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Statement on SCOTUS Decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson WHO:
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The SCOTUS decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is an attack on a basic human right, that of access to evidence-based medical care and privacy in personal decisions that affect one's health and wellbeing. Sadly, from our work with patients who are survivors of human trafficking, we all know too well, the horrible impact on individuals when they are denied the right to make their own personal health decisions, especially regarding reproductive decisions in pregnancies that are often due to exploitation or coercion. The burden of this attack will fall most heavily, as usual, on those who already lack resources and access to care, especially individuals who are Black, Latinx, Native American/Indigenous, of low socioeconomic status, a sexual or gender minority, or living in rural or underserved communities and for others who have been systematically denied reproductive justice and access to care throughout U.S. history.
We in the leadership of the American Medical Women's Association: Physicians Against the Trafficking of Humans (AMWA-PATH) will continue efforts to educate our colleagues about the plight of human trafficking and the added harm to these patients when their access to safe and evidence-based reproductive health care and abortion has been taken away. It is just another attempt to deny rights to those already disenfranchised and will cause them additional physical and psychological trauma over that which they already are subjected to against their will. As healthcare professionals we all take an oath to “Do No Harm.” So, we will also continue support efforts through our advocacy that advance and expand the protection of all human rights, especially the rights of equal access to reproductive healthcare and the right for our patients to have choice in any medical decisions that affect their body and health.
Sincerely,
AMWA-PATH Leadership
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