In 2023, 1 out of 5 patients seeking abortion care traveled to another state for care. When access to care was restricted for folks in North Carolina, the next closest state for care was Virginia. People now travel from all over the Southeast to receive care in a variety of locations in Virginia. Since the physician workforce in Virginia is not able to meet that demand, doctors must also travel there to provide care. In this episode, Jonas and Bev first tell their stories of how they ended up doing this work and then they take you to a clinic in Virginia where care is provided with fewer restrictions and a little bit of trail magic.

We are honored this week to share an interview with Professor Katie Watson from Northwestern. She is the author of Scarlet A: The ethics, law, and politics of ordinary abortion and has been widely published in the medical literature regarding the ethics of reproductive health care. We discuss a variety of topics on today’s show including: myths about abortion after birth, the impact of abortion bans on other aspects of reproductive health care (like IVF), and Katie’s thoughts about the Dobbs decision.

This week, due to the impact of the LA fires on our team, we are taking a brief pause from new content. In place of our regularly scheduled show, we want to share an episode from Finally! A Show About Women That Isn’t Just a Thinly Veiled Aspirational Nightmare. Finally! A show is an award-winning documentary podcast, brought to you by our own Jane Marie. It takes a deep dive into the lives of women living and working in the US. This particular episode won a Signal award for the Health and Wellness category and introduces us to Jamie Rich, a telehealth abortion care provider. For more information about how you can support those impacted by the LA fires, visit this site: https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/how-to-help-la-fire-victims

One of the most contentious topics of the last election cycle was abortion later in pregnancy (often mislabeled as “late term abortion”). Anti-abortion activists and politicians promote heinous misinformation about this care. This includes false claims that abortion is being performed after birth, an inaccurate and manipulative description of palliative care for babies born with grave physical and/or genetic abnormalities. This episode confronts both of these topics head on as we talk with OB-Gyn expert Dr. Jenni Villavicencio. She walks us through why care later in pregnancy is necessary and how patients are making thoughtful decisions for themselves and their families. Jenni also talks about her transformation for anti-abortion protestor to abortion care provider. We also debunk myths about abortion after birth and talk about the realities of palliative care for infants with lethal birth defects. 

It’s time to go back to school and learn about the nuts and bolts of abortion care. In the first part of the episode, Bev and Jonas walk you through specifics about medication and procedural abortion and how patients might decide which option is best for them. The second part of our episode (starting at minute 18) is an interview with Dr. Diana Green Foster, highlighting some of the findings of the Turnaway Study. We discuss the devastating impacts of being turned away from abortion care. 

Of note, this episode discusses rape and miscarriage. Find more information about this episode with additional links at outlawed.substack.com.

Watch the full lecture at : https://youtu.be/syyUFYZ04rE?si=WcyIsaMR261RM48F

In this episode you will meet Dr. Caitlin Bernard from Indiana, an amazing physician advocate and complex family planning expert. She provided abortion care for a 10 year-old rape victim in Indiana and was the center of a media and legal firestorm. In the face of unjust laws, she is just trying to do her job and take good care of her patients. We will hear her story and think through the implications of making expert clinicians outlaws. 

In this episode we discuss who has access to abortion care and dispel some of the myths about who seeks care in the US. We hear from two reproductive justice advocates, Maya Hart and Ash Williams, about centering access in the conversation. You’ll learn how centering the most historically marginalized patients improves care for everyone. 

The stories out of Texas are numerous and heartbreaking. In our third episode of Outlawed, we’ll meet two people from Texas. One is a high-risk OB-gyn physician who cares for some of the sickest patients and pregnancies. She talks about the impact of the Texas abortion ban (SB8) and Dobbs on the healthcare she can provide people and explains why these laws lead to substandard care. The second person we will meet is Lisa, a patient who had to flee Texas after receiving a devastating diagnosis during her routine second trimester ultrasound.

Brigitte Amiri, JD, is deputy director of the ACLU’s reproductive freedom project. She’s generally a badass lawyer and fights to defend reproductive access and bodily autonomy. She explains how her job has changed since the Dobb’s decision and walks us through why legal protections for abortion access are critical.

We introduce you to our hosts, Dr. Beverly Gray and Dr. Jonas Swartz, along with a woman named Sally, a nurse who answers the phone at an abortion clinic and is the first point of contact for those seeking care in North Carolina.