In order to have real access to quality, affordable healthcare, Americans need two things: the ability to make informed personal decisions about their own well-being, and a strong relationship with their healthcare professional.
The SCOTUS decision overturning Roe v. Wade is so concerning because it fundamentally undercuts both the ability to make healthy personal decisions and the relationship patients may have with their physicians.
Now, millions of Americans will be affected by a ruling that has government interfering with their personal freedoms and inserting themselves in the middle of sensitive patient-doctor relationships.
The medical community is deeply troubled by the uncertainty this ruling will cause. The patchwork of different laws concerning reproductive health and decisions has the likelihood of making it that much harder for these medical professionals to effectively do their job. And in some states already, there are laws or proposed laws that makes healthcare professionals criminally liable for doing their jobs.
This decision when it comes to women’s healthcare is a step in the wrong direction. The government intrusion into personal healthcare decisions is bad law and bad for healthcare. We need to continue to work for a country that puts the health of its citizens above politics.