One Year after Dobbs, Abortion Bans Are Harming Reproductive Care, Ob-Gyns Say

Roe v. Wade was overturned a year ago this week, allowing states to adopt sweeping restrictions and outright bans against abortion. But even before Roe fell, reproductive health care in the U.S. was a sprawling patchwork—one third of all counties lacked a single obstetrician. After the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, health care provider groups and advocates warned of widening disparities and further setbacks to maternal and reproductive health.

Now 14 states have enacted near-total abortion bans. Fifteen other states restrict abortion based on the number of weeks a person has been pregnant. These restrictions have caused collateral damage, says Jody Steinauer, director of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Francisco. In a recent survey, 68 percent of current ob-gyns reported that the Dobbs ruling has worsened their ability to manage pregnancy-related emergencies, and more than one third said their ability to practice within the accepted standard of care has…