Abortion stigma: the root of healthcare confusion

The Babblery
The Babblery
Abortion stigma: the root of healthcare confusion
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After the Supreme Court’s pending decision about Roe v. Wade was leaked, I reached out to local contacts looking for topics to discuss. One suggestion was to discuss how abortion stigma affected the debate, and that intrigued me. American culture has been working hard to rid itself of other stigmas, such as the stigma against reporting sexual abuse by clergy. But the stigma against talking about abortion is actually codified in law in the form of the Hyde Amendment.

This podcast recorded for KSQD presents a special Independence Day panel discussion about abortion and California’s status as an Abortion Sanctuary State. The panel includes Pam Conelly, ​​Chief Operations Officer at Encompass Community Services and a board member of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Dr. Jen Hastings, a Family Physician and Assistant Clinical Professor at the UCSF Department of Family and Community Medicine who was the physician at Westside Planned Parenthood from 1998-2018, and Dr. Gail Newel, who is an OBGYN, Health Officer for the County of Santa Cruz, and Associate Clinical Professor at UCSF. We discuss the roots of abortion stigma, and how stigma manifests itself everywhere from conversations between friends to communications between healthcare providers. We also discuss California’s status as a sanctuary station for abortion seekers, and what that will mean for our healthcare system.

Read on my blog: My thoughts after recording this program, “On women and people.”

Related episodes:

Resources: Topics mentioned on the show

The abortion debate post-Roe

Abortion in California

What happens after a person has an abortion?

  • The Turnaway Study
    This study followed outcomes for women turned away from abortions as well as their children. It is the first solid piece of evidence of what abortion advocates know anecdotally, that abortion care is health care and restriction of abortion leads to worse health and mental health outcomes for pregnant people and their children.
  • We Testify
    One way to dissolve stigma is to tell stories. Here are many stories that speak to the importance of abortion access.

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