Episode 252: Ignoring Women's Pain

With abortion bans passing in states all over the country since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, women experiencing miscarriages have been turned away from hospitals because doctors deemed that they weren’t in enough clear danger to receive abortion care. Meanwhile, many women experiencing fibromyalgia continue to have their social security disability claims denied because they are not able to provide concrete evidence that their condition severely disrupts their quality of life. According to Professor Dara Purvis, what links these two examples is that many doctors do not believe women who say they are in pain. She explained the role that courts can play on this issue and laid out what needs to happen so women’s pain does not continue to be ignored. 

For more on this topic:

Check out Purvis’s OpEd: All the Ways Alito’s Opinion Might Criminalize Pregnancy 

Read her law review journal article: Clinical Evidence as Gendered: Fibromyalgia Social Security Disability Claims