When an OB/GYN is antiabortion

Post Reports

The Washington Post

Daily News, Politics, News

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🗓️ 15 September 2021

⏱️ ? minutes

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Summary

When we talk about abortion access in the U.S., we talk a lot about Roe v. Wade, the actions of state lawmakers, the court system. But we don’t talk about doctors — and what they do or don’t say to patients behind closed doors.

After Texas passed the country’s most restrictive abortion law, many abortion rights advocates feared that other states would follow suit — states like West Virginia that have already made moves in the past to restrict access to abortion.

But reporter Caroline Kitchener has found that there are other barriers to abortion already in place, some of which are invisible to us: “I had never even thought about this other barrier that is doctors,” Caroline said. “Doctors who might not talk to women about the option of abortion.”

Caroline has spent many, many months reporting on Byron Calhoun, the only high-risk pregnancy OB/GYN in central West Virginia. He also happens to be staunchly antiabortion.

Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about what that means for his patients — and, more broadly, how doctors’ political beliefs can affect the kind of care they provide their patients.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Give a helping hand this holiday season with the Washington Post helping hand.
0:04.6	This is John Kelly and I'm writing about Bread for the City, Friendship Place, and Miriam's Kitchen over the next few weeks.
0:11.1	Go to posthelpinghand.com to learn more and donate today.
0:16.8	Three years ago, politicians in West Virginia added a line to their state constitution.
0:22.7	That line said, quote, nothing in this constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion.
0:32.4	In adding this line to their state constitution, West Virginia went way beyond what many other states have done to limit access to abortions.
0:41.5	And even beyond a ban they already had on abortions after 20 weeks.
0:46.4	Now the question is whether West Virginia and other states that are very, very red are going to try to do what Texas did earlier this month and effectively ban abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy.
0:58.8	My colleague Caroline Kitchener has reported on these types of decisions for years, but some things stood out to her on a recent trip to West Virginia.
1:06.8	That we talk a lot about the conversations happening in state houses when for many women, the conversation happening and medical offices behind closed doors can also be life-altering.
1:19.4	There's so much attention that we pay to the ways that the government and the courts can cut off access to abortion.
1:29.3	But before I started reporting this story, I had never even thought about this other barrier that is doctors.
1:40.4	Doctors who might not talk to women about the option of abortion, even when the law allows it to be an option.
1:56.5	From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. I'm Martin Powers. It's Wednesday, September 15th.
2:04.7	Today, what happens when an OB-GYN is personally opposed to abortion and the risk that their patients could face as a result of that position.
2:14.4	Caroline is a writer with the Lili. She went to West Virginia last year to report on a doctor whose views on abortion significantly influence his practice.
2:23.5	And when I was there, I got to talk with a patient of his.
2:27.1	So, Brooklyn, you want to just start by introducing yourself to us?
2:31.7	Yeah, I'm Brooklyn. I'm 20.
2:34.0	Brooklyn's stalenecker is 22 years old.
2:36.8	She grew up in a small town, Bridgeport, West Virginia, which is about a two-hour drive from Charleston, West Virginia. That's the capital.
2:44.0	It's just a very small town. There's really nothing to do.
	...

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