluded from getting health insurance in 2018. Ohioans have clearly benefited from expanding the ACA. Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democratic nominee for U.S. senator in Ohio, has consistently voted not only to protect the ACA, but also strengthen it.
And yet, Ohio’s elected officials have recently made grave errors in protecting the health of Ohioans. Following the Dobbs decision and reversal of Roe v. Wade, pregnant people in Ohio no longer have the federally protected right to abortion. Women in Ohio will die unnecessarily without access to this critical health service − and with the legal system dictating medical decisions which should be left between doctors and patients. Research has shown that when abortion is legal, maternal mortality among Black women is reduced by 30-40%. With the maternal mortality rate increasing in Ohio from 2008–2018 (10.8 to 23.7 per 100,000 live births), reinstituting abortion access will save lives in Ohio.
Furthermore, access to abortion has been shown to have a profoundly positive impact on mental health and lifetime achievements. The UCSF Turnway study, which tracked 1,000 people around the county seeking abortions for five years, found 95% of people who had an abortion felt it was the right decision for the them. Moreover, people who were not able access abortion were three times more likely to be unemployed and four times more likely to live below the poverty line. In the short time since right to abortion in Ohio has been curtailed, I have seen patients who have attempted suicide, lost income and jobs, and stayed in physically abusive relationships because they are pregnant and did not have access to abortion. I can only imagine the serious mental health struggles these children ultimately born will suffer, and expect they will be my patients as well in the near future.
Nan Whaley, the Democratic candidate for governor, is proudly pro-choice and will help protect reproductive rights in this state. Ryan has also pledged his support of person’s right to choose. Voting for these candidates will help assure that people in Ohio have access to reproductive health care.
Just as I advise my patients to tend to their mental health, I hope you will join me to vote for Tim Ryan for U.S. Senate and Nan Whaley for Governor of Ohio. No politician is perfect, but voting for these candidates will be in the best interest of the health of our state.
A. Jacqueline Ryan-Shepard lives in Liberty Township and is a doctor in Hamilton.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Opinion: Doctor's orders: Vote like our lives depend on it
