What happens when lawmakers write medical rules without doctors in the room? Politico senior healthcare reporter Alice Miranda Ollstein joins hosts Drs. Erin Stevens and Chris Ford to talk about her new book, Side Effects: How Abortion Bans Impact Everyone’s Health (out October 27 and available for pre-order now).
Alice explains why vague phrases like “significant impairment of a major bodily function” leave physicians guessing, and how that confusion pushes doctors toward “wait and see” care that research shows can be dangerous. She breaks down why the threat of state enforcement looms larger for doctors than the risk of federal investigations or malpractice suits, and what that imbalance means for patients in an emergency.
We also talk about how abortion bans are affecting oncologists, rheumatologists, and neurologists, and why medical societies that never took a position on abortion are now speaking up. Alice shares what she learned from sitting down with patients whose delayed care led to lasting medical consequences, and why those stories go deeper than the bullet points in a lawsuit. We discuss why physicians who get political after Dobbs often find lawmakers won’t meet with them on other issues, and why many decide the trade-off is worth it.
We take a look at what ballot measure results in states like Ohio, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Montana say about public opinion in red states, the divisions within the anti-abortion movement over telehealth, enforcement, and contraception, and the shifting politics of teen pregnancy and Title X.
LINKS
USA Today: New White House press secretary has many fans in anti-abortion circles
Katie Zacharia’s tweet about mifepristone
The Auschwitz Memorial’s lengthy tweet correcting Zacharia’s disinformation about mifepristone
The Guardian: Matt Gaetz resigns from Congress after Trump attorney general nomination
The Guardian: Matt Gaetz accused in suit of sex trafficking two women in Florida
Miami Herald: Ex-Florida congressman Matt Gaetz doxes women who accused him of sex trafficking
Amplify Legal: Texas Mother of Two Sues Students For Life For Violating State Law
Maria Puerto: Texas Forced Me to Give Birth—Twice
Brennan Center for Justice: Southerners Are Misrepresented on Abortion
STATELINE: 2 states, 2 abortion ballot measures, and the effort to win over Gen Z voters
POLITICO Magazine: The Fall of Roe Changed Doctors. Now They’re Changing Politics.
Alice Miranda Ollstein on Bluesky
Alice Miranda Ollstein on Instagram
FOLLOW THE DOCS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Dr Kristin Lyerly (@drkristinlyerly)
Dr Erin Stevens (@erinstevensmdobgyn)
Dr Chris Ford (@doc_4ord)
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