Public Health On Call Special Series—The Consequences of Abortion Restriction

A two-part podcast series focused on the health consequences of severely restrictive abortion legislation.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs. Wade, states rushed to enact various legislation protecting, restricting, or outright banning abortion practices.

This two-part series looks at some examples of the fallout including a rise in live births, how patient care has changed because of restrictions—even where care is unrelated to pregnancy—and the catastrophic health problems patients may face in addition to trauma inflicted on them and their care teams.

The Consequences of Abortion Restrictions Part 1: Spotlight on Texas

In part one of a two-part series, Suzanne Bell talks with Lindsay Smith Rogers about a new report quantifying the impacts of Texas’s SB8, an extremely restrictive abortion bill that passed in 2021. They discuss how empirical evidence can help to illuminate the consequences of major legislation. Read more.

The Consequences of Abortion Restrictions Part 2: Denials of Medical Care

Part two of this series features Daniel Grossman, an obstetrician and gynecologist, and Katrina Kimport, a sociologist in Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California at San Francisco. They talk with Josh Sharfstein about their research documenting cases where patients were denied proper medical care because of abortion restrictions—even when the care was unrelated to a pregnancy. They discuss how being forced to deny proper medical care can cause catastrophic health problems and trauma for pregnant people and their loved ones, as well as distress for the medical professionals involved. For part one of the series, check out episode 656. Read the report here.