The Doctor leaving her child patients behind. The People Struggling Where Choice Is Gone.

The NY Times has an audio feature in the opinion section detailing why a doctor is leaving South Carolina for fear of criminal prosecution. My Patients Are Children. Dobbs Forced Me To Leave Them Behind. (Full access gift link)In the wake of the Dobbs decision, South Carolina banned abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy. The law does have a few exceptions, including for rape and incest. Dr. Kristl Tomlin, a pediatric and adolescent gynecologist, saw what those exceptions look like in practice for young victims of rape — and she decided to leave the state. In this episode, Dr. Tomlin describes how having to involve the sheriff’s department and lawyers in her work hurt her patients, and pushed her to leave the community she loved.The audio recording is about 24 minutes long; you can also read a transcript at the link if you’d prefer.There’s a related opinion story: Abortion Stories in Post-Roe America. (Full access gift link)What does it really mean to live in a country where abortion is no longer a constitutional right? Since 2022, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, many states have made it all but impossible to get abortion care within their borders, and have done their best to isolate people facing unwanted or complicated pregnancies, making them afraid to reach out to medical providers or even to friends and loved ones who might help them. New laws have forced doctors to delay care in life-threatening situations and made women afraid to seek it, leading to preventable deaths. Did anyone really want this?Even when the consequences haven’t been that dire, the day-to-day reality of abortion in America’s left-behind places now involves navigating constant undercurrents of confusion and fear: Is this pill I found on the internet safe? If I miscarry, is anyone going to help me? Or, in the cases of some doctors: How can I help this patient without getting arrested?We asked people at the front lines of abortion access to help us understand how the new laws have filtered into their worlds. They answered our call with texts, audio messages, videos and pictures; some shared their stories anonymously out of fear of reprisal. Taken as a whole, their dispatches show us an untenable status quo, held together by sheer grit and determination. But for how much longer?This presidential election will be the first since the Supreme Court ruled on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, when voters will be presented with a choice: to try to rein in the chaos unleashed by the ruling or to live in a country that continues to be shaped by it.It’s a multi-media article with videos, photos, audio, and text. I confess I haven’t fully explored it — there’s so much, and it’s heart-rending to learn what people are going through.I doubt these articles will sway the true believers, but anyone who is still undecided at this point needs to hear from people who are having their lives overturned by what Republicans are doing in states they control — and what Trump would enable if he gets back in the White House.A few observations:We’ve already seen the Supreme Court blocking efforts to overturn these extreme anti-abortion laws. When Trump talks about “leaving it up to the states, like everyone wanted” he’s lying. It’s part and parcel of the GOP effort to weaken the authority of the Federal Government (Tenth Amendment hypocrites) — and it also echoes the pro-slavery arguments that led up to the Civil War.Mandatory pregnancy fits right in with the GOP obsession with falling birth rates — especially as it relates to the great replacement hysteria.It’s not just about abortion: contraception is next on the hit list. Don’t believe Republicans who claim otherwise.This isn’t just about women seeking to have control over their own bodies — it’s about criminalizing anyone suspected of aiding an abortion.This isn’t pro-life — it’s pro-death. Look at numbers for maternal mortality and for infant death rates. Visiting a doctor in search of health care could run you afoul of the police.The above is just a sampling. There’s no shortage of horror stories — and if Republicans gain control of the White House and Congress along with their control of the Supreme Court, these horrors are just the prelude — and it won’t be just about abortion.The gift links in this diary should allow anyone to access these stories at the NY Times. Please share where it will do some good.