At the start of Curtis Boyd's career as a physician, abortion was a felony offense in 49 U.S. states.

Then came Roe v. Wade, which for nearly 50 years meant Americans had a right to end their pregnancies if they needed or wanted to.

Today, after the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, abortion is illegal in 14 states and restricted by gestational age in another eight.

Dr. Boyd and his wife and professional partner, Nurse and counselor Glenna Halverson Boyd, are still actively

committed to serving patients, but an always difficult job is now fundamentally more challenging.

From KERA in Dallas, this is Think. I'm Chris Boyd. The Boyd's have co-authored a book about the

decades they committed to this work, trading chapters, to talk about the

different aspects of care they took on. They are proud of the work they did together to advance both

the medical and the emotional well-being of their patients, and they are in a unique position to

speak about the effect new limitations on abortion will have on people whose pregnancies

threaten their ability to thrive.

Dr. Curtis Boyd helped establish the National Abortion Federation and is a founding member of the Federation's Board of Directors.

Glennah Halverson Boyd is a registered nurse, counselor, trainer, and consultant.

Their book is called We Choose to, a memoir of providing abortion care before, during, and after row. And I'll note as I

introduce them, we share a surname, but we are not related. Glena and Curtis, welcome to think.

Thank you. It can be easy to forget that the modern arguments around abortion wouldn't

necessarily look familiar to people who dealt with unwanted pregnancies in previous generations.

Curtis, your grandmother was a lay midwife.

She loved.

Her community was trusted by her community.

And sometimes women would go to her looking to bring on a late period, which was how they talked about.

Yes, and I never do this until after her death. A documentary film had been done about me, and I was showing it to my mother and brother-in-law and sister.

...