In the News: Cutler talks stigma and challenges in post-Dobbs Wisconsin

Abby Cutler, MD, assistant professor in the UW Ob-Gyn Division of Academic Specialists in Ob-Gyn, spoke with Grid News and appeared on a Wisconsin Health News panel about challenges to accessing abortion care in recent weeks.

More doctors are speaking out against abortion bans ahead of the 2022 midterm elections – Grid News

In this article, Cutler talks about how stigma may sway doctors’ decisions on whether or not to speak about abortion restrictions after the U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade:

“In polls, doctors rank among the most trusted voices in American life. However, the stigma around abortion, and a widespread fear that their colleagues don’t share their concerns, may have stopped some from speaking out in the past, said Cutler. A survey of more than 900 doctors at her university’s healthcare system conducted before the Dobbs decision found that while 84 percent of the physicians supported abortion access for patients, only about 20 percent of them believed their colleagues felt the same way.”

Physicians ‘between a rock and a hard place’ when it comes to navigating abortion law – Wisconsin Health News

On this panel, Cutler talked about challenges for patients in Wisconsin who may have to leave the state to access abortion care:

““It is no small feat to seek an abortion in Illinois or Minnesota for someone in Wisconsin where the cost of travel, the cost of child care, the cost of the procedure itself, those are significant costs, financial, emotional, otherwise.””