#69: ABORTION: SPECIAL EPISODE: Anuj Khattar, MD on the day Roe v Wade is overturned: Women's Realities of Reproductive Health in America

Recorded on Friday, June 24, 2022, the day Roe v Wade was overturned by the United States Supreme Court, when safe full-scale reproductive health care responsibility was returned back to the states resulting in millions of women losing access to accurate information about safe reproductive care, this episode lays out the realities of abortion.

We know this decision will inflict a range of dangers, even well beyond the simple forcing of women to continue undesired pregnancies with all of the physical, emotional and financial realities (the Turn Away Study shows mental health may recover but physical and financial outcomes are worse for women who wanted but had no access to abortion care).

We know there is already an increasing frequency of delayed or denied miscarriage management, refusal to treat life-threatening pregnancy conditions like ectopic pregnancy, and fetal abnormalities not compatible with life that are forced to persist until their extensively painful and grueling end for both mom and fetus.

Dr Anuj Khattar is a Family Practice MD who has traveled the country providing reproductive care to women. After witnessing child abuse in the emergency room during his training, he chose this specialty to prevent that by supporting women to be in charge of their bodies, including their reproductive choices. He found he loves doing this work because of the deep listening it requires. Dr Khattar has learned from his patients that abortion is never a decision taken lightly. Behind every decision is a carefully weighed thought process to go this route. He notes 90% of abortions occur in the first trimester (12-14 weeks) when the abortion pill (mifepristone and misoprostol) is safe and effective, and that the majority of abortions are women who are already mothers; these are women who are making an informed decision.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The reason for an abortion is irrelevant; our judgment is irrelevant. Abortion care is health care.
• With the advent of medical abortion pills, which are available through the mail and are FDA approved through 11 weeks (with evidence & global experience showing likely safety up to 20 weeks), the post-Roe world is different than the pre-Roe world; see the documentary “The Janes” to understand more about that.
• The physical realities of abortion are demanding on a woman’s body; beyond weight gain, fatigue, nausea/vomiting and connective tissue softening, there is a 20-30% chance of a Cesarean section (C-Section) delivering which is major abdominal surgery incurring any surgical risk and requiring recovery time that is not protected by any Federal paid parental leave program.
• Dr Khattar also discusses the medically unsound text he has been required to read to women in certain states during abortion counseling and busts many of the other myths out there.
• A conversation on contraception, which is NOT abortion, even Plan B which is available over the counter without a doctor’s prescription.
• If the desire is truly to reduce or prevent abortions, our focus should be accurate, widely disseminated sex education, more social and financial opportunities for women, physical autonomy for women and access to contraception.

It’s a big show. It’s a big deal. Let's stand up for ourselves & each other. 

Resources:

• Funding Abortions: https://abortionfunds.org/
• Shout Your Abortion: https://shoutyourabortion.com/resources/
• Abortion finder: https://www.abortionfinder.org/
• Repro Legal Hotline: https://www.reprolegalhelpline.org/
• Plan C Safe Home Abortion: https://www.plancpills.org/