In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the federal right to abortion, things are more than a little confused.
As lower courts grapple with rapidly changing state laws, patients wonder from day to day if abortion is still legal and, even if legal, whether it is still available in their state. Health professionals in states with abortion bans fear prosecution by state authorities for performing abortions or by federal authorities for not performing them in life- or health-threatening situations.
Even employers are caught between conflicting state and federal rules about what can, cannot, and must be covered by insurance.
But amid all the confusion, some things are simply not true. Here are three myths going around about the abortion debate:
MYTH 1: Only people seeking abortions are affected by the Supreme Court’s action.
The huge changes and uncertainties wrought by the Supreme Court’s erasure of 49 years of largely settled federal policy most directly affect pregnant women. But they are far from the only people whose medical care is being disrupted.
As abortion providers pack up and leave states with bans, they may take with them expertise in managing high-risk pregnancies as well as routine deliveries, particularly in less-populated areas, plus access to long-acting birth control and screening and treatment for cancer and sexually transmitted diseases.
Similarly, medical students and medical residents may not want to train in states where they can’t learn abortion techniques, which a …