Cutler and Higgins talk about impact of abortion restrictions with National Public Radio

A recent story on National Public Radio profiled a Wisconsin woman whose pregnancy plans changed in light of abortion restrictions in the state. UW Ob-Gyn Assistant Professor Abby Cutler, MD, and Division of Reproductive and Population Health and UW Collaborative for Reproductive Equity (CORE) Director Jenny Higgins, PhD, MPH, both added perspective to the story.

Cutler talked about the challenges patients and providers face in navigating the current legal restrictions:

“For doctors and patients in Wisconsin trying to live with an abortion ban in legal limbo, "the level of confusion and uncertainty and – [even] chaos – that this has injected into the provision of all sorts of pregnancy-related health care, not just induced abortion, cannot be overstated," Cutler says.”

CORE will work to measure the impacts of Wisconsin’s abortion ban. But Higgins says pregnancy intentions are nuanced, and some effects of the ban will be hard to quantify:

“"I think on balance, there'll be more people who want abortions who can't get them than people who want babies and choose not to have them because of these policies," she says. "But there'll still be a group of people – like [Petranek] – who are opting out of having another baby, and that has a major impact on their own hopes and dreams about family-making."”

Read or listen to the whole story here.