Will abortion ban make it harder for Iowa to recruit healthcare providers?

With the six-week abortion ban in Iowa taking effect, Planned Parenthood is tripling its capacity in Omaha.

• “As these bans start chipping away at that medical care, we’re worried about patients being able to access that care in a timely fashion and in a location that they live,” Dr. Emily Patel said.
• It's also hard to recruit qualified physicians and nurse practitioners to states with restrictive abortion laws. Idaho lost about 22% of its obstetricians after pass a strict abortion ban.
• In a statement, Gov. Kim Reynolds celebrated the law taking effect: “ ...I remain deeply committed to supporting women in planning for motherhood, promoting the importance of fatherhood, elevating adoption, and protecting in vitro fertilization (IVF)...”
• Previous | ABORTION BAN: Clinics from neighboring states expect more patients from Iowa as 6-week ban begins
  

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

With the six-week abortion ban in Iowa taking effect, Planned Parenthood is tripling its capacity in Omaha.

I’m your Southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter Katrina Markel. I asked a local maternal-fetal health specialist what other changes physicians expect for their Iowa patients.

“As these bans start chipping away at that medical care, we’re worried about patients being able to access that care in a timely fashion and in a location that they live,” Dr. Emily Patel said.

Patel serves high-risk patients in Iowa and Nebraska. She says healthcare providers are trying to better understand how patients will be affected by Iowa’s new law.

“The way that it’s written, in this ban, is that there is an exception for lethal fetal anomalies, or anomalies that are incompatible with life, and defining that is very difficult,” Patel said.

It bans the vast majority of abortions at about six weeks of pregnancy before most women know they’re pregnant.

Healthcare providers, says Patel, work in percentages and probabilities, requiring more nuance than what can be defined in a law.

That’s a dilemma, said Dr. Sarah Traxler with Planned Parenthood on a conference call last week.

“It puts them in the impossible position of deciding whether to keep their license or provide life-saving healthcare and uphold their oath,” said Traxler, who is the Medical Director for the North Central States.

It's also hard to recruit qualified physicians and nurse practitioners to states with restrictive abortion laws. Idaho lost about 22% of its obstetricians after pass a strict abortion ban.

“Important things to think about in Iowa is per capita they have the least amount of OBGYNs in the country already,” said Patel. “And there has been a decline in OBGYN care, especially in rural communities and people are having to travel further.”

In a statement, Gov. Kim Reynolds celebrated the law taking effect: “ ...I remain deeply committed to supporting women in planning for motherhood, promoting the importance of fatherhood, elevating adoption, and protecting in vitro fertilization (IVF)...”

Augustine Payne of Dubuque County Right to Life also expressed support.

“We want to continue to see every innocent human life and that includes from the pre-born child to the mother to those who disagree with us,” said Payne.

Nebraska allows abortions up to 12 weeks gestational age. Minnesota and Illinois, have less restrictive abortion laws and Planned Parenthood says it is prepared to provide care for pregnant Iowans in those states.