(Washington) His patient needed an abortion to survive. “Medically, I knew what to do. But legally…”: Like many American gynecologists, Mae Winchester lost her serenity on June 24.
Posted at 6:44 a.m.
On that day, the Supreme Court of the United States blasted the right to abortion that it had guaranteed for nearly half a century. In the process, a dozen conservative states have banned or severely restricted abortions on their soil.
Since this historic about-face, the legal landscape has been shifting with many gray areas, which creates “a high level of stress in the profession”, notes Harry Nelson, lawyer specializing in the defense of doctors.
In Ohio, where the Dr Winchester, abortions are still possible, but only up to six weeks of pregnancy and the wording of the “medical emergency” exemption is ambiguous.
Her patient was past that term, so the doctor called her hospital’s legal department with a slew of questions: “How do I protect her legally?” How do I protect myself? Protect my institution, the nurses, the anesthesiologist? »
“Everyone is concerned,” notes this obstetrician in an interview with AFP.
” Confusion ”
Laws prohibiting the practice of abortions are accompanied by substantial penalties for health professionals who incur heavy fines and sentences of up to 10 years in prison.
The threat of lawsuits, and the associated legal costs, creates “a bizarre situation, where doctors are anxious even when they provide legitimate care to save lives”, underlines Mr.e Nelson.
The government of President Joe Biden has tried to provide them with some security, by ensuring that federal law “takes precedence” over state law in matters of medical emergencies.
If a doctor believes that an abortion is necessary to “stabilize” an emergency, he must perform it, wrote the Minister of Health Xavier Becerra to the country’s emergency doctors.
The State of Texas, however, took his memo to court, accusing the Democratic government of wanting to “turn every emergency department in the country into a walk-in abortion clinic”.
“This complaint adds to the confusion and creates a life-threatening situation in the event of an ectopic pregnancy, sepsis or other vital problem,” commented the president of the powerful family planning organization Planned Parenthood, Alexis McGill Johnson.
“Bullying”
Another source of uncertainty: Across the country, more than 90 local prosecutors have said they will not prosecute in their jurisdiction, but others are particularly zealous.
The attorney general of Indiana, an ultraconservative, has thus threatened to prosecute a gynecologist who helped a 10-year-old girl abort after a rape.
The little girl had been forced to leave her state of Ohio because she had passed the threshold of six weeks of pregnancy. Abortions remain legal in Indiana, but Attorney General Todd Rokita accused the gynecologist of failing to fulfill her reporting obligations.
Finally, the doctor’s lawyers showed that she had taken the mandatory steps and the case should end there.
For mee Nelson, the episode shows how some prosecutors – elected officials – can use “intimidation techniques” to discourage doctors, while inflating their political interests with opponents of abortion.
” Between the devil and the deep sea ”
The risk does not only weigh on the doctors. In Texas, Idaho or Oklahoma, the laws authorize civil suits against anyone who helps women to have an abortion, which could just as easily concern a taxi driver as an association that financed the intervention.
These laws “could be instrumentalized by those who seek to set examples”, believes Ms.e Nelson.
The legal vagueness also compromises the coverage of other diseases, for example cancer treatments that can threaten pregnancy.
“Everyone asks us for instructions, but each situation is different and it is very difficult for us to write them,” explains Kristin Lyerly, an official with the College of American Gynecologists who, with 75 organizations, have condemned the legislative interference in the work of doctors.
Since the Supreme Court reversal, gynecologists feel “caught between a rock and a hard place,” she said. “What are we supposed to do: don’t fulfill our professional obligations or go to prison for performing an abortion? »