A Proposal for Organized Civil Disobedience by Academic Medicine to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Association Decision
Abstract
In response to the women’s health care crisis solidified by the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, following which half of states could outlaw abortion (and potentially in-vitro fertilization, emergency contraception, and even treatment for ectopic pregnancy and partial spontaneous or “back alley” abortion), the medical profession has responded with statements condemning the ruling, protest marches, research agendas to study the consequences (with easily predictable results coming years from now that will only be ignored by anti-science legislators), and by setting up workarounds (e.g., offshore boats, a modern “overground railroad,” etc.) to provide abortion to those who need and/or want it.
References
Grossman G, Perritt J, Grady D. The Impending Crisis of Access to Safe Abortion Care in the US. JAMA Intern Med. 2022;182(8):793-795. Available at https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2793700.
News Release, American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, July 7, 2022. More Than 75 Health Care Organizations Release Joint Statement in Opposition to Legislative Interference. Available at https://www.acog.org/news/news-releases/2022/07/more-than-75-health-care-organizations-release-joint-statement-in-opposition-to-legislative-interference.
Brief of amici curiae American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Nursing, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association of Public Health Physicians, et al. in support of respondents, Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Association. 2021 (Sept 21). Available at https://reproductiverights.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Major-Medical-Groups-Amicus-Brief.pdf.
Donohoe MT. Complicit. Social Medicine 2020;13(1):1-7. Full text pdf available at https://www.socialmedicine.info/index.php/socialmedicine/article/view/1123 (and in Spanish at (https://www.medicinasocial.info/index.php/medicinasocial/article/view/1147).
Weber L, Barry-Jester AM. Conservative blocs unleash wave of litigation to curb public health powers. National Public Radio 2022 (July 18). Available at https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/07/18/1111766924/conservative-bloc-litigation.
Lehmann C. 10 new ways docs could face legal troubles post-Roe. Medscape Medical News 2022 (Aug 4). Available at https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/978631.
Donohoe M. Doctors Gone Bad: Physicians, Dictatorships, and Warrior Cultures. Social Medicine 2020:13(2):106-11. Available at https://www.socialmedicine.info/index.php/socialmedicine/article/view/1223/2213. Also available in Spanish at https://www.socialmedicine.info/index.php/medicinasocial/article/view/1221.
Vaniani R, Pitts A, Aurora P. Dismantling Structural Racism in the Academic Residency Clinic. N Engl J Med 2022; 386:2054-2058.
Wynia M. Civic Obligations in Medicine: Does "Professional" Civil Disobedience Tear, or Repair, the Basic Fabric of Society? AMA Virtual Mentor. January 2004, Volume 6, Number 1. Available at https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/sites/journalofethics.ama-assn.org/files/2018-07/pfor1-0401.pdf.
Donohoe MT, Schiff G. Call to Service: Social Justice Is a Public Health Issue (Physician activism and the doctor-patient relationship). AMA Virtual Mentor 2014 (September); 16(9):699-707. Available at https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/call-service-social-justice-public-health-issue/2014-09.
American Medical Association. Code of Medical Ethics Preface and Preamble. Available at https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/ethics/code-medical-ethics-preface-preamble.
Kim J. The end of Roe v. Wade has huge economic implications for male partners, too. National Public Radio 2022 (July 3). Available at https://www.npr.org/2022/06/27/1107715589/abortion-access-impact-on-men.
Center for Reproductive Rights. Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA)
Federal Legislation to Protect the Right to Access Abortion Care. 2022 (Feb 28). Available at https://reproductiverights.org/the-womens-health-protection-act-federal-legislation-to-protect-the-right-to-access-abortion-care/.
Donohoe MT. Roles and responsibilities of health professionals in confronting the health consequences of environmental degradation and social injustice: education and activism. Monash Bioethics Review, 2008;27(Nos. 1 and 2):65-82.
Wiist W, Barker K, Arya N, Rohde J, Donohoe M, White S, Lubens P, Gorman G, Hagopian A. The role of public health in the prevention of war: rationale and competencies. Am J Publ Hlth 2014(6):e34-e47. Available at http://ajph.aphapublications.org/toc/ajph/104/6.
Vinekar K, Karlapudi A, Nathan L, Turk J, Rible Radhika, Steinauer Jody. Projected Implications of Overturning Roe v Wade on Abortion Training in U.S. Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Programs. Obstetrics & Gynecology: 2022 (April 27). Available at https://journals.lww.com/greenjournal/Fulltext/9900/Projected_Implications_of_Overturning_Roe_v_Wade.449.aspx.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
