New Front Lines: How Med Students are Adapting to a Post Roe Future

Into the Mix

Ben & Jerry's and Vox Creative

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.3 • 537 Ratings

🗓️ 29 November 2023

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When 3rd year med student Megh Kumar told a mentor she’d decided to go into OB GYN, she got an unexpected piece of advice: don’t. It’s been more than a year since the Supreme Court revoked constitutional protections for abortion rights with their Dobbs decision. Since then 13 states – including Megh’s home state of Kentucky – have banned nearly all abortions. Some states have criminalized performing or abetting abortion. The effect has been chilling not only for patients who need them, but for doctors who feel it’s their medical duty to provide them. As the next generation of doctors like Megh enter this field of medicine, many are asking themselves if it’s worth it. Abortion providers are often targets for harassment and violence, and studying in a restrictive state might limit training opportunities. Data show a more than 10% decrease in residency applications to OB GYN programs in restrictive states. If fewer doctors are training to be OB GYNs, what does that mean for the rest of us? Learn more about how to advocate for abortion rights at WeTestify, and visit SisterSong.net for more information about reproductive justice.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Ashley C. Ford, and this is Into the Mix, a Ben & Jerry's podcast about joy and justice, produced with Vox Creative.
0:13.4	Meg Kumar is taking our team on a drive around her hometown, Louisville, Kentucky.
0:19.5	It's actually the running joke of my parents that when I was little, my dad, who loves math, would teach me math, I would do a problem, and he would say, touch your nose. I'd go like this. And then he'd say, touch your nose the other way. I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, go around your head. Like, okay.
0:37.8	And so that's why I'm really good at this. But I touch my nose that way. He's like, you see how you wrapped your arm around your head? That's what you're choosing. And I would always choose the more complicated route to get to the answer. And so my dad's like, oh, Meg always wants to complicate things. Meg doesn't want to be the kind of doctor who just looks at her patients as a set of symptoms.
0:59.8	She sees their health as a collaborative relationship, one only built through trust.
1:06.2	Going to the gynecologist is not a pleasant experience for most people.
1:09.9	And there's a lot of trauma as well there.
1:13.0	A lot of people are victims of sexual violence, you know, and that's a very private and
1:19.1	invasive exam. But as a gynecologist, you also have the ability and potential to create a safe space.
1:27.8	I always was into women's rights and reproductive rights in general, even in high school.
1:36.1	And then when I went to medical school, it wasn't shocking that I ended up being really drawn to abortion care and OBGYN, because a lot of OBGYN is
1:48.6	advocating for your patients. She does not take this responsibility lightly. She intends to leave her
1:57.0	future patients feeling understood and knowing their options, even as those options become
2:04.0	more and more limited.
2:12.1	Last year, the Dobbs decision cracked across the country like an earthquake, shifting the ground
2:20.0	beneath the feet of medical professionals and patients alike. This Supreme Court case
2:26.8	ended nearly 50 years of constitutional protection for abortion rights. The Dobbs decision ruled that it was up to states to decide if it was legal.
2:38.1	13 states, including Meg's home state of Kentucky,
2:42.7	banned abortions for nearly all patients overnight.
2:47.6	Meg was about to start her third year of med school at this time,
2:51.6	which is when she would normally start training to perform abortion procedures.
2:56.6	Just before the Dobbs decision leaked, she managed to observe one day at the EMW Women's Surgical Center.
	...

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