Around 1,000 Ohio physicians sign letter expressing disagreement with Roe v. Wade overturn

Around 1,000 Ohio Physicians have drafted an open letter of dissent titled “A Message to our Patients on the Loss of Reproductive Rights.”

The letter was posted by Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, which is described on their social media as “a grassroots organization of Ohio physicians interested in supporting and advocating for the reproductive rights of all our patients.”

The letter states that the physicians are “gravely concerned” for the well-being of women and pregnant persons with the overturn of Roe v Wade and the enactment of the “Heartbeat Bill”.

“Withholding treatment until a preventable medical emergency occurs is antithetical to our roles as healthcare workers. We wholeheartedly believe that a woman’s mental health is essential in the discussions regarding medical necessity and emergency; suicide is a leading cause of death amongst women of child-bearing age,” the letter states.

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It goes on to detail the reasons they said an abortion may be necessary for a women’s health, such as a woman undergoing life-preserving treatment such as chemotherapy, rape, or the physical threat of a woman carrying a fetus that cannot survive outside the womb.

The physicians write that the heartbeat bill disproportionately affects women of color and individuals without the financial means to seek other options.

They call on Gov. Mike DeWine and elected officials to “protect the lives of women and persons capable of becoming pregnant” and repeal the Heartbeat Bill.

They also ask other physicians and patients to organize for their personal bodily autonomy.

The full letter can be read here.

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