Dr. Allie Linton considers her job as Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin’s associate medical director a calling, a core component of what she believes she was meant to do as a doctor.
That mission has become complicated post-Roe, as the state reverted to an 1849 law that prohibits doctors from performing abortions (except to save a mother’s life) as soon as the landmark decision was struck down.
Before Roe was overturned, Linton and her colleagues in Milwaukee would perform 30-50 abortions in a typical week. Now, that number is close to zero and Linton drives an hour to Waukegan, Illinois, twice a month to perform abortions at a Planned Parenthood center there.
Wisconsin’s abortion ban has brought in a “vague, confusing, nonmedical component" to providers’ jobs “that should really not exist between me and my patient,” Linton says.
“We aren’t used to debating whether we’re breaking the law. We usually are able to just focus on our oath to do no harm and focus on the patient in front of us.”
Dr. DeShawn Taylor isn’t sure what her job will look like in a week.
Taylor is founder and CEO of Desert Star Family Planning in Phoenix, one of the few health-care centers in Arizona still providing abortions.
The fate of abortion in the state rests with a court ruling that is expected to come next week. A case in Pima County will determine whether or not to lift an injunction on Arizona’s abortion ban — if the court order is lifted, all abortions would become illegal, except to save the mother’s life.
Operating in such a high-stress environment has led Taylor to question if she will continue this work.
“I’m reevaluating what my career looks like,” she says. “Nobody in abortion care expected to work under these horrendous circumstances, where you have to be on guard at all times, worrying about your safety and the legality of your job … that’s not normal.”
Share your thoughts with us at askmakeit@cnbc.com
