Louisiana doctors detail unintended consequences of state's abortion ban

foreign this week on 60 Minutes we report on U.S maternal morbidity rates one of the highest in the developed world and trending in a concerning direction we traveled to Louisiana where we spoke to Health Care Providers Advocates and mothers who told us that last Summer's Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe versus Wade has created a negative domino effect not only impacting women seeking abortions but also threatening maternal health care for all women what are the unintended consequences when it comes to maternal Health Care worsening access to routine reproductive care and that's really our Focus anytime a woman delays care it's worse outcomes no matter what happens to the pregnancy Dr gen avegno an ER doctor who runs the New Orleans Health Department and Dr Rebecca gee in OB GYN who used to oversee Louisiana's Department of Health told us many physicians in the state are worried about Louisiana's abortion ban there's a fear there's uncertainty the environment has gotten stressful we're Obstetricians just trying to provide routine care and so that has implications for the overall health of women in the state it was passed by the state's republican-led legislature and signed into law by its Democratic governor last summer Louisiana's Republican attorney general sent a letter to doctors across the state noting Physicians now face potential criminal penalties for providing any treatment associated with abortion care you can have a ban on abortion and not criminalize Physicians who are trying to provide the standard of care for miscarriage or early pregnancy loss or any pregnancy loss what was the standard of care before if a woman came into the ER and she was miscarrying our standard of care would be to identify any immediate life-threatening conditions in the emergency department then have consultation with our Specialists talking with the patient understanding what is known and not known at whatever stage there are and really presenting a variety of options the fear now is that certain options might be misconstrued as providing an abortion that would be considered illegal even though that was the standard of care before and it's the standard of care in many other states so a woman who's already pregnant but is having bleeding or infection the laws are unclear you know to save her life does that mean she can lose her lungs or her hearts or other organs what needs to be at risk in terms of her health for a doctor to intervene so in the post-dobs moment it is increasingly dangerous to be pregnant in States like Louisiana many states in the South Medicaid expansion latonijiwa a former labor and delivery nurse runs the birthmark Doula Collective which provides emotional and physical support before during and after childbirth as a pregnant person experiencing something new and different you don't know if you go to the emergency room with cramping or bleeding or questions if a provider is even going to feel comfortable helping you or not which is very scary I think one of the misconceptions was that with Dobbs it was going to be a kind of a very narrow ban it was going to be this one thing abortion the reality of women's lives and black women's lives is that the same people who who give birth and parent also get abortions also need contraception also need sex education for all those things being impacted In This Moment yes because the same providers do all of those things do you believe that politicians in the state understand the domino effect of the band I spent eight years training to be a ob gyn it there is a lot of nuance it's hard to imagine that a legislator could understand everything that I understand or my colleagues understand when it comes to pregnancy and it's hard to believe that the same legislators who pass these bills wanted to impact the care of women so my hope is that there will be some changes to these bills that will make the penalties less onerous that will take away the criminal penalties for doctors I hope that our legislators will understand that as they see and hear the stories of women who have difficulty getting access to care and the results some of many of them unintended of these laws

Channel: 60 Minutes

Views: 29,187

Keywords: 60 Minutes, CBS News, Louisiana, abortion ban, miscarriage, maternal care, women's health, pharma

Id: 8gCIDGuFEWk

Length: 4min 59sec (299 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 30 2023