By: Hanna V. Peterson, MD, Avital O’Brien Hahn, MD, Elizabeth Farabee, MD, LaTisha Fraizer, MD, Brittany Meyers, MD
For years, the Kentucky General Assembly has created a hostile environment for health care providers across the commonwealth, and patients are paying the price. While the federal government reaffirms the safety of medication abortion (MAB), Kentucky politicians are instead continuing to politicize public health by doubling down on their attacks on abortion care. The latest is House Bill 3, an omnibus anti-abortion bill that would further limit access to MAB, an innovation that is proven to save lives and now accounts for half of all abortions in the country. In a malicious attempt to discourage providers from dispensing this safe and effective regimen, HB 3 would publish online the name of all providers who offer medication abortion and invite anonymous complaints from the general public in a state-funded complaint portal, undoubtedly creating dangerous opportunities for anti-abortion extremists to harrass or even harm providers.
As physicians, we want to make it clear that abortion is health care, and barriers to this critical care prevent us from doing our jobs. We applaud the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decision to side with science and remove medically unnecessary burdens like the in-person dispensing requirements so abortion pills can be fully accessible by mail and telemedicine. HB 3 ignores the vast evidence that these drugs are safe and effective, and is instead focusing on severely restricting access. The proposed restrictions in HB 3 — that go above and beyond the strict oversight at the federal level — disregard current medical and scientific guidance and will reduce access to abortion with absolutely no medical or safety benefit for patients.
Particularly troubling to us as doctors, the bill opens the door for increased harassment and intimidation of abortion providers and medical staff. If this bill is successful, it would create a public registry of all medication abortion providers in Kentucky. Abortion providers already face unacceptable levels of harassment and intimidation from those who oppose abortion. Data from the National Abortion Federation show a significant increase in clinic invasions, death threats, trespassing incidents, and hate mail incidents against abortion providers in the last few years. Since politicizing abortion became a Republican Party tactic in 1977, there have been 11 murders, 26 attempted murders, 42 bombings, 189 arsons, and thousands of criminal incidents targeting abortion providers. Like the rest of the country, Kentucky is struggling with a provider shortage. Bills like HB 3, that seek to criminalize providers, insert politics into medicine, and risk patient and provider safety will not help with this growing shortage of providers.
HB 3 also creates an unnecessary and onerous certification program under the state Board of Pharmacy targeting medication abortion drugs that would require drug manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies to register and certify with the state. This would be an unprecedented oversight of a drug regimen with a proven safety record better than penicillin or Tylenol.
The restrictions in HB 3 could make it nearly impossible to access essential health care, which would harm our entire state. States with more abortion restrictions tend to score worse when it comes to health outcomes for women and children and have fewer policies to support those populations.
Kentucky is already rated “hostile” to abortion access by Guttmacher and has dropped from 42nd to 46th among the states in America’s Health Rankings since 2017.
In states where abortion is easily accessible, women’s health outcomes and economic security improve. Women living in states with policies that support women’s access to health care have higher earnings and are more integrated into the workforce than women in other states. Access to reproductive health care has also been linked to reduced unemployment gaps between jobs. Our own health depends on the health of the person next to us, and the person next to them.
Ensuring others can access care is how we take care of ourselves today and our future tomorrows. HB 3 has nothing to do with the health and safety of Kentuckians, it is hostile and dangerous for providers and patients and it must not pass.
Editor’s Note: While the issue of abortion and birth control is a touchy, controversial and intimately personal issue, tied as much to ethics, morality, and faith as it is to logic, health concerns, and insurance needs, the Carter County Times feels this is an important issue, and one that our readers should be concerned about no matter their feelings on abortion.
The relationship between patient and doctor, and the prescriptions and care they offer, should not be a matter of legislative control. It should be a matter of health alone. For this reason alone we are opposed to HB3.
